Not what we expected KTP Dec Jan 2017

[GavinW]

Back on track and ready to go

Hi everyone and thank you for your patience while we were living it up in the Kruger Park.

I will be doing another report on our trip to the Kruger, but suffice to say, I am happy to be returning (in memory only) to the Kgalagadi

To recap, for my sake as much as everyone else’s, we are in Rooiputs and we have got up to 6
January.

We have another four or five days left in the park.

Saturday January 7 dawned and we were on the road at 5.30am as usual.

We drove north towards Kij Kij (how unusual) and first up on the sighting list was an African wild cat, too quick for a photo and then these bokke on a ridge.



Carrying along the road towards a quiet Kij Kij, these two love birds were posing on a tree for us.



This skelem of a jackal was trying to look inconspicuous as we passed by



As I mentioned, Kij Kij was quiet, bar this springbok at the natural waterhole at Kij Kij.
I just love the reflection in the water



At Melkvlei we came across the two lions which we had encountered yesterday flat on the dune.
They occasionally moved, as lions do, so we had a few opportunities to get photos of the brothers.


.






After this male had finished doing rollies on the dune, they went to sleep.



Sleeping lions are boring, so we turned around and retraced our steps.

On the way back to Rooiputs we spotted this Martial Eagle high up in a tree



Tortoises are not often seen in the Kgalagadi, but today we saw a whole lot



Including this baby one



Here you can see just how small it was



We decided to carry on past Rooiputs and were rewarded with a sighting of these two cheetahs sleeping under a tree on the far side of the river



We stayed with them for a while before returning to camp.

[nan]

love the Springbok's shadow
and the reflection in water... and of course Cheetahs

[GavinW]

. and of course Cheetahs

Lots more to come

[Mel]

I'm definitely in for the more cheetahs

But first of all, I have to say you had great sightings! The lions definitely made for fantastic photos and I'm always happy to see bateleurs and martials

And that tortoise is tiny Which makes it totally adorable

[All-Nature]

Such lovely photos and sightings all round!

Stunning silhouette

Gorgeous reflection of the Springbok

[GavinW]

Anticipation

Back at camp we were entertained by this Kalahari Sand snake



Who seemed to be resident around our A Frame, bringing back memories of Petronella the puff adder on our previous trip.



We decided that it was too hot at camp and optioned for the air conditioning in the bakkie instead.

We returned to stake out the cheetah

As we watched them a large herd of springbok came strolling down the riverbed from Rooiputs. We were amazed at how quickly they were moving.

(They were to make their way down all the way to Samevloeiing and up towards Houmoed in the next few days)





That been said, we waited to see if we would get any action from the cheetah.
No such luck. They didn’t even pick up their heads



We decided to head back to camp where we showered and chilled (OK not actually, but you know what I mean)

Our evening drive took us to Samevloeiing and then on to Houmoed

It proved to be fairly quiet with the highlights being this Kori Bustard strutting its stuff





And we got back to our cheetah couple just in time for us to see them get up and move off over the dunes





We were gifted with this sunset on way home



and at it carried on once we were back at camp



We finished off a lovely Kgalagadi day with the traditional braai and glass of wine.

[nan]

I got too this Kori... I baptised it "Kory-viagra"... because I saw it several days in a row... later in my TT

better to have a Kalahari Sand snake than a Puffie

must be an happy owner with a herd like that

Cheetahs leaving

[Lisbeth]

Nice big herd of springboks

As Nan said: "Better a grass snake than a puff adder"

[Mel]

And we got back to our cheetah couple just in time for us to see them get up and move off over the dunes

I gave it another scrutinizing look and can now say for sure that in the photo where both cheetahs are sitting, the one on the right is Fancy
And I think, he's the one walking at the back in the other capture.

[GavinW]

Sometime we make the wrong call

We left Rooiputs at 5.30 on Sunday 8 January with the idea of having a quick stint to Kij Kij and then back to Twee Rivieren as we desperately needed some petrol and wanted to get there as the pumps opened at about 7.30

Just as we were leaving camp, we spotted this cape fox up on the ridge to the right, silhouetted against the morning sunrise.



The road up north was pretty quiet, so it wasn’t long before we were at the Kij Kij waterhole, a lot earlier than anticipated. Just as we passed the waterhole Debbie spotted a male lion far up on the right, and almost immediately after that, a lioness and three cubs headed down and across the road



They crossed the road towards the natural waterhole where they stopped for a drink



The cubs, although cute, seemed to have quite severe mange, which was distressing to see





Once they had finished drinking the four lions turned around and headed off over the dune towards Botswana

[url=https://flic.kr/p/V5GW1i]



The male lion was still around for a while. Here it is displaying a flehmen grimace



As it was still early, and I felt that the lion sighting was over I decided to go a bit further north before turning around.
Big mistake.



Upon our return to Kij Kij, we heard that the whole pride had come down to play and drink at the waterhole just after we had left. They were now flat under a tree out of sight on the far side of the valley
I was not popular.

With mixed feelings of FOMA, we set off to Twee Rivieren as originally planned
Along the way these bokke were play fighting on the side of the road.





Back at Twee Rivieren we discovered to our dismay, that the petrol pumps did not even start working today.
We were in a bit of a predicament

After chatting to a very helpful SANParks lady we arranged that 2 jerry cans of petrol could be filled for us in Askam as they were sending a vehicle through. It would be back later in the day.
We accepted the offer

After doing all the admin type things one does in Twee Rivieren we discussed the situation and thought that the best plan was to go through to Askam as well and to fill up, as then we would not need any more petrol for the rest of our trip. So off we set once again to the metropolises of Askam to fill up, hoping to meet up with the SANParks vehicle so we would be able to collect our other 2 jerry cans, cursing at the inconvenience


We missed him and were back at TR well before he was due back, so we decided to go for a drive to Auchterlonie and back in the interim.