BELOVED KALAHARI - Our Home Away From Home

[ExFmem]

A few more antelopes we encountered...

Kudus

















Hartebeest









Some birdies









Lanner Falcons

[ExFmem]

Hornbills













Jackals














Snuggle buddies





The cheetah we saw on Oct. 14 turned out to be Corinne, whose photo I previously posted with our sighting of her sister, Hanri, earlier in the trip. As mentioned before, she has passed on.

We saw this cheetah on Oct. 15, 2023 on the PM game drive, slightly north of Rooiputs. It walked into the dunes behind the waterhole and laid down pretty far away. As mentioned, none of the cheetahs we saw were "doing anything", but they are still exciting to see.

(Since it was 1 day apart from our Corinne sighting and in the same area, I suppose it could be her, but looks younger to me.)









I'm out of bugs, as we just didn't see too many this trip, perhaps due to the very dry conditions.

[Mel]

Ja, no surprise that you think it might be Corinne. It's her daughter Lizzie Lizzie has left her two generation of cubs quite some time ago and is due getting pregnant again. So far, nada. But she might have taken an outing to one of the KTP meeting hot spots for cheetah (according to the Mills' research): Melkvlei.

At the moment we're not sure, we'll really get to the KTP in April. Encountering major trouble with our booking agent regarding our flight. I fear, they have messed up and screwed up our paid flight.

[Lisbeth]

The sandgrouse is very special IMO (Even more so when there is a jackal around )

Talking about jackals...a lovely sequence.

There is always room for a cheetah

At the moment we're not sure, we'll really get to the KTP in April. Encountering major trouble with our booking agent regarding our flight. I fear, they have messed up and screwed up our paid flight.

I certainly hope not I have never used an agent for anything in all my life. If there is a mistake, I can only blame myself

[Richprins]

Love the king of the mountain, Ex!

If I'm not mistaken there were no kudu in KTP last century?

The grice are very nice too!

I'm sure you'll come right, Mello...

[Mel]

I'm sure you'll come right, Mello...

As of today, we are Still keeping an eye on it though as the rescheduled and confirmed by us flight also disappeared after a couple of days

At the moment we're not sure, we'll really get to the KTP in April. Encountering major trouble with our booking agent regarding our flight. I fear, they have messed up and screwed up our paid flight.

I certainly hope not I have never used an agent for anything in all my life. If there is a mistake, I can only blame myself

Lesson learned... not gonna happen again. Even if the flight is quite a bit cheaper as it happened to be this time around. But I cannot stand the uncertainty. So, we made sure to book the airline for December directly

[Lisbeth]

[Pumbaa]

Thanks so much, ExFmem,

what incredible sightings you had

Finally cught up simply love the gorgeous sleeping wild cat, all the different raptors, the mongoose, the lions at the kill as well as the cheetahs

[ExFmem]

Mel - thanks for that ID! Don't think I've seen Lizzie before. Fingers crossed for your visit! Oh, I see the conversation below your entry - YAY. (I don't ever use agents either, but I don't really know how easy or not things are to handle over there.)

Sis - as always, your comments bring a smile

RP - yeah, the jackals playing on the rock pile were so endearing to watch, just like puppy dogs. Didn't know that about the lack of kudu - they are certainly a majestic addition.

Pumbaa - thanks so much

Moving along...

[ExFmem]

(Just a couple more pics of giraffes before our move to Nossob)

This was the largest group we had seen in a while - 9 total









We arrived near Nossob a couple hours before check-in time, so we pulled into Rooikop to spend leisurely time watching whatever happened by. There was a number of springboks to the right of the water, so we moved over there and parked. There was only one other car, as there wasn't a lot of game at the moment. After little while, all of a sudden the entire herd scattered, running in every direction.

What? Why?!!! We hadn't seen anything at all.

Looking around, much to our delight, was a leopard crouched in the underbrush very close to our car! What luck!









It sat there for quite some time looking at the springbok who had started to regroup farther away, but naturally they never moved closer. The leopard repositioned itself behind another tree, and continued its lookout.





At one point, as they neared closer and closer, it sprang up and appeared ready to pounce,





but the quick springboks once again scattered. It laid back down and waited a very long time, at least an hour, watching as various animals visited for a drink. It turned out it was only interested in the springboks (size?, taste?, fetish?), so made no further attempts.

This afforded me a wonderful opportunity to take some Mammal Challenge shots! (nan's gonna love these... )

The leopard is in the lower far left corner in all the pics.


Leopard/oryx/wildebeest

Leopard/oryx/springbok/wildebeest



Leopard/hartebeest/oryx/wildebeest

Leopard/hartebeest/oryx/springbok



Leopard/hartebeest/oryx/springbok/wildebeest

leopard/hartebeest/springbok