Africa Wild

Hey everyone

We kicked off the school summer holidays with a short camping trip to Mountain Zebra. I've been itching to get back there for a while... partly because it's such a relaxing place with magnificent views, but also because this year their lion population suddenly went up significantly due to a number of new cubs. In such a comparatively small park I would imagine they will have to move some out in due course, but we had high hopes of seeing some of the big cats on the trip.

We arrived late morning to a fairly overcast scene



On our way along to the camp the only sighting of note was a rock monitor walking away from us



The previous week had been very hot, but thankfully the cloud cover made pitching the tent just about bearable



At some point D was sure he had seen a cat in the bushes next to our tent, but H wasn't convinced he had seen anything except twigs

Even so, he still maintained that it was a reddish coloured cat, but not a caracal.

A little while later, S also saw something in the bushes by a drain, so the kids decided to investigate at one end of the drainage tunnel whilst I watched the other end. Shining a torch down obviously spooked it and sure enough out popped a ginger cat

We had absolutely no idea where it could have come from, but it was definitely some kind of feral cat rather than AWC or caracal


After the heat of tent-pitching we enjoyed a dip in the cool pool along with some ice creams

Amazing park indeed

Glad it's more overcast there

They need some rain

Just hang on we will bring some rain

That's a big tent to pitch and it has to stay up

Biiig monitor

A visit to Mountain Zebra again Looking forward to that.

Unfortunately the SO thought that the accomm we got for the KTP for October 2020
was good enough to go anyway, instead of cancelling and re-booking for Addo and Mountain Zebra
Also, it didn't help that friends of our are coming again to KTP this time around.

Aha! well done, Peej!

Clouds are always good!

Ai, are there Africa Wild cats there too, because they interbreed terribly with feral cats?

Still a park highly on my wish list

So will follow this one closely

Alf wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2019 5:27 pm Amazing park indeed

Glad it's more overcast there

They need some rain

Just hang on we will bring some rain

They sure need some rain Alf
I think the 'normal' season for rain is autumn, but it wasn't great this year so they could really do with some soon... Doornhoek dam is looking very low

harrys wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2019 5:31 pm

Harry! Hope you enjoy the trip

Lisbeth wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2019 5:56 pm That's a big tent to pitch and it has to stay up

Biiig monitor

The tent is a trailer tent affair so not that hard to put up... worth the effort if it's a good few nights
It was nice to see the monitor. They are seen more over the summer months, but it's never a guarantee

Mel wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2019 6:00 pm A visit to Mountain Zebra again Looking forward to that.

Unfortunately the SO thought that the accomm we got for the KTP for October 2020
was good enough to go anyway, instead of cancelling and re-booking for Addo and Mountain Zebra
Also, it didn't help that friends of our are coming again to KTP this time around.

Hey Mel, KTP is probably the better option due to the size and variety in the park. But MZNP is always good for a short break as we found out again this time round

Richprins wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2019 7:19 pm Aha! well done, Peej!

Clouds are always good!

Ai, are there Africa Wild cats there too, because they interbreed terribly with feral cats?

No wild cats apparently RP... must have just been a feral doing its own thing

Pumbaa wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2019 9:38 pm Still a park highly on my wish list

So will follow this one closely

Pumbaa, great to have you along as well. I think you would enjoy Mountain Zebra as there's quite a variety of species - particularly birds. I was a bit lazy this time and didn't really try too hard on the bird photography side of things but I'm sure you'll get a good idea of the park

We had heard that lion had been seen on the Link Road so we decided that would be the obvious route for an afternoon drive. It was quite a hot afternoon, so there wasn't much action, and we almost missed the lions entirely except for D being awake enough to spot them on his side of the car



These two are Roy (front) and Nomad (back)... the dominant males in MZNP having been moved from Addo almost 2 years ago. It was great to see them again as they feel like old friends from the number of times we've come across them over the years!

They were almost entirely flat out, but Nomad managed to say hi for a brief moment





However Roy was more interested in finding a comfortable sleeping position





As the lion were clearly very sleepy we ventured up onto the Rooiplaat loop in the hope that they might be a bit more awake when heading back down again. On Rooiplaat we found the usual suspects. This black wildebeest appeared to be moulting



These blesbok had some very newborns





Some other blesbok were posing nicely for us - we often find them very skittish and they normally run away!



A gemsbok was making for a dramatic scene as well