When the Lions are away, the Leopards come out to play (April 2019)
Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2019 5:23 pm
6th April 2019 Twee Rivieren to Urikaruus
I know the title sounds as if we had seen tons of leopards. We did not. But compared to what most of the other visitors reported seeing,
the SO and I felt quite lucky with what we got. Mind you, on average we had one good sighting per day - compared to three or more on most of our previous trips. Sometimes it would be more than that while other days went without even the glimpse of a hyena or such. Lucky for us, we have been to the Kgalagadi so often that the pressure of having to see something is gone and by now we are able to fully relax and just enjoy the silence and the ongoings of the smaller creatures in camp.
Also, since the temperatures were really pleasant this time around, it meant that it cooled down quite quickly after sunset. That's usually the time that we take our daily showers which can be quite a rush because it often collides with dinner preparations. But since we hardly ever went out in the late afternoon since there wasn't much to see anyway, the shower-dinner arrangement went smoothly and greatly helped to really unwind.
We entered the park around 4.15 pm on the 6th April and had booked Urikaruus for the first two nights of our trip. With gate closing being at 6.30 pm there wasn't much time to spare on our drive up after the checking-in process, deflating the tyres and fuelling up. So we decided to travel at max speed allowed to be able to stop if something came up. It soon got very clear that we were in for a quiet trip. From about Auchterlonie northwards the Auob was devoid of plants and therefore antelopes. I remember that we once entered a park that resembled more a moonscape than a healthy environment for wild animals but never ever in autumn. It felt quite odd.
Anyway, first deed was to check the owl tree just out of Twee Rivieren and after a couple of trip, the Verreaux's preched in its old abode again.
That was the only time we should see it. We checked every time we passed, but obviously there was a more comfortable tree around somewhere...
Already in the Auob I found my first black-shoulder kite.
In contrast to previous trip there were quite a few around again.
And the final sighting in daylight - a tortoise:
I was quite surprise because I remember seeing them mostly after some rain. But there you go....
I know the title sounds as if we had seen tons of leopards. We did not. But compared to what most of the other visitors reported seeing,
the SO and I felt quite lucky with what we got. Mind you, on average we had one good sighting per day - compared to three or more on most of our previous trips. Sometimes it would be more than that while other days went without even the glimpse of a hyena or such. Lucky for us, we have been to the Kgalagadi so often that the pressure of having to see something is gone and by now we are able to fully relax and just enjoy the silence and the ongoings of the smaller creatures in camp.
Also, since the temperatures were really pleasant this time around, it meant that it cooled down quite quickly after sunset. That's usually the time that we take our daily showers which can be quite a rush because it often collides with dinner preparations. But since we hardly ever went out in the late afternoon since there wasn't much to see anyway, the shower-dinner arrangement went smoothly and greatly helped to really unwind.
We entered the park around 4.15 pm on the 6th April and had booked Urikaruus for the first two nights of our trip. With gate closing being at 6.30 pm there wasn't much time to spare on our drive up after the checking-in process, deflating the tyres and fuelling up. So we decided to travel at max speed allowed to be able to stop if something came up. It soon got very clear that we were in for a quiet trip. From about Auchterlonie northwards the Auob was devoid of plants and therefore antelopes. I remember that we once entered a park that resembled more a moonscape than a healthy environment for wild animals but never ever in autumn. It felt quite odd.
Anyway, first deed was to check the owl tree just out of Twee Rivieren and after a couple of trip, the Verreaux's preched in its old abode again.
Already in the Auob I found my first black-shoulder kite.
And the final sighting in daylight - a tortoise:
Up to a point, though! 
