Sixty, and stuck in the sand. KTP summer 2018

[GavinW]

Did you expect KTP to present you with some nice gifts? At your age it must be something not too exciting and that's what you got

That's mean

[Mel]

Hmz... why did you think that the KTP lost its plot?

Just me being greedy. A relatively quiet day on my birthday

I know what you mean... generally we're spoilt

And the KTP can be a diva

[GavinW]

We leave Polentswa and set off to the Auob.

Today we were packing up camp and heading off to the Auob River, more specifically, to two nights at Kalahari Tented Camp, but before we struck camp, we decided to take a short early morning drive, as one does.

The waterhole at Polentswa was quiet when we got there shortly after gate opening time, so we decided to take a quick trip down to Kousant and back. That was also void of any animals.

Returning to Polentswa, we spotted a brown hyena (how strange!!!) on the road just before the waterhole

We followed it as it went down to drink, before disappearing into the distance over the pan.









We really had been spoilt with brown hyena sightings at Polentswa this trip.


We returned to camp, packed everything up and started wending our way down south
We stopped off in Nossob briefly to refuel before carrying on on our way.

Just out of Nossob, we bumped into Monty and her passengers. Always good to catch up with friends from Cape Town

At Dikbaardskolk no-one seemed to have noticed three Scops owls in the tree just next to the toilets
My eagle eyed wife did







Along the Dune Road this steenbok was trying to cause a traffic jam.
He didn’t win



The Dune road was badly corrugated, and I noticed as we were travelling along that the trailer behind us was not sitting as proud as usual
Now I am the perfect ostrich when it come to potential problems, especially when they involve cars and such like.

So I ignored my gut feeling until we got to KTC

Getting out of the bakkie, I decided that I had better check if all was ok.

It wasn’t

The one bolt holding the suspension/leafspring together had sheared and we were travelling along balanced on a tiny bit of broken bolt
We had no choice but to crawl the extra 6 kilometres to Mata Mata to get assistance

Luckily, one of the mechanics at Mata Mata, Michael, provided excellent service





We eventually were able to return to Kalahari Tented Camp for an enjoyable evening braai.

[RogerFraser]

What luck with the Brownies

Beautiful Owls

Not nice to have car problems but well done Michael

[Alf]

Our members seem to always have some sort of car trouble

What a nice place to have your birthday

[Richprins]

My favourite owl!

Ja, members and vehicles!

[Lisbeth]

The umteenth brown hyena

Lovely Owl(s)

You were lucky to have reached MataMata without trouble and that the broken bolt could be fixed

[GavinW]

As always, thanks a lot for all your wonderful comments


Out with the old: Goodbye 2018

Our last day of 2018 started with us heading south for our morning drive to Kamqua and back.

The drive was quiet, a far as sightings were concerned, with the highlight of the morning being these bat eared foxes just past Sitzas.





Debbie loved the high cuteness factor the foxes provided







Carrying on, this giraffe was enjoying an early morning drink





Whilst these springbok showed us why the are called springboks



Watching them prance down the riverbed was quite a spectacle





A little bit further on, this Kori bustard, for once looked at the camera for it’s photograph. They usually turn and walk away, presenting us with only a bum view.





We came upon these two flat lions south of Urikaruus.



We watched them for a while before deciding to turn around and head back to Mata Mata, where we spent some time downloading photographs and recharging batteries. We also bought some ice and wood before returning to camp for the afternoon

A short evening drive down as far as Craig Lockhart was uneventful, besides spotting this giraffe coming in for a drink at the waterhole



Back in camp we watched the last sunset of 2018 whilst enjoying some sundowners on the deck outside our chalet at Kalahari Tented Camp



An ideal way to see out the old year.

[Peter Betts]

Lovely Gavin & Debbie

[Lisbeth]

Beautiful pics of the bat-eared fixes

Also the prancing springboks are not bad