Tales of the Kgalagadi.

[Michele Nel]

Great photos Michelle

Thank you Gavin:) long time no see ....hope you are both well. :)

[Michele Nel]

Catching up here... and loooved those close up owl photos. Incredible shots!

Rock monitor - how cool to see it in camp! Only ever saw one so far and it was also extremely skittish not available for a proper photo shooting session.

Beautiful photos of the kites

Thank you Mel....:) Yes Rock Monitor was indeed special. I will happily trade the Pearl Spotted Owlet sighting that I was hoping to get for the Rock Monitor. :)

[Michele Nel]

We met friends in Twee Rivieren and again in Mata Mata . They had already been up north to Grootkolk and Nossob. They couldn't stop telling me about all the Brown Snake Eagles they had seen up there. Apparently the Brown Snake Eagles outnumbered the Black-chested Snake Eagles which is most unusual . I was very excited about seeing Brown Snake Eagles as although they are just brown birds they make for beautiful photos with their bright yellow eye. By the time we got to Nossob we were 12 days into our trip and I had seen neither a Brown nor a Black-chested Snake-Eagle . I was looking forward to seeing all these Snake Eagles. It took another three days to find our first Brown Snake-Eagle and it was so far away it was hardly worth taking a photo." Being Grumpy" didn't even half describe me at that stage.... In those four days we had travelled all the way up to Union's End as well numerous trips to Polentswa and back down South to Cheleka and not one Snake-Eagle of any kind had been seen. On the fourth day of being at Nossob we finally came across this Juvenile Black-chested Snake-Eagle just outside Nossob Camp. Well what a poser this bird was ...would you like me to look left ..or do prefer my other side ...or would you like me to look straight at you..... A truly lovely sighting and the bird even flew in the right direction for some bird in flight shots. How accommodating can a bird be. :) Needless to say I only saw one more adult Black-chested Snake -Eagle during the rest of our 22 day trip. I am not sure where they disappeared to. And you know from my previous tale a few pages back that there were plenty of snakes around....so plenty of food available.
That just goes to show yet again that the KTP is very unpredictable .....and I guess that is why we can keep going back as no two visits are ever the same . At least having these photos made me get over my Brown Snake-Eagle grumpiness.....

[Lisbeth]

Maybe only one, but quality

[nan]

it's like a starlet.... especially love the second pic

[Richprins]

Very photogenic indeed, Michele!

Ja, I wonder where they all went?

[Michele Nel]

Thank you reading and commenting everybody.

Let's move away from the birds shall we ? Before you all think that is all I ever photograph . :)

On our second day at Nossob we decided to go to Marie's for sundowners. We arrived at 5.45 pm and got ourselves settled with our drinks. It was a lovely evening. I photographed an agama and a ground squirrel. I then photographed the agama again ...and yes you guessed it I photographed the squirrel again. We waited ..we watched and I photographed the agama again. Finally a jackal put in an appearance and another arrived soon after. They were enjoying a drink from the puddle when all of a sudden they looked very unsettled. We watched ..and waited and the next minute a spotted hyena crossed the road in front of us and made it's way to the puddle . Well the jackals moved away very quickly but soon started edging back very carefully . The hyena half-heartedly chased them ....I was hoping for some action here but the hyena wasn't too bothered with the jackals. Eventually he yawned and lay down next to the puddle . He wasn't in the mood for chasing the jackal but neither did he feel like sharing his puddle with them. He finally lay down and the jackals kept a safe distance away from him. Sadly we had to leave them and head back to camp....nevertheless it was enjoyable watching the antics of these 3 animals.

[Michele Nel]

[Mel]

Amazing shots of the brown snake-eagle. I was spoilt with them in my early KTP years and took them for granted. But I haven't seen much of them lately. However, it was extremely dry on our pre-covid visits. So, not so surprising. But interesting how things can turn around in just under two weeks.

Spotties are always a special sighting!

[GavinW]

Nice Michelle
Hope we see some hyenas next month