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Here is another pic of the lioness and her cubs running down to greet the others at the waterhole. We missed them actually uniting (with a lot of animation), but the memory is special


Tuesday 6 May
Mata Mata to Nossob - or so we thought
(Wannabe nerd won't mind me posting this day as we didn't see much in the way of game)
We woke up bright and early and still on a high after the previous evenings sighting. We decided that instead of rushing out we would pack up camp first and the head off on a leisurely drive to Nossob. We finished packing up camp at about 8.30, and whilst I was getting the permit Debs took this photo of a hornbill:

We then said our goodbyes to Mata Mata and headed off for Nossob.
We had gone about 20kms and suddenly there was a loud "bang" at the back of the vehicle.
What was That?
Probably just a stone - I said forever the optimist!
A bit later......
Gee Debs look at the steering wheel, it's at 90 degrees, we really are going to have to get the wheel alignment done when we get back to CT!!
Then there was this terrible grating noise and we both knew that something bad was wrong and I stopped the bakkie very quickly. Now what!!

We sat there looking at each other not knowing whether to laugh, cry or go hysterical. I think we were just both so scared.
Eventually I got out the bakkie and saw that the right rear wheel was right up against the wheel well (I think that's what it is called) and that we were going nowhere.
All we could do was sit and wait.
I thought the roads were quite busy but waiting for the next car to come past seemed to take forever - about 40 minutes in reality.
Then a kind man travelling south stopped and asked what the problem was. We told him and he headed off back to Mata Mata to alert the authorities. And we waited, smiled at a few passers by and started to panic.
Eventually Bucky, Suej and Texasboer who had been down to Kamqua and were on their way back arrived, having seen nothing except our lions from the previous evening on a porcupine kill
Bucky was like a knight in shining armour.
He told us and the authorities who arrived at the same time along with our first helper (who brought us some cooldrinks etc as well- thanks again) exactly what was wrong and what we needed to do.

Basically we had snapped a leaf spring, which is part of the bakkie's suspension, and the rear axle had shifted as a result. It sounded very expensive to me!!
So we loaded all our stuff out of our bakkie into the other vehicle and set off back to Mata Mata.
Once back at Mata Mata we tried to organise a part to be brought up from Upington. A bit difficult with no cellphone, landline or radio comms available. So we e-mailed TR and hoped they would pick up their e-mails before the supply truck left to Upington the next morning (panic emoticon here)

We then met this Namibian mechanic who was fixing one of Billyf's freinds car who said I could go back with him to his house just across the border to phone TR. So sans passport I went to Namibia!

We got hold of TR and with nothing else to do reset our campsite

and spent an enjoyable afternoon in the camp - saw this guy!
Some type of skenk

That evening we had a really nice braai (potjie) with our new friends, and went to bed worried and car less bunnies...

Wednesday 7 May

We woke up reasonably early with plans that I would go down to TR with Texasboer to try and confirm as to what was happening with the leaf spring for the bakkie and to hopefully bring it back with us. Texasboer had to go to TR to do some business and phone calls( I suppose that's what happens when you are working!!), whilst Debbie had been offered a ride with Bucky and Suej.

We set off at about 8am with Teaxasboer and myself driving ahead of the others and we saw these tall guys near Dalkieth:


as well as ANOTHER Gemsbok with wonky horns!

We then proceeded down to 13th borehole when we saw was what we thought was a lion on a kill up ahead. Once we got there we realised that it was in fact a mating pair. We sat and watched for a whole long time as I had never seen a mating pair in action, but they failed to perform. By this time the others had caught up with us, but we needed to head on as we were keen to get to TR. Debbie managed to get this pic:

We set off and just before Urikaruus we saw the soon to be the regular hyena at her den along with her two cubs:

Besides that we hardly saw a thing from there to TR and back.
Whist at TR Texasboer pointed out a bakkie with a yellow ribbon and we met Delboysafa and his SO, who were just arriving in the park.After promises to touch sides later at Nossob I went off to try see what was going on at the maintenance section:
We I arranged for the TR mechanics to meet me at my vehicle the next morning at about 11am as the part was only arriving that evening from Upington and they needed their equipment to fix the vehicle.

Debbie and the others went down to Kamqua and back without seeing much else.
Debs decided to rather wait for me that afternoon in camp and these wildebeest at the waterhole at Mata Mata whilst waiting:




TB and I got back at about 5pm and we decided just to chill in camp.
That evening another braai with Bucky, Suej and Texasboer. Whilst we were chatting this Vereaux Eagle Owl came to the hide to visit. We really battled to get a decent pic in the light, but managed to get this one:

A bit later Debs went to brush her teeth and came screaming back a few seconds later to get her camera. The reason:

"Locust on mirror"

The next day was to be our last in Mata Mata - but luckily in the company of the Red Lion Magnet!!!

Billy I'm looking back at the incident with hindsight and that's a whole lot easier than it was at the time. I must admit we were both fairly stressed at the time. Hoewever being in such stunning surroundings and with the morale support of all the forumites there at the time
(You guys all were great)
the whole episode was made much easier.

The SANPARKS staff were also great!!
Now please help us turn the page so wannabe can carry on with the next day......................

Thanks everyone for all your help in turning the page and for your kind comments.

Thursday 8 May 2008 - Mata Mata
We woke up bright and early, full of expectations as toady was the day we were hoping to get our wheels back and time dependant leave for Nossob.
Bucky and Suej had again kindly agreed to let us join them on their morning drive and to drop Gav off at the bakkie to meet up with the TR mechanics.
We left camp at 7am sharp and headed south.
We saw the usual springbok and Gemsboks along the way and eventually reached the bakkie just before the Dalkieth loop. Some joker had written "Cheetah" with an arrow pointing left on the back canopy window which did not amuse my SO. We all thought it was quite funny though
As it was still way to early to meet the SANPARKS guys we carried on into the Dalkieth loop.
About 300m into the loop Bucky saw some movement on the left...............


It was the Craig Lockart lions from the other day!
As they got closer they came up to the edge of the dunes on their way to the waterhole and we got some "Lion King" shots!!




(to be continued later)

Wow Bucky the Red Lion Magnet was definitely working that day! The lions just kept coming over the dune. Once again there were 2 lionesses, 6 cubs and1 Big Daddy. The lionesses and cubs moved towards the waterhole

and the lion wondered off across the road and lay down under a tree.

I was so excited I did not know quite where to look and certainly had no idea what or who to shoot first (with camera of course). Because we were bumming a ride with Bucky and Suej we were seated in the back seat of the combi so a lot of my photos were taken through the glass or in between their heads. I am still not sure how they coped with me bouncing all over the combi (thanks again guys).
Gav's pic sorry about the quality
The lionesses and cubs then proceed to drink


They then walked off in the direction of 14th borehole (still in the Dalkeith loop) when they all started to roar and then we noticed the mating pair coming up the river bed. Once again Bucky placed the Combi in just the right place (this guy is the best for reading animals – thanks Bucky because of you I got to experience a first that I will never forget as long as I live)

We went down to look at the mating pair and waited for the rest of the pride to come and join them.
She had had enough of the male "Don't mess with me"

The very tired male
The mating pair proceeded to use the car as shade and at one point the female was practically lying underneath the car (hence the red reflection on some of the photos). We had quite a cackle when the lion came very close to the window and we all saw Bucky move very quickly away from said window.

The cubs came up to join them, obviously having missed mom and wanting to greet her, but he would not allow any of them to go anywhere near his lioness. Gav even managed to get this picture with his muk en druk “singing camera” much to the amusement of everybody and I have to admit that he did quite well – don’t you think.




to be cont.

We watched the interaction between the pride for quite a while and then the mating pair headed off towards the Dalkeith waterhole whilst the others just parked off under the trees. We followed them to the waterhole, where we managed to get these pics.



my touristy photo

They then disappeared down the river and we had to head back to our bakkie to wait for the sanparks people. As we were doing the change over the police arrived and started questioning Bucky as to why he was out the vehicle and why Gavin had walked to his car. They also asked him for his permit which was in his pocket but in his panic of course he could not find it. After much persuasion they left us in peace, the sanparks guys arrived and we left Gav to “oversee” the repairs of our bakkie.

lion spoor around the car I suppose we were in the wild!
repairs under way

We wended our way back to the camp to have some lunch and download all my pics. I spent the afternoon relaxing, swimming, reading and getting to know Billyf and his SO as well as looking at all the small things (had an amazing time).

Gav arrived back IN OUR BAKKIE!!!!!!!! And we headed out again for a test drive before the next days trip to long awaited Nossob and to see if we could see our lions again. We saw one very sleepy brother lion and we presumed that the pride had gone over the dunes to keep warm.

sunset on our way back to camp

That evening we had a farewell braai with our forumite friends and knights in shining armour.

gavinw, bucky, wannabe nerd, texasboer and suej

One bottle of Elephants milk and a few bottles of red we all went to bed very ‘happy’ bunnies (not so happy the next morning) A good party was had by all with some forumites getting rather verbal at times (and not just me.......) have to apologise if we kept anybody awake.

Fabulous report .
It was an absolute pleasure to have you guys with us , and I am glad we had a spare seat for you .

Lol @ Sue with coal miners get up in photo , mind you , what the heck am I doing holding the torch like that for

Friday 9 May - Mata Mata to Nossob (for real this time!!)

After the previous evening's jolification, we got going a bit later than usual and were out the gate by 7.30am. We had decided this time to go out for a short game drive down to 13th and 14 boreholes and back before coming back, dismantling the camp and setting off to Nossob.
We had a fairly quite drive out and saw these springbok at one of the water holes:

as well as this Martial Eagle I think he is stunning!!!


How spoilt were we yet agin!!!


We turned around after having some coffee and rusks at 13th and a bit dissapointed that the lions were nowhere to be seen (how greedy can you be!! ). On the way back a car was parked under a tree. WE slowed down and were treated to:

I really think these Vereaux Eagle Owls have a serious attitude problem!!!


A bit further on we saw another mating pair of secretary birds strutting their stuff
We then got back to Mata Mata, packed up the camp and said our goodbyes before leaving at about 11.30am
A farewell pic of Mata Mata

We had a fairly uneventful trip to Nossob over the dune road, but Debs did get this pic of her "Giraffe Heart"

We finally arrived at Nossob at about 3.30pm that afternoon, and found a campsite in one of the unnumbered sites along the fence ( The old site no 4) wich happened to be inbetween Oom Jak and Oom Gert. Oom Gert apparantly gets dropped off at Nossob every May by his children for a month! I don't know who is happier! He loves it though and has sort of taken over that part of the campsite!
We the tried to open our bakkie's canopy but found that the handle mechanisim had snapped on the corregations along the way. Debs had a MAJOR sense of humour failure ( On our previous trip to the KTP I had broken the handle of the canopy resulting in a 2 hour frantic search for a replacement handle on a Saturday morning in Upington with the Mata Mata gates threatening to close ). Anyway I gave her a spin and she soon cheered up.
Once we had set up camp we decided to go for a short drive around Marie's. We were quite upset to see that the waterhole at Maries se gat was not functional.( Francios later told me that the motor was in Upington being repaired)
We saw very little on the drive bar some nesting vultures and this Tawny

When we got back to camp we made supper, said hi to Billyf and Mariette, had a quick look at the waterhole from the hide and went to bed, satisfied that the Kalahari had given us another satisfying day ( A day of birds)

Saturday 10 May Nossob

We woke to a really pretty sunrise. Our first morning at Nossob. After waiting over 2 years to get back here you can just imagine, we were like two kids at Christmas time.

We decided to do our favourite drive and went south around Maies se Draai. Soon after entering the loop we saw this Bateleur Eagle doing his best to hide away behind the branches of the tree he was sitting in:
We carried on around past the waterhole and saw these White Backed Vultures nesting on a tree on the southern side of the loop.
Debs was quite excited as she had never really seen vultures in the wild
It was looking like it was going to be another bird day. On the way back to camp we saw this PCG and African Hoepoe

Once back in Nossob I set about the task of repairing the canopy door, which with the help of Albert was sorted fairly quickly. We pottered around camp, Debs had a short nap and we both got into the FREEZING swimming pool before we went north up to Kwang and back for our evening drive. The roads were not great to say the least and with the long grass we didn't see too much. We got this pic of a Red Hartebees though:

That evening we met up with Delboysafa and his SO Donna and had a really nice evening with them at their chalet. They were out from the UK and were not having the best of luck wrt sightings, as Delboy was hoping to see a male lion which had proved quite elusive up in Nossob up until then. They were leaving for KTC the next morning so they were hoping to see some of the lions around Dalkieth.
We were still hoping to see some spotted kitties..............................

Remember I was told to do the quiet days..... Well

Sunday 11 May was a quiet day


We woke up a bit late after the evening with Delboysafa and decided to head up towards Polentswa and back as we had only got as far as Kwang the previous day.
No sooner were we out of the gates when we saw this little girl
Pygmy falcon

We then carried on and stopped on top of the lookout hill near Cubitjie Quap to have coffee and rusks and then carried on on our way.
We were about 4km on the other side of Cubitje Quap when our drought of spotted cats broke: My eagle eyed SO spotted this cheetah high up on a dune on the left.

We waited watching her for a fairly long time whilst she lay down, got up, turned around, lay down, got up ...... you get the picture.
She was going nowhere, but we waited anyway. Other cars came and went, all returning without having seen anything spectacular. We knew where the cheetah was so we thought let us wait and see what happens. Eventually I got impatient and we drove up to Kwang. (so much for going to Polentswa!!)
When we passed the spot where she was on the way back we couldn't see her. To this day Debs thinks that we missed her crossing the road just after we left!
On the way back to Nossob we saw a Black Shouldered Kite and a Lilac Breasted Roller:

BSK!!

We got back to camp at about 2pm and as we had booked to go on the night drive we decided to have a break and wait till 4.30 when we were due to leave.
The night drive was great. Francios the guide was pleasant and informative. We went south and as we left the gate saw a PCG trying to catch an Egret, which would have been our first kill!!
Besides that we saw Owls, jackals and the usual, as well as a baby barking Geko....

We got back at about 7.30 (very cold!!!!) made some food (pasta) We were a bit "meated out " by this stage and hit the pillows.........

Debs The next post is yours, because the bigger animals of the Kalahari are about to show themselves

Oh yes..let's turn the page !!!!

Monday 12 May Nossob

(Wannabe Nerd has been really busy the last few days at work so I am going to start this days report, and she can carry on either this evening or over the weekend)

We woke up a little late and managed to get out the gates by 8am, and headed north. This time we were determined to get as far as Polentswa .
Soon after leaving the camp I noticed this bateleur preening himself in a tree next to the road. Bateleur's are by far my favourite eagle so I was pretty excited!!




We carried on towards Cubitjie Quap and came across a whole crowd of Gemsbok crossing the road.These two had already crossed when we got their pic:
Just after Cubitjie Quap we were now totally alert and looking hard for the previous day's cheetah. In almost the same place as yesterday Debs shouted " Stop"
There she was. up on the ridge again. We watched her for a moment, and then lost her behind some bushes. We thought that would be it until I spotted her a bit further along, and closer to the road...................


I will leave the rest to Debs to tell.....

Anne-Marie and dreamer the cheetah with the bird was an absolute fluke but thanks all the same.

Monday 12th May cont.
Yes sorry guys but some of us have to work ……… but I do think that Gav has been doing a terrific job of keeping you all up-to-date, in fact I think he is better at this than I am, but I will continue for now.

She (the cheetah) kept on stopping and looking all around and we thought that maybe she was looking to hunt but we could not see any animals around (not that this could mean anything as we do not have her eyesight or sense of smell). She came closer and closer to the road and I got more and more excited and then suddenly we saw the reason that she was being so cautious.







Wow I was totally enthralled and she was so beautiful and of course the cubs were cute and so amazing to watch. She was not happy with the bakkie following her and she kept on calling to her babies who of course were just like naughty kids, playing and running all over the place. She walked on the road for a bit with the intention of crossing and the little ones just ran all over the place.


She got to the other side and started shouting for the kids who cocked a deafy and carried on playing much to my delight. She really started calling and I can only imagine what she said because all of a sudden the four kids bolted to the other side…………


I cannot tell you how blessed I felt at being allowed to witness all of this. It was a first for me and it will always remain a very special moment. All together we spent about 25min with her and her babies and there was not another soul around. It was very special. Once she had got her kids to the other side she just carried on walking and of course her fluffy little babies just disappeared. WOW……. WOW……WOW…..


Gav and I then carried on towards Polentswa and saw these gemsbok at Kwang.


We watched them for a while hoping to see a couple of them fighting but they turned out to be quite a peaceful bunch. Moving on we were disappointed to find Bedinkt and Langklaas dry but we did get to see some (think) leopard spoor on the road but we could not figure out which way they were going (neither of us will make good trackers).


Got to Polentswa and spent some time with this beauty.



He flew up into a tree right next to us but of course it was all into the sun (don’t they know better). After spending some time with our tawny eagle we decided to move back to Kousant where on a previous trip we had seen a hyena. We ended up by having lunch with this lone wildebeest.

It was wonderful to be alone with only the sounds of the water pushing out and the Kalahari telling its stories. It is at times like this that you truly get to hear the sound of your own heart beat (the main reason that I love this place so much). On our way back we got to see a whole lot of vultures at Kwang Pan.

The lapped faced vultures where eating something (looked like a bateared fox or a hare), and also spent a lot of time chasing the white backed vultures away, as well as fighting amongst themselves. I was fascinated as this was another first for me. My poor hubby turned the car around so that I was facing the action and we spent quite a while just watching. A jackal came along as well as a tawny eagle adding to all the drama. Eventually Gav pulled me away from all of this and we wended our way back to camp.

We went for a swim and then I popped into the washing up area to download my photos (also had to recharge a battery). Later on we went over to Billyf and his SO to show the photos and say goodbye as we were on our way to Urikaruus the next day. Billy told us that they had seen lions at Marie se draai so we decided to make an early start the next day and see if they were still around. We had a quiet chop braai and went to bed……..happy bunnies………

Oh what luck .

The spoor looks like cheetah spoor, and is not leopard as the claws are out, where leopards and lions retract there claws when walking.

It could also be Hyena spoor but does not seem to be pointy enough, although its easier to see "in the blood" , as the back pad differs but is a bit shallow here.
There is also no dew claw, and cheetahs dew claws are upright to "hook" prey.

Cheers,
J.

What a wonderful cheetah sighting!! And a most enjoyable report, with lots of excellent pix. I think that your "uncooperative" eagle at Polentswa is in fact a juvenile bataleur?