Not what we expected KTP Dec Jan 2017

[GavinW]

As always to everyone for all your comments


An unscheduled visit to Nossob

We had not expected to be back at Nossob so soon, but whilst we were there we decided to make the most of it and go for a short drive around Marie’s.
This decision was reinforced by the red dot on the sightings board in camp.

First up on Marie’s, was this Brown Snake eagle posing beautifully for us on a dead tree.



Near Maries se Gat, far off on the other side of the riverbed were two very flat lions.
At least we had seen lions again, and we hope that our lion drought was now over.



All the rain resulted in some different bird species appearing.
I’m no bird expert, but is this a snipe taking a bath at the Maries waterhole?



Our bakkie, true to form was playing up again, and it seemed as if the accelerator cable kept getting stuck making the vehicle rev excessively. In addition to that if felt as if the car was miss timing.

When we returned to Nossob, I took the liberty of getting hold of the mechanics in camp, who had a look at it for me.

The diagnosis: The Jap did not appreciate being used as a submarine, and all the water we had driven through the last few days had clogged her respiratory system.

The cure: A bit of Q20 and the instruction to try and dry her out

The result: A bit better at first, then a relapse, followed by the problem going away.

Satisfied, we set off north again for Polentswa.
The trip north was, as we expected quiet sighting wise.

Near Bedinkt, we spotted these vultures trying to dry out in the sun after all the rain.



The waterhole at Polentswa was also quiet, but we marvelled in the beauty of the place, and the welcome sight of a partly cloudy sky



On the way back to camp, these bokkies in the riverbed created a spectacular vista



And I could not resist in taking another mirror pic,

(Maybe I should do a trip report of just mirror pics, I take so many of them)



Back in camp we did all the camp like things that one does, and kept a good look out for our previous camping companion at Polentswa,
Petronella the puff adder.
Luckily she was nowhere to be seen.

The wind had picked up a bit, and we soon found some of her friends lurking around.





See the baby scorpion


Most of them had made cracks in the cement block of the A frame their home.
Note to selves...... not to sit on the cement block at any time when not in a chair

[pooky]

The sunrise with reflections is beautiful.

The bat eared fox pups are too cute

Interesting scorpions. Almost best not to know about them in the cracks

[Mel]

Woah! How did you manage to capture that scorpion? Looks like a special lighting (dunno the proper word in English right now?)

Your waterbird is not a snipe. I'm pretty sure it's a juvenile black-winged stilt. That is a really special sighting for the Kgalagadi as well

And I love those water pictures - especially with the typical sunset / sunrise colours. Although in the first photo in the last instalment
it seems that there are a lot of new tracks created due to the heavy rains?

[GavinW]

Woah! How did you manage to capture that scorpion? Looks like a special lighting (dunno the proper word in English right now?)

Your waterbird is not a snipe. I'm pretty sure it's a juvenile black-winged stilt. That is a really special sighting for the Kgalagadi as well

And I love those water pictures - especially with the typical sunset / sunrise colours. Although in the first photo in the last instalment
it seems that there are a lot of new tracks created due to the heavy rains?

Mel we used an ultra violet torch to illuminate the scorpions to get those pics
Also the river crossing at Polentswa has a lot of tracks from previous rains. It gets very muddy, so those are old tracks now full of water (and mud)

[Mel]

[GavinW]

Hey everyone

Sorry for the delay, but another weekend away got in the way of posting the next episode.
Our plans were to get away from Cape Town during the CT Cycle tour, but we needn't have bothered as high winds resulted in the event being cancelled
Now, let me continue.........

My birthday present

The wind died down during the night, and we were awoken in the early hours of the morning to the sound of lions roaring in the near vicinity. This resulted in an extra early and exciting start to my birthday.

We weren’t too sure as to where exactly our noisy neighbours were, so we took the bakkie to the loo and back.

Coffee, rusks and the tent sorted, we soon followed Collette and Wessels ( a wonderful couple we had met the previous evening, who were staying at the Lodge) to the waterhole.

Once we crossed the riverbed we were greeted with these ladies parking off









We were a bit confused as to how the others had missed the lions, but thought it had just been a matter of timing.

We were wrong. After a few minutes Corlette returned with the news that there was a big male lion near the waterhole as well, and that Wessles was keeping an eye on him.

That's her in the mirror



In the mean time the ladies had moved out of the riverbed and into the bushes near the road.



As the lionesses seemed pretty settled, we quickly set off to the waterhole in search of the male lion.
We were not disappointed



Soon after we arrived at the waterhole, he got up and started making his way towards us.
As he came closer he started roaring
The sound was amazing as it reverberated through silence of an African dawn







He eventually reached the waterhole and started to mark his territory






Before carrying on down the riverbed in the direction of his ladies, but unfortunately out of our sight.

[Lisbeth]

Great photos

[Mel]

Rely on Corlette and Wessels to find you the critters I'm always amazed to see how lucky they are with the special stuff and with the cats in particular

Great photos in the morning light

[pooky]

Awesome photos of the morning light in the water stripes.

Beautiful well fed lions.

[GavinW]

We venture into the vast watery north!

Once the male lion had started moving down the river in the direction of the lionesses, we returned to the female lions, and waited for him to arrive.

He didn’t, and the ladies were flat out under a far off tree so we decided to try our luck up north again.

As we drove up, we experienced some large puddles, but noticed that the water in river bed had disappeared

The puddle, or rather dam where we had turned around yesterday was still there, with a fallen tree half way along the pool lying across the road. Luckily we could get past on the side road

Our first animals whilst were travelled along was this Rooi Hartebest and calf on the way up to Lijersdraai.





After Lijersdraai, next up were Mohamed and Sharifa, who had been in Grootkolk. It was great to catch up with them and we told them the location of the lions near Polentswa.

Two male lions were under a tree in the riverbed just before we turned at Kannagaus.





They were pretty much flat lions, and besides moving occasionally, they weren’t up to much.

Back at Lijersdraai we met up with Corlette and Wessels again, who were looking at this bird.
I am always amazed as to the different birds you see in the Kgalagadi especially after rains, and wonder where they come from, and where they go to in dry conditions
Can anyone id this chap for us?





The same applies to this pretty stilt(?)



In the natural pools which had developed on the side of the road, we were shown another Kgalagadi first for us . Bullfrogs