When the mice can’t play....... KTP June 2018

[harrys]

Awesome photos and great sightings

[GavinW]

15 June: Our last day in the park. Will the KTP deliver?

In the past, and I know I have said it before; the Kgalagadi always seems to give us a farewell present on our last full day in the park. Not sure why, but she does.
So, as we left camp at 7.45 that morning, we were wondering what the day had in store for us.

We were hardly out of camp when I spotted this marico flycatcher all puffed up against the morning chill



Similar to the previous morning, animal sightings between Rooiputs and Melkvlei were few and far between
Today however, the bateleur was with it’s mate, posing in the sun







Otherwise all we really saw were the usual suspects and this lanner falcon








When we got back to Kij Kij we decided to go along the Lower Dune Road as far as Tierkop and back in the hope of spotting yesterday’s male lion
He was nowhere to be seen

We did spot this Kori bustard that also didn’t walk away from us and give us a bum view




And this young black backed jackal was not too sure what we were




We always see steenbok on the dune roads and today was no exception




We turned around at Tierkop, and about 4km from the end of the dune road we spotted two cheetahs up on the dune
Always on top of dunes, or so it seems





We watched the couple as they moved along the dunes in the direction of Kij Kij, and slowly they started making their way closer to the road.









They got to the road, and crossed it behind us



And were quickly over the road and up the dune on the other side.







It was amazing how slowly they moved when they were up on the dunes initially, but once they got closer to us and the road, they moved pretty quickly
After this amazing sighting we carried on back to camp

Just before Rooiputs we came across these suricates foraging on the side of the road













This gemsbok posed proudly on top of the ridge close to camp



Back in camp, it was time to relax before our final afternoon game drive

[Richprins]

A nice variety indeed!

[Lisbeth]

Great pics of the meerkats, I love the little scoundrels

[Peter Betts]

Campsite 3 Rooiputs and the 2 x Cheetah Males ..We have a shorter 10 days there at 3 in April next year

[GavinW]

Campsite 3 Rooiputs and the 2 x Cheetah Males ..We have a shorter 10 days there at 3 in April next year

We are back in December

83 sleeps

[Peter Betts]

Lucky you Gav ..totally green ..but I will never get Jane there in Dec

[GavinW]

The Kgalagadi delivers BIG TIME

After our time in camp, we set out at about 3.45pm for our last evening drive.
And it turned out to be a drive of note!!!!!

We were only out of camp for about 15 minutes, heading towards Kij Kij, when we saw a car stopped on the side of the road, apparently looking at some wildebeest which had just crossed the road.

We stopped and chatted to them, and they were complaining that they had hardly seen any cats on their trip, and were on the way out the park.
They left, and then we noticed that the wildebeest seemed to be looking at something.

Then we spotted him, on the Botswana Road.

A big male leopard Our seventh leopard of the trip, and our second sighting of Botshelo.
(We saw four different leopards in a total of six sightings)

He was walking along the road in the direction of Rooiputs, and then started walking across towards us on the SANParks road









The leopard proceeded to cross over from one side of the road to the other, and up the dune to the west



And then down back towards us again




In the shade




Across the road again



And back into the sun









And so the sighting continued.

Needless to say that when you have a sighting of a leopard which lasts for over an hour, you take a lot of photographs






More to come a bit later

[Richprins]

What DIDN'T you see on this trip?

[Lisbeth]

Wow!!!!!