Sixty, and stuck in the sand. KTP summer 2018

[Dindingwe]

I miss the Kgalagadi when I see all your pictures.
Great Leopard and ion sightings !
Never seen a Cape Fow, they are so cute and cunning

[Lisbeth]

Silver eye is still doing well I saw him two years ago with two females. What a nuisance those hooves must be for the kudu; never seen that before

Your leopard day was to say the least amazing Urikarus will always be my favourite place in the KTP

[Mel]

Zazu... is that the name you gave the hornbill? And what about the other then? (We could turn it around in Zuza )

Great sightings all around again

I hadn't been aware that the brownie was such a regular feat at Uri now. We did see it on several occasions but definitely not every night. It was coldish though, when we were there. Might explain it.

Thanks for the info on the cheetahs.

[GavinW]

Welcome (and not so welcome) visitors:

One of the reasons as to why Urikaruus is one of our most favourite spots, is that you never know at any given time as to what will arrive at the waterhole whilst you are there.

It was our last morning at Urikaruus before we were to head south to Rooiputs for the last few days of our trip, and we woke early.
Debbie decided to go downstairs to put the kettle on for coffee, but was up again in a flash

Camera, light where are they. There’s something at the waterhole!

Well, if anything, that got me going and out of bed.

A cheetah had come down to the waterhole to drink. It was still dark so instead of photos, we took videos instead. The photos which we do take in the dark generally don’t come out too well.

(5.20 in the morning for those asking!)

This is the best of the bunch:

The cheetah eventually moved off down the far side of the riverbed in a southerly direction.
That was a cool start to the day!

The “gates” open at 5:30 in January so it wasn’t long before we had got ourselves sorted and were on our way, a bit later than planned

We decided to go south first to see if we could spot it, as our original plan was to go north for a short drive before heading south to Twee Rivieren

The Cape Foxes were out and about once again near the river crossing

but the cheetah was nowhere to be seen, so after a while we turned and went north as per our original plan.

The trip up north was quite, with us seeing all the usual suspects including kudu, giraffe and large springbok herds


Having gone as far as 14th borehole, we needed to turn around to get back to Urikaruus before 9am to pack and shower so we had to head back.
We were delighted to spot the Barn Owls back in their nest at the southern exit of the 14th borehole loop and at 13th some crows decided to perch on the Jap.


We got back to Urikaruus with time in hand to pack up, shower and thank Eric for his hospitality before travelling down to Twee Rivieren.
There we did all the admin type things, like phone home, purchase wood and ice, download photos and recharge batteries before we left for Rooiputs.

At Leeudril, a secretary bird, a tawny and a gemsbok were having a bit of an altercation


We got to Rooiputs and drove up to campsite no 6, which we had been allocated to find a deserted tent parked off under the tree just where we wanted to pitch our campsite.

A few choice words followed.

I went to inspect the tent, to see if anyone was home. Nope, and was all keen to start dragging it away to another spot when I thought that maybe I should check in with a camper van parked off in campsite no 5 in case they knew anything

Sure they did. The campers were part of their party who were booked into Rooiputs for two nights but they had gone to TR for a swim.



'But we are booked on this site' I insisted

Disbelief on both sides until we each produced our permits. They had been allocated no 6 for the first night and no 1 for the second.

Sorry for you.

Well sorry for us too, as we now had to wait until the wanderers returned from the swimming pool.

Eventually it happened and the four youngsters casually carried their tent and most of their camping equipment over the field to no 1, some 500m away

All good. A bit frustrated, we eventually had our home back up albeit a bit later than planned.



We were just settling down to enjoy a nice cool drink when the resident from no 3 drove over and casually said “You do know about the lion under the water tank, don’t you?”
WHAT????

Sure enough, the whole time we were having our campsite issues, Simba was fast asleep under the water tank, not 80m away

To say we were skrikked is and understatement

Nevertheless he soon moved off and we could enjoy our evening sunset at Rooiputs

as well as our own private lightning show.

Needless to say, we were pretty nervous around the camp fire that night..

[Lisbeth]

80 meters is not very much

Lovely pic of the cheetah and the owl

[Alf]

Lion so close by

Looks like a nice setup you have

[Mel]

Ag... "wild" campers again

I have yet to see a cheetah at Urikaruus. They've never ever graced me with a visit so far

[GavinW]

5 January 2019: A day to remember

We were woken to the sounds of lions roaring in the distance. The roars were quite far away and seeming to be moving off to the east, so by 5:30 when we were ready to leave for our morning drive, we decided to ignore the lions and head north up to Kij Kij

The road up north was just about void of anything with a heartbeat until about 2 kilometres before Kij Kij, we spotted a very sleepy Verreaux’s Eagle Owl trying to be as inconspicuous as possible in a tree.


We arrived at the kij Kij waterhole at 6:20am to find a cheetah quenching it’s thirst before the heat of the day. I was super excited, as cheetah are one of my most favourite predators and to see one close up is always special

She drank for a while before moving out of sight into the dunes at the back of the waterhole.

The drive to Melkvlei and back was uneventful, and on our return to Kij Kij I decided to take a short drive up onto the Dune road to see if the cheetah could be spotted.

We didn’t see it, but we were alerted to a leopard which we had just missed on the road, which was now parked off under a bush a bit further along
We did manage to briefly spot the cat moving further away, and after searching and peering into the bush for another sighting, we called it a day and decided to return back to camp to do some very necessary housekeeping around camp

It was mid afternoon by the time we had finished sorting out our life back at camp, and I decided that an early braai before an afternoon drive would be an excellent idea.

So I lit the fire.

Then Debbie says, "I just want to go up to the waterhole behind campsite no 5 to see if anything is there."
"Let’s take the bakkie ,"I said, and so we both climbed into the car, Debbie driving

She drove up towards the water tank in the opposite direction to what I had done the day before, and I started to worry.
The sand just near the crest of the hill behind no 5 was really soft and deep.

No, don’t worry; she’s a rally driver’s daughter I said to myself

Well like father, in this (and in this one and only case) not like daughter.
We got stuck in the sand

What followed after that is probably best left unsaid.

Needless to say, after much revving, digging, destroying bakkie floor mats, and a lot of gnashing of teeth we were both really stressed, covered in red sand and well and truly stuck

We had no option but to wait for help so someone could pull us out.

Hot and bothered we decided that while we were waiting, a shower would help calm the domestic tension, which is what we did, taking the car keys with us to the shower

We finished showering and Debbie, feeling a lot better said. “I got us into this mess, I’m going to carry on digging”

I wasn’t about to argue, so instead I decided to take a walk over to campsite no 3, where I could see a car parked to see if I could get any assistance.

By this time our braai fire was out anyway.

I was half way down the road when I looked up to see a big, and I mean big, male lion walking up the road heading straight for my wife, who had her head down and was digging frantically under the car.

I started running across the open field shouting “Debbie, Debbie,Lion, Lion “

Luckily she heard me and looked up. “Don’t run!’ she shouted in reply, knowing that cats like to chase running prey, before jumping into the car.

I ran to our tent, and Debbie was in the car

The lion went and laid down under the water tank, some 20m away from the bakkie, well and truly stuck in the sand

Great, guess how we are spending the night!

Unbeknown to me, our neighbours in no 1, a Danish couple, with two children had arrived home just as I was running across the field and had thought something was wrong so had come up to investigate

I jumped into their vehicle and told them what had just happened. After showing them the lion, now dozing in the shade, we needed to get Debbie out the bakkie.

After getting up behind our bakkie, we decided that the cat was really asleep and Debbie crept, (Is that the word for moon walking) to the other car and quickly jumped in.

The expletives coming out of her mouth must have scarred the kids for life!

Ok now we were safe, life seemed a lot rosier.


Having nothing else that we could do, we took a drive up to have a look at Simba
Who, after a while, got up and went for a drink at the waterhole down the hill

We hoped that he would move off, but not today.

After quenching his thirst, he turned around and returned to his comfortable spot in the shade of the water tank


The Danes were not comfortable in trying to pull us out of the sand, given the situation, I don't blame them, so we both returned to our respective campsites

After a while, back at the tent, and waiting for the lion to move, and/or someone to return to camp to assist us,Johan and Johan , a father and son came into the camp.

They were just coming in to have a look at what the campsite looked like.
Normally, I curse these intruders, but today was different.

After eventually finding the keys, still in the shower, the boys from Bloem, who are made tough, had after two attempts ,(with the lion in very close proximity), pulled us out.

The relief that afternoon as I lit my braai fire for the third time was palpable

After relaxing, a bit, and having a bite to eat, we decided that an evening drive down to Leewdril and back would be the order of the day.

What we were blessed with, were three very far away honey badger sightings, and vistas of That Tree in evening sunlight


We were in bed early that night, thankful that we were ok and safe

[Alf]

[PRWIN]

GavinW that sand on top have caught a lot of people, Did you not know about that water hole, it is fresh drinking water and not salty, the cats are going to love it as it is starting to show, which is going to be dangerous for people camping at 5 and 6 if they are not aware of that water hole, It was sunk in August last year if I'm correct by the lodge for fresh drinking water for them".

Great photo's so far