Forgive me if the rest of this blog is words only as time is not allowing me to complete it with images. However, all images will be available in my Kalahari 2008 Album.
12th May - Monday
We were out of camp at 7 am again today. We drove towards Mata Mata Road as there had been Cheetah with cub sightings the previous day. We did not find her, but again saw a male lion walking along the dune side. We followed him in beautiful first light as he walked towards the sun, mainly with his eyes closed ! He crossed over and up beside the riverbed .
By now several other vehicles had caught up with us and they started to scramble around. One man, travelling as a passenger climbed out of his window and stood on the window sill, leaning right across the roof to get photo's ! His name was Jurgen, from Germany !! It was suggested he got back in his vehicle, we did not see him do this again so hopefully he realised his error and for this reason I will not post this on the gallery of shame.
We decided to leave the lion and proceed further to try and find the cheetah without luck. We stopped at Melk Vlei picnic spot, took a short dune ride then turned back to camp. Just before the park gates we saw a tiny tortoise crossing the road and watched as he clambered over corregations and stones, getting cast on top of a larger stone, with his legs flailing ! Jonathan rescued him and popped him into the veldt before anyone could run over him.
We ventured back out at 3.30pm, this time along the Nossob road but saw nothing. We watched for a while at a waterhole and saw a lanner falcon take a pigeon in flight, no pics - but watch this space later ….! A couple of Secretary birds entertained us for a while, we then started to drive back. Our best sighting of the afternoon were a pair of Pygmy Falcons in a tree next to the road. The female appeared to be eating a large insect.
Back at camp we started to pack up for our departure to Nossob the next day.
13th May - Tuesday
Packed up and left camp by 7am on the way to Nossob. We saw a squirrel family awaking from their burrow and waiting for the sun to warm them up. Just past the squirrels, a Jackal awoke and stretched lazily.
We came across a Kori Bustard dust-bathing. I am not even going to mention how Jonathan tricked me into missing it flying !
A tawny Eagle looked down on us from it's perch in a dead tree.
We then passed 4 juvenile male lions in the shade of bushes between Kij Kij and Melk Vlei, obviously recently ousted from their pride. They were not too happy to share time with us.
When we arrived at Melk Vlei and had a brief stop, there was new lion spore everywhere, especially around the ablutions, and the canvas screen windows in the ladies block were ripped out - with lion spore all around the window gap ! We guessed these delinquents to be the 4 juvenile males we had seen a few minutes earlier.
We watched a Jackal toying with some old bones at Kij Kij and Ostriches dust-bathing and chasing each other around.
The road was now horrendous, and Jonathan was trying to teach me Afrikaans (or French?) I think.
We stopped at Dickbaardskolk for a break and braai where there were several disgusting Armoured Ground Crickets roaming around and eating each other - yuck !
The road corrugations got worse towards Nossob, far worse than last September. Because of these it made it imperative to travel toward the top of the speed limit to prevent the vehicle from shaking to bits, but we rounded a bend to see two 4x4's speeding so fast that the lead vehicle almost lost control on the bend and came snaking towards us before regaining control - a very hairy moment ! It was all too fast to even take reg. numbers. Something must be done about the state of the roads and/or speeding drivers.
We arrived at Nossob around 3pm and set up camp quickly as we had booked a night drive which left at 5pm. The night drive guide (Francois) spoke to the group in Afrikaans as I was the only Brit so it was a bit strange for me to sit through an obviously interesting narrative without understanding hardly a word. Others did translate the more interesting bits for me. We did not see much on the drive. The best sighting was a tiny gecko which Francois caught, and a Cape Eagle Owl.
What was most interesting was to hear about the problems with the Eland last September. Apparently there are around 5-6000 Eland in the park ! They usually stay in the dunes feeding off Melons and such, but because of the lack of those last year, they came to the waterholes and drank the salty water, which itself became contaminated with Wildebeest fouling the waterholes, causing toxins to build up in the Eland and due to their low condition they then died in large numbers.
Last year the total rainfall in the park from January-September was only 1.5ml. This year, just from January to May, the rainfall was already 450ml . The entire park was rich in vegetation. Nossob looked like wheat fields. Even in a vehicle high off the ground, it was hard to see over the grasses in many places. The sour grass was so tall it hid all but the tallest of animals. Sometimes, Gemsbok by the roadside were only visible by their horns.
We retired to our tent tired and weary that night, but it was not long before the African night sounds took over. As usual at Nossob the Jackals raided camp after lights out, upending the still non-animal proof rubbish bins around the camp. I cannot help but wonder why it is so difficult for SanParks to make all the bins jackal proof.
After the Jackal raid, a screech owl made it's presence known and around 2.15 am the Lions began their telegraph calling, with the most amazing vibrating roars. It sounded as though they were at the camp waterhole at one stage. This continued on and off for about 2 hours. At around 3.30 am I was wide awake and had to visit the ablutions, some distance away - only on the way back did I ask myself the sense in that call of nature !
We woke up later than usual the following morning.
14th May - Wednesday
Late up today and out camp at 7.20am. We had heard about a Cheetah with young cubs near to Cubitjie Quap and Lions with young cubs at Marie Se Draai after catching up again with Gavin , and Derek who we met when travelling up from TR, so set off to try and find the Cheetah. Near to Cubitjie Quap we came across a lioness limping along the road, sporting a badly injured rear leg. She was obviously not in the mood to be followed so we left her alone to go on her way. We were later informed she had been bitten on her hip by a puff adder several months earlier and had only managed to survive so far because the pride had young cubs so were not moving too far. Now that the cubs were more mobile she was starting to get left behind.
We did not see the Cheetah and decided to return to camp.
We were back out of camp at 2.30pm and drove as far as Polentswa waterhole.
Another Gemsbok with a seriously deformed horn covering most of it's face and we saw large herds of Red Hartebeest in this area.
The road north of Kwang was even worse. We did battle on but grass and broken waterholes made good sightings hopeless. At Polentswa we saw our first Bateleur of the trip so far, an adult and juvenile. We then turned back to camp, deciding, as others in camp had done before, that this would be our only venture north of Kwang due to the very bad state of the roads.
Sightings on the way back, Bateleur (3), Tawny Eagle, Martial Eagle, Black-breasted snake eagle, Black-shouldered Kite, and an orange sand lizard; Wildebeest and fighting Gemsbok, Springbok and Jackal.
We enjoyed warm Rossterkoek for tea with Strawberry jam - yum !
That night, I was awoken again at 2.30am by a Jackal standing right next to my tent, crunching chicken bones in my ear before standing and howling for several minutes !
15th May - Thursday
This morning we set out smack on 7am and drove to Marie Se Draai. We arrived to see the very young lion cubs (about 3 months old) with their slightly older cousins in the riverbed waiting for their mother's to return. The light was very bad for photo's streaming straight towards us higher up than the riverbed/waterhole and the cubs soon took shade in the bushes and a fallen tree beside the road, making it even more difficult to cope with the high contrasts. That and the car jostling amongst visitors meant we only got a few shots.
We stayed briefly and then drove back to camp and out on the North road to try and see the so far elusive Cheetah, but we had apparently missed them by about half an hour.
Again we saw many raptors and at last I saw my very first Cape Cobra as it hurriedly crossed the road and disappeared in the long grass before we hardly had chance to stop and poke the cameras out. Just managed the tail end ! OK I now believe snakes do exist in the KTP !
We returned to camp for lunch and had a walk around the campsite with cameras. It was good to get pics of the smaller birds and butterflies.
We saw a White-faced Scops Owl high in a tree, and another Cobra in the bush right behind one of the chalets that sit just behind the shop ! Can you believe that earlier we had witnessed some very young children sitting in the sand in front of their chalet alone , playing in the sand with buckets and spades ! I can only assume they were Brits !
Later on our afternoon drive we saw many small snakes on the road, or by the roadside, a scorpion, a variety of small birds at Cubitjie Quap, but not much else.
During the night was quieter except that I was woken by the blood-curdling screams of something being killed. I heard no predator sounds so possibly a leopard kill.
16th May - Friday Raptor kills
We awoke to a beautiful sunrise this morning, and were out the gate first thing again determined to find the Cheetah and cubs. We spent 2 hours plus driving up and down between Cubitjie Quap and Kwang, which is where they were regularly seen, with no luck.
It did give us chance to witness many of the smaller creatures and different small birds which tend to swarm in flocks to CQ waterhole. We sat on the roadside and watched Brants Whistling Rats and Gecko's.
As we were slowly driving South we met a Bateleur on the road with a fresh Gecko kill. We stopped to take pics as it hopped around, swinging the unfortunate gecko from it's beak. Once it had finished it's prey it lumbered towards us and slowly took off as only this big bulk of a bird can, flying straight towards us as if it were going to actually torpedo into us ! Great photo opportunities, it was too close to fit in the lens !
We saw more Eagles in flight, Secretary birds dancing around at Kwang, other Bateleur, a Vulture skipping along before taking off.
Whilst parked up at Kwang watching the lazy goings on around the waterhole we watched a pair of Lanner Falcons, occasionally attempting to catch the doves that noisily flocked down every so often.
Jonathan was determined to capture a Lanner killing a dove in mid-flight ! right ….
I saw a Jackal approaching in the distance head-on towards the waterhole and locked onto him with my lens. I don't think Jonathan is quite so fanatical about taking Jackal pics as me <grin>. As I watched the Jackal through my viewfinder, he suddenly made a speedy dash towards us, I started to release the shutter on rapid bursts. I was now quite excited at his approach, kicking up dust and at full stretch . I yelled to Jonathan to not miss it, "Look, Look!" Jonathan replied, "Got it, Got it" and we were both firing away , hmmmm
Then the Jackal suddenly veered around in a rapid arc and shot off to the side. I forgot to stop firing enough for my camera to realise I was locking onto a sideways moving target and not an oncoming Grrrrrr.
It all happened so fast, and then I saw the Jackal was actually chasing the Lanner , which was flying close to the ground. This was even more exciting as I got Lanner and Jackal both in the frame - I was trying to contain my excitement. Even more so when I realised the Lanner had caught a dove ! The Lanner had to release the dove or get caught by the Jackal and the Jackal managed a swipe at the birds before they both escaped. The Jackal actually had a feather in his mouth when the chase ended. This all happened in a few seconds.
I was still reluctant to take my focus off the Jackal as Jonathan was by now yelling at me to look at what he had taken and I said NO, wait ! His insistence eventually paid off and to my disgust (grrr) he had the Lanner in flight with the dove in it's talons, in focus !
Neither of us realised we were both focusing on a different subject until it was all over. As for me, because of the sudden change in direction of the Jackal I did not get one in-focus shot Grrrrrrr. Well done though Jonathan !
We again looked for the Cheetah on our way back to camp with still no success. She was not sighted by anyone today. We saw a very large herd of Red Hartebeest.
Back at the camp hide we watched a couple of White-backed Vultures and an Abdim's Stork. We got nice Abdim's Stork in the tree near to the hide - a first sighting for us both.
We had a quieter evening today and enjoyed a natter and drinks over the braai with our neighbours, billyf - nice to meet you both billy! We had an early night, was much warmer tonight.
17th May - Saturday In search of Cheetah
Lions roaring again in the night but not so close as before. We were up early and set at the hide again until gates opened. We drove to Marie Se Draai to try and see lions as we had been told they had killed a large Wildebeest in the riverbed the night before and were seen on the night drive. We could not see them so drove around the loop. Saw a pair of White-backed Vultures nest building. We came back to camp and out onto the north road by 8.15 am, continuing our quest to find the Cheetah again.
We found the injured female lion under a bush, lying flat out and breathing heavily. She was the lame lioness that had the puff adder bite and was now looking very sick. We suspected her presence close to CQ was preventing the Cheetah sightings as it was near where the Cheetah usually brought her cubs down from the dunes.
We returned to camp and I began writing up my journal when Bucky came over to say there had been sightings of the Cheetah on the road, moving towards camp and she was there in the area, so we skipped lunch and went back out again to find her.
Once more we spent some time driving up and down the road near where she had been seen and then suddenly I spotted her beside the road on the riverbed side in very long grass. We only managed a few scant pics before she moved deeper into the undergrowth and off towards the riverbed, but we did see all 4 cubs ! We then drove to the top of the lookout just south of CQ and watched her and cubs walk to the riverbed and lay down near a dead tree, the female looking back up the riverbed.
A sizeable Springbok herd were moving slowly her way in the distance so we watched and waited… and waited…. And waited. As the herd got nearer they then decided to rest, lying down too far from our Cheetah mom. We stayed on top of the lookout for 3 hours in total. The Springbok rested for about 2 hours before moving toward the Cheetah again, and all this time we had not seen the Cheetah move or glimpsed her at all.
Suddenly as the Springbok got nearer to her, the tail enders of the herd were spooked by something and started to run forward from the back, setting the front of the herd off. We knew then that she would have to make an early move or miss out completely and sure enough she sprang into action and made her bid to catch her prey, but the herd were still not close enough when they ran so her attempt failed. She stood panting for a couple of minutes and then walked into the shade of a tree. After a further 10 minutes she called to her cubs who obediently came out of the grass and ran over to join her. From our lookout we had been joined on and off by a few other campers, but only a nice couple from the Netherlands who had been traversing the whole of Africa for a year and "Jurgen the German" stuck it out with us until the action occurred.
Although they were too far off for photo's I know Jonathan got some video footage . He also managed some better shots of the Cheetah and cubs before she vanished in the undergrowth.
What a great sighting ! By now it was 4.30 pm and we had booked again on the night drive which left at 5pm so we set off back. We only had time to quickly grab warm clothing before the night drive began.
Back at camp we learned that Francois had seen the lion pride on a kill earlier that afternoon when he was grading the road (aha!) and in fact the youngsters had tried to catch the tyre as he drove along, so we headed first of all back towards Marie Se Draai, but alas the pride had dispersed and were not found, so we then drove back to camp and out on the north side to check for the Cheetah. We found the Cheetah with her cubs walking towards us on the road, only about 2km from camp. What a thrill !
We saw the family twice in one day. On return to camp we saw a Barn Owl in the tree by reception.
That night (our last at Nossob) we again heard Lion roars and just before dawn 2 Jackals voicing the leopard warning bark.
Sunday - 18th May
We rose early and were out gates at 7am again, driving north to try and see the Cheetah once more but no sign of her so we returned and headed south to Marie Se Draai. Just outside the camp gates were so many fresh predator spoor it was like a puzzle to tell what was happening. We could make out Lion, possibly Leopard, Jackal and Hyena and Cheetah ! We got a glimpse of the lions in the distance under a tree and well hidden but did not find the Cheetah. We knew that the Lions were moving up from the South towards camp and that the Cheetah was moving towards camp from the North and were more than a little worried about the two predators meeting up, knowing it would not be good for our Cheetah and cubs if they did.
Little did we know then that the Cheetah was seen on the webcam on this day and that was the last reported sighting of them since. There was subsequently a report of a cheetah had to be shot near camp on (the 19th?) because it had a broken back, and it was not known if it was caused by lions or speeding motorist. For a while we feared this was our Cheetah mom and if so her cubs would not have survived either. Thankfully, later visitors to the park were able to take pics of the two Cheetah Mom's with Cubs close to Nossob camp, so it does look as though this successful Cheetah mother and her cubs survived !
We returned to camp at 8.30 to pack up to be hit by a sudden mini sand storm ! We were taking pics of squirrels checking the weather from their burrow when the storm hit and my camera got sand blasted ! We also got pics of a Pale Chanting Goshawk drinking at our water tap. We broke camp at 10.30 to drive back down to Twee Rivieren. This visit, Nossob did not really deliver as the other camps had, probably because of the abundant vegetation.
We saw very little on the drive back after leaving Nossob, just the odd buck, Ostrich, a few PCG and other raptors. The park suddenly seemed devoid of life.
On return to Twee Rivieren, in the tree just before the gates we came across a small traffic jam. Once we managed to manoeuvre forward a little closer the fuss was about a Cape Cobra raiding the large Sociable Weaver's nest in a tree. I know again that Jonathan got far better pics of this, the parked vehicles were preventing me getting much more. We watched over the roof's of the amassed vehicles as the Cobra fell from the nest and slithered off into the undergrowth. I know it looks as thought I got out the vehicle and laid on my stomach to get a shot, but I can honestly say I did not !
We left Twee Rivieren at 5.30pm and were pleased to find the road in good order, now right from the camp entrance, much progress had been made since our arrival 2 weeks previously, enabling us to have a speedier return to our overnight stop at Spitskop, arriving at 7.30pm.
That night it was strange trying to sleep when I was awoken by an alien noise outside, and as I regained consciousness I realised it was an aircraft overhead - civilisation had returned……
This concludes the end of my report, I hope you have got some sinsight to how magical this wonderful place is and why I cannot wait to return again.
