Paradise under stress: KTP October 2019

[Lisbeth]

But rare to see something that is not a steenbok or an ostrich

[Richprins]

Good photography, Gavin.

Maybe the smaller trees have fewer parasites under them?

I love the jackal studies!

[GavinW]

Thanks for all your comments.

My internet was playing up so I never finished the post :


With the lioness walking around, these gemsbok looked on anxiously

Whilst these jackals continued to have a field day.

After leaving the jackals of Morevet, we returned back to Urikaruus where we chilled for the afternoon
That evening, we went for a drive down south as far as Batulama and back, and the only animal of note which we saw was His Majesty laying under a bush next to Urikaruus chalet no 4

A chilly wind had picked up, so we had an early braai and were in bed long before we had planned to be.

[Alf]

Love that sunset

[GavinW]

Monday 30 September 2019

Today we were leaving Urikaruus for Rooiputs, but as we only needed to be out of Urikaruus by 10am, we decided to go for a game drive before returning to pack up camp and head south.

We headed south anyway, as the road up to the north was still badly corrugated.
While bumbling along, it was not long before we saw lion spoor on the road. This elevated the level of expectation in the car, but it all came to nought, as they eventually disappeared off the road, never to be seen again.


Just past Kamqua, this giraffe was looking out into the riverbed.

We turned around at Batulama to head back to Urikaruus, and saw nothing much bar this nice herd of Springbok

[GavinW]

And the road ahead.

To give you an idea as to how dry the park was, here are some photos we took at the picnic spot at Kamqua

[GavinW]

After that, we returned to Urikaruus, packed up and after thanking Eric for his hospitality drove to Rooiputs via the Lower Dune Road and Kiliekrankie, seeing very little bar these gemsbok at a waterhole at lunch time.

[Mel]

Ja, lions are wired strangely when it comes to looking for real shade

Good sightings! And I love those owls

[GavinW]

We arrived at Rooiputs at about 2pm and set up our tent at campsite no 6.

We had been there before so planning as to where we wanted things was a whole lot easier

Once we were finished, we had a shower and an early evening braai.

We didn’t have to travel very far for our evening drive, as we had seen a sleeping lion at the Rooiputs waterhole as we drove in, and now he was starting to stir.

While we were watching him we noticed a few cars parked just down the road to the south.
Being ever curious I went to go and see what they were looking at.

A sleepy African Wild Cat

And then about 50m further on a Southern White Faced owl

And a barn owl in the next bunch of trees

With “gate closing” time approaching, we returned to camp for some sundowners and were in bed early, a bit nervous about the lion at the waterhole, and the new waterhole behind us at campsite no 5.

[Alf]

Strange to imagine getting giraffes there

You talk about gate closing time but there’s no gate at rooiputs