Sixty, and stuck in the sand. KTP summer 2018

[Michele Nel]

and agree with Lisbeth..your Sociable Weaver is in fact a Southern Grey-headed Sparrow. :)

[GavinW]

We left Mbali, Miera’s young female cub hiding away in the calcrete ridge and set off in search of the leopards which we had been told of just past Batulama

It took us just over 15 minutes before we found them about 1 kilometre before Gemsbokplein. I was 8:15 in the morning.

Well we found the traffic jam they were causing.


We eventually got into a reasonable position along the side of the road just in time to see one of the leopards, (We think that it was Miera, but I would like confirmation of this) disappearing over the top of the ridge on the west

Everything was a bit frantic with cars trying to get into position and some leaving, with people saying that both leopards had now gone over the top.
I decided to turn the vehicle around to face back towards Mata Mata when suddenly I noticed more movement a little further to the north.

A young leopard was moving down off the ridge (Miera’s other cub??)

This beauty came down off the ridge and settled behind a bush.

The leopard eventually started moving north and the procession of cars followed

Posing occasionally as it went

Eventually, it became irritated by all the attention and moved onto the road in an attempt to cross over to the other side. One of the vehicles was following it, a little too close for comfort forcing the cat to run away. Idiot!!

It eventually managed to cross the road and made a bee line for the far side of the riverbed.

Really happy with our sightings so far today, we decided that the sighting was over, so I turned around and went to Auchterlonie for coffee and to stretch our legs.

Well we had time for a quick visit to the loo, before we were on the move again.

Why?

Another leopard had been spotted at Kamfersboom

The 5 kilometres to the waterhole seemed to take forever. We got there at 9:21am, just in time to see it at the waterhole drinking.
We had just missed it resting under a bush on the west before crossing over the road and going to drink
But hey, our 4th leopard within 90 minutes

Being carefully watched by the locals.

We then returned to Auchterlonie for our coffee

However, our day was far from over.......tbc

[GavinW]

So I was mistaken, we didn't see Miera but we had seen her two cubs Mbali and Madi We had just missed Miera as she disappeared over the ridge.

The other leopard we had seen was the Auchterloine Female


After the Auchterlonie female disappeared from view, we returned to the picnic site for the coffee we had meant to have had earlier.

In the past, we have seen the resident barn owls in the well at Auchterlonie, but they had been eluding us for a few trips recently
Today was different, perched on a ledge some 5 metres down we spotted it in the darkness

The trip back to Urikaruus was quite, and besides seeing the 4 lions from earlier passed out under a tree near Rooikop, a bee eater mother and her chick were all that we really saw out of the ordinary

Relaxing for a while back in camp, we kept and eye on the water hole, as one does and we were rewarded by spotting some secretary birds coming in for a lunchtime tipple.


Our drive that afternoon, surprise surprise, was south again.
We were hoping to see if any of the leopards would reappear.
No such luck, so after a while we returned to the sleeping lions at Rooikop

The gates close at 7:30 in December and January in the park, and our lazy felines decided to wait until 7:00 before getting up and heading to the waterhole for a drink

As a result, we had a really short period of time which we could watch them before having to leave and travel the 13 kilometres back to camp
They did not disappoint

The two boys also posed nicely for us before we had to leave

Wow what a day


Some animals really know how to mess up ones social life.

We had just settled down with a glass of wine, along with friends Rob and Glynis, with our fire just lit, when we had a visitor to the waterhole.

Itumeleng

We first noticed her only once she was at the waterhole

At 8pm it is getting dark in the Kgalagadi so we did the best we could under the circumstances to get some pictures of her.


All too quickly she returned the way she had come, and disappeared firstly under the next door cabin and then up past the camp attendants cabin behind us

We were blown away

4 leopards in one day. No-one would believe us

The dinner that night was especially enjoyable as we celebrated our insane day in the Kgalagadi
But the day would have been incomplete without a brownie, so just before bed at about 9.30 we had another visitor to the waterhole

[Alf]

Wow what a day

[Mel]

Must have had been pumping with adrenaline that day with all those cats, and especially all those spotted ones!

The Auchterlonie Female would have been my top fav of them. She's such a legend, hope she'll still stay around a bit longer.

Any comments on my previous post regarding the cheetahs?

[PJL]

Wow what an amazing days sightings

[GavinW]

Any comments on my previous post regarding the cheetahs?

Mel, they were in the river-bed where the road crosses the Auob River just south of Kalahari Tented Camp.
They must have mas=de the kill at about 7 in the morning, as I said we missed it, and the photos we got were not great at all.
All we can say is that there were 3 cheetah and killed a springbok

[GavinW]

Time for some of the smaller critters of the desert

The chances of repeating a day like we had just had in the Kgalagadi were slim, so we left Urikaruus the next day with no expectations.
Which, in all honesty, is what you should do every day whilst in the KTP.
The sunrise that morning as we left camp, as usual did not disappoint

We decided to head down south again, and just before you cross over the riverbed after leaving the camp, we came upon these Cape Foxes playing in the early morning sunlight.

A bit further on a bat eared fox was one of a family out still foraging for food in the early morning.



And near Montrose the suricate sentinels were out on duty and on guard, as always.
(These guys made my wife very happy)


Probably the highlight of our morning drive was this black shouldered kite we spotted, having breakfast.
Not too sure if that would be on my breakfast menu, but the kite was having fun

We carried on down as far south as Munroe before turning back.
Silver eye was flat under a tree on the far side of the riverbed, but the other lions were nowhere to be seen.


On the way back to camp we saw this kudu with deformed hooves, which is a result of them being predominately on soft sand. As a result, the hooves don’t wear down as the would normally, and like fingernails left to grow too long this is what happens

The afternoon and evening was spent in camp along with Zazu

That evening we had the most amazing sunset and rain later in the evening

And before we went to bed, our obligatory brownie can to say goodnight

[Alf]

That bat eared fox is so cute

Interesting kudu

Love your view over the braai

[Richprins]

Great selection and lucky with leopard, Gavin!