KTP March 2013 - Now I've had the time of my life... *

[Mel]

Courtesy of SO - Video: Jackal chasing the doves.

[Mel]

20/03/2013 – Nossob

We got up at a reasonable time and decided to give a headstart a miss. I’d rather go to the hide and the SO wanted to take a shower. When I went down to the hide I saw our friendly neighbour sitting in the tree right next to the hide. The two people who came in a bit later were quite happy when I told them. Other than that and the lanner who gave the dove a hard time it remained pretty quiet. At some point the jackals started howling and barking and I wondered if the leopard was about to come to drink. I was so focused on seeing that leopard that I had almost missed the arrival of this one



Just love the morning glow in its fur!

The brownie left again, closely watched by the jackals.



By the time we left again (SO had come down as well after his shower), the sun was up and the jackals were howling and barking some more. We decided to check the area where the noise came from as it was close by. Some people were standing at the fence, looking up in a tree. Leopard!? When we arrived at the crime scene we found the dead jackal, but no leopard. However, we saw two cars parked just outside the gate opposite the fence so we went to enquire and found – the leopard walking the fence!





We actually walked all the way around the fence with her until we reached the staff quarter at the back of the camp and the leopard disappeared into the thicket. What an exciting morning! Owl, brownie and leopard! We might as well go back to bed again as the day couldn’t possibly get any better. Well, it did!

[Mel]

At Cubitjie we got the bateleurs roaming the air:





And one sitting in the shade right next to the road and hardly fussed about us right next to him:






I got exactly this one shot of the greater kestrel before it took off. The only one I saw on this trip.



We had decided to go up until Polentswa and possibly until Lijers if we needed a pit stop. At Polentswa we found wildebeests looking somewhat confused about the Sanparks worker seeing to the pump. Franco from Grootkolk was standing there as well and told us he was on his way back to GK after his week off. YAY for us! We had hoped for meeting him there again.

On our way back we found two cars parked at the side of the road about 6 km north of Bedinkt. And they didn’t even have to tell us what they were looking at as the cat was clearly visible while lying there in the shade, albeit a bit far off that’s why I won’t post any pics. Too blurred for comfort. I had actually thought we were looking at a lioness but a check through the binocs revealed it was actually another leopard! A big bloke on top of that. By now I have found out that the guy is called N!xau. The other cars eventually left, hence it was only us and the leopard. We decided to stay to see what the leopard was up to. After a while he got up and moved deeper into the thicket underneath the tree to start feeding on something that looked distinctively like an ostrich. After about 1.5 hours he had enough and moved off further into the dunes, so we left as well. 2 leopards a day – we couldn’t believe our luck!

[Mel]

Back at the camp we saw that our neighbour had moved back into the tree half left of our unit and this time it sat quite in the open.



The afternoon drive saw us going down to Marie again – and we were greeted by this sight:



Once again we moved off when the crowd moved in and went back to Rooikop. Apart from some crows there was not much going on. But the crows seemed to have taken a fancy of us and kept coming closer and closer to the car until I was able to take this shot.



For a change it was shouting its head off, even if the pic suggests that. It was just feeling extremely hot – like us.

A bit later a sole hartebeest came from behind, eyeing us suspiciously and probably annoyed that we were parked next to the waterhole. It got around us eventually, but it took its sweet time to do so….



Back in the camp, SO had lit the fire when the jackals were getting going again. We discussed who of us would go to check the ‘jackal tree’ and who would stay behind to tend to the fire. SO was generous enough to let me go. I’m still absolutely amazed by the fact that I was the only one there at the fence. Well, not quite. She was there as well – feeding on the jackal.



I can’t describe just how awesome it was to watch Balete at such a close range. There was just the fence between us and nobody around to disturb our privacy. I didn’t know what to do really. I wanted the SO to experience this as well but on the other hand couldn’t let go of this once in a lifetime encounter. Luckily, he could guess that I was onto something because I hadn’t returned to the chalet. So then it was the three of us and the SO and I had lots talk about ever after. At some point the both of us retreated quietly, leaving Balete going on with her business. We didn’t see her again after that, but she had given us everything she could to make us more than happy campers.

[Mel]

Hi guys and gals - you are really making it easy for me to plow on with my TT. Thanks for all the lovely comments!

Dewi and Flutts, our Balete encounter certainly marked one of the high-highlights of the trip. All the owls and raptors we saw definitely were
another beeeg highlight for me - and actually the SO as well. He's starting to learn his birds as well and can easily tell a PCG
preching in a tree by now.

nan, to answer you bluntly - we saw 4 leopards on 7 different occasions. Quite spoilt with them this time around.

Lis, jackals are indeed not too yummy and usually leopards will rather only kill them. But this leopard in particular is a rather
small one. At least if the info in the Leopard ID booklet by Matthew Schurch is correct. She must then be 2.5 years old and when
I first saw her, I was actually under the impression that it's a leopard who lost the mother early.

Pumbaa, the cheetahs failed to come to the camp.

[Mel]

21/03/2013 – Nossob to Gharagab

A new day was dawning at Nossob hide.



Today we would be going to Gharagab for the first time. When we got up to Cubitje we found hartebeests at the waterhole



Further north some skittish kudus that would run off to hide away from my intruding camera.



Once again it was a pretty quiet drive, but beautiful nonetheless.

At Kousant a spotted hyena was basking in the sun. No idea why the critter thought it apt to lie out in the sun with temps having reached their 30ies by 9.30 am already.



As the hyena didn’t seem to inclined to move any time soon, we proceeded our journey to Gharagab and found some cute meerkats about half an hour later.





When we got to Lijersdraai, we found the unjured spotted hyena we had already heard about the previous day. At first we thought it was dead as didn’t even flick an ear, but when a second car arrived it lifted its head slightly. The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful, but the way into Gharagab offered some stunning views!





Alas, Gharagab Dam was dry and the present oryx, wildebeest and hartebeest were desperately trying to lick the little water that leaked through the pump.

Arriving at Gharagab, we were greated by another exceptional camp attendant – Eric. The introductory part went something like this: “Hi, I’m Eric and the lions are underneath this bush and that tree.” Say what??? We were sure we were in for a treat later in the day when it had cooled down a little. It was 44°C by then and in the dunes we had recorded a high of 47°C.

So we unpacked and settled down on the deck to let nature take her course.



The lanners were out and about, so I tried my luck with a shot in flight.



Also a bateleur showed briefly.



There were also 6 oryx in the vicinity, eyeing the sleeping lions suspiciously, clearly wanting to go for a drink but didn’t dare to in the presence of the enemy…

[Mel]

[Mel]

During the afternoon the distant lions would move just to take up a different sleeping position or to fulfill their basic needs… The real movement started only around 5.30 am when the first lioness came crawling out of her bed to go to the waterhole for a drink.







It didn’t take long for the male youngsters to follow suit.





And big daddy eventually made an appearance as well.



But they all flopped down again in the shade to the right side of the waterhole.

However, I was eager to see the little ones as there were three cubs with their mum hidden underneath a bush to our left. It took them until 6.45 pm before they made their way down to the waterhole and unfortunately the light had gone from there.

[Mel]

With courtesy of the SO here are some videos to watch as well:

Father and sons

Lioness and cubs

The admonishing

Cubs drinking

TLC

Could it be any better?

[Mel]

22/03/2013 – Gharagab

Today was camp time – for two reasons: a) we had a flat tyre as Eric had related to us the previous evening and b) Dankbaar, the only other waterhole in the closer area (4 km from the camp) was dry anyway. But we couldn’t care less. We had books to read and a waterhole in front of us. It was a beautiful day and we had had a splendid sighting the evening before. But that splendid sighting has chased away most of the other waterhole visitors… Still, the oryx were able to come to drink now and we got some hartebeest as well.





Later a secretary bird came to wash its feet.



And a hoopoe and a breeding female red-billed quelea made for a nice change regarding bird sightings.





As we had to get moving the next day, it was essential that we got our tyre changed. Thanks to our extremely helpful neighbours from unit 1 – Kobie and Annette – and from Eric that chapter was closed with an hour. But it did cause some anger as we found our spare tyre wasn’t an intact one either. It had been fixed with a plug. Plus the plug wasn’t sitting on the track but at the side, making it likely to pop out eventually. SO was furious with the rental guy and would phone him the next day from Nossob to order two intact, unfixed tyres to be brought up to Twee the day after. But that’s another story coming up then…

As it was hot again and the critters laid low, so I thought it a good idea to do the same while Spots would man the waterhole with the instruction to wake me up for something interesting – which included raptors of all sorts. I had hardly dozed off when I heard him calling my name. All excited I was fully alert instantly but I don’t think that “There is a snake in our unit.” was exactly what I had waited to hear… Spots went to fetch Eric for help while I was eyeing any possible movement meticulously. Nothing… Eric cam with the snake stick and after describing what the snake looked like he deemed it to be a Cape cobra. Uh, nice. Just not in the unit. Despite all efforts undertaken by Eric, the snake wasn’t seen again…

Otherwise the day was rather quiet but the evening produced some brown hyenas. There must have been at least two as we saw them together. But as they were disappearing to our left and a brownie came in from the right only a few minutes later, I reckon there were even three.

The jackals are pretty tame at that camp and I think this pic makes it safe to assume that there is a reason for it…