Africa Wild

You were very lucky to see a cape fox It has a very bushy tail

The unknown raptor is a greater Kestrel, if I don't error

Funny to see a secretary bird on top of a tree. It kind of does not belong there I feel the same about other long-legged birds nesting high up

Do you have double height inside the tent

Looks like a great start . Love the Cape Fox

Think we will be the same with everything being new as well

Think that is a Wildebeest sun block

right it's a (juv. dark eyes) Greater Kestrel (Falconidae) and what a beautiful one

What a chance Falcons, Cape Fox, Owl, Ostrich, Kori, and my preferred all of course

superb photos thank you

it seems you are right, the Antelopes must be elsewhere, far from the burned grass
I hope you will see some predators, mammal predators... even with so small herds

Very strange to see a Cape fox out in such temperatures Probably very confused by the wrong weather at that time of the year.

But a pretty productive drive. Love my owls and am always happy to see one. Haven't seen many greater kestrels on the stretch you drove,
so a good sighting too.

As for the numbers in herds - I find them to vary. There are times when we find several pretty huge herds and then other times there are only a very few. Plus, of course, it depends on where you are. I could imagine that there were more animals further north. And on the Nossob side.

Lisbeth wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 10:16 am You were very lucky to see a cape fox It has a very bushy tail

The unknown raptor is a greater Kestrel, if I don't error

Funny to see a secretary bird on top of a tree. It kind of does not belong there I feel the same about other long-legged birds nesting high up

Do you have double height inside the tent

Thanks for the ID Lis
The tent is a trailer one, so there's a bed on top of the trailer hence the height

RogerFraser wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 7:02 pm Looks like a great start . Love the Cape Fox

Think we will be the same with everything being new as well

Think that is a Wildebeest sun block

Haha... sunblock

nan wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 11:03 pm right it's a (juv. dark eyes) Greater Kestrel (Falconidae) and what a beautiful one

What a chance Falcons, Cape Fox, Owl, Ostrich, Kori, and my preferred all of course

superb photos thank you

it seems you are right, the Antelopes must be elsewhere, far from the burned grass
I hope you will see some predators, mammal predators... even with so small herds

Thanks nan

Mel wrote: ↑Wed Oct 12, 2022 7:24 am Very strange to see a Cape fox out in such temperatures Probably very confused by the wrong weather at that time of the year.

But a pretty productive drive. Love my owls and am always happy to see one. Haven't seen many greater kestrels on the stretch you drove,
so a good sighting too.

As for the numbers in herds - I find them to vary. There are times when we find several pretty huge herds and then other times there are only a very few. Plus, of course, it depends on where you are. I could imagine that there were more animals further north. And on the Nossob side.

The herds definitely varied during our stay on both riverbeds... some days it seemed like there were loads around, others very quiet. We also tended to find that early morning was very quiet and then the herds moved down to the riverbed areas later in the morning.

For our first full day we started out heading up the Nossob road with a very nice sunrise.



Samevloeiing was quiet, but near to the road a kori bustard was wandering along



Arriving at Leeuwdril there were plenty of birds at the waterhole, but a lump behind the waterhole caught my attention - a lioness was lying there in the open. She was surprisingly difficult to spot and a few cars drove past us without realising she was there







Soon she had a scratch and got up to wander off. As she disappeared behind some bushes further back a second lioness got up from an invisible spot and wandered over to join her.





Further along the way we found some gemsbok and wildebeest milling around, and then a jackal curled up





Near to Melkvlei there was a tawny eagle at the side of the road and on closer inspection had a puff adder for breakfast



The eagle was a bit unsure of our car and made a hop further away before deciding we weren't a threat and continued its meal

Catching up, Peej!

What magnificent pics as always, especially the birdies!

And glad you got the foxes, and lions already too!

Interesting the hawk with the snake.

So, the first big cat showed up Beautiful lioness!

But the twany on its prey is even more interesting Also, a different coloration compared to other tawnies in the KTP

Richprins wrote: ↑Wed Oct 12, 2022 6:56 pm Catching up, Peej!

What magnificent pics as always, especially the birdies!

And glad you got the foxes, and lions already too!

Interesting the hawk with the snake.

Thanks RP. Yes was nice to see the lioness. We were hoping she would get up and come drink instead of walking away

Mel wrote: ↑Thu Oct 13, 2022 6:01 am So, the first big cat showed up Beautiful lioness!

But the twany on its prey is even more interesting Also, a different coloration compared to other tawnies in the KTP

Interesting about the colouration Mel... is this one darker than normal?

We had a brief breakfast stop at Melkvlei where unfortunately the toilets were being worked on so they only have porta-loos which were not pleasant. Once done we decided to head back down to Kij Kij and over the lower dune road to see what was happening on the Auob side. Along the way we had a jackal trotting along, some wildebeest at Kij Kij, and a steenbok on the dune road.







Things seemed fairly quiet on the Auob side until just after Monro where a couple of cars were stopped. Someone kindly informed us they were watching a leopard

It was resting in the shade of a tree on the other side of the riverbed, making it a long way off, so these pics are heavily cropped.



But whilst we were there it did get up to adjust its shade position a bit









We figured that it might well drink at Monro later in the day so planned to head back to check later.

On the way back to camp we saw some red hartebeest for the first time. They seemed to be eating dirt which apparently helps their mineral intake



Near Samevloeiing there were a few gemsbok close to the road



Whilst watching them, they clearly looked a bit troubled by something further up from the waterhole so we had a good scan around and eventually a small head gave away the position of a cheetah. Unfortunately it was just too far away to get any decent pics, and it flopped back down in the shade fairly quickly.



Back at camp some of the birds had discovered a feast of insects on the front of our car



And with the temperature again hitting the high 30s it was time to go cool off in the pool