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@ Lionspoon
I think I know what you are alluding to....
Yes I went back the next morning, but we were busy packing the car. So I went too late. The Lionesses had been back to the waterhole with their cubs....
By the time I got there they had already left.
All I could see was the traffic on the main road and the ears and back of one of the Lions

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(Look at the bottom left of the pic and you might see the Lion... )

But I talked to a lady at the hide and she showed me some very nice captures of the Lionesses and Cubs.

Will keep my fingers crossed for a Caracal.
This was not our only Caracal sighting on this trip

@ anne-marie
We were so happy to spot the Caracal.

@ Micetta
Indeed the Hartebeest look so smooth and I like the colour very much as well.
Oryx are one of the most amazing Antelopes,they are so elegant.
Indeed I had another look at the video, you are right about the hair style

11.11.

Today it was time to leave for Grootkolk.
So we packed everything back into the car again full of anticipation.....
We stopped at Cubitje Quap (of course) only to find nothing there. Even the birds were already gone today.

Along the way we found more and more of the Caterpillars, they were literally everywhere.

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This time we found cocoons as well.

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Just before reaching Kwang we had a nice sighting of three Ludwig's Bustards.

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We passed Kwang and just north of Bedinkt waterhole we could still see the impact of the recent fires in KTP.
We discovered the first burned patches.
Oryx were there looking for the new green appearing everywhere.

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Of course we can not pass the Agamas without stopping for yet another photo.

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Polentswa Waterhole was busy.
Secretaries and Bateleurs were there for a drink.

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While observing the birds we had been observed as well

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Secretaries

Bateleurs and Secretaries

We were so eager to arrive at Grootkolk, and so we left Polentswa and the birds and commenced our way.
The rest of the drive was quiet.

At Grootkolk, Oliver the tourist attendant (Eric was on leave) greeted us and showed us our home for the next three nights.
Tent #3.
We stayed there before and discovered quite a few familiar names in the sightings book.

There were some changes that had been made to the tents and we liked them very much especially the awnings creating some nice shade in front of the tent.
So we once again unpacked the car and made ourselves at home.

Again we were travelling with our own handmade-waterbottle-birdbath, but discovered that someone already had placed a birdbath in the shade of the tree in front of the tent.
So this time we just had to fill it up and wait ....

And it was really a busy afternoon, we had Mice, Lizards and of course birds.

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While we had salad and toasted roosterkoek for late lunch,we enjoyed the views to the waterhole.

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And one of the Weavers enjoyed a last piece of roosterkoek that we had forgotten on the toaster…

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As this was our first afternoon at Grootkolk on this years trip we had already planned to stay in camp and enjoy the peace and quietness.
Soon after we had ended our lunch, Oliver came to our tent and told us that some workers had arrived to do "some changes" to the kitchen tent and some of the tents itself.
And asked if this was OK for us.
We wanted to know how long it will take and he answered, oh not long maybe an hour or two.
We were relieved and made a joke that we hoped that not long does not mean two or three days, well little did we know……

They started with doing the "little changes"….
Well this is how our quiet and peaceful afternoon sounds like….

Peace and Quiet

So we left Grootkolk, drove up to Unions End waterhole till, "gate closing".
We had no sightings at all in the afternoon.
But still enjoyed a nice braai in the evening and watched the waterhole.

Tired from the driving to Grootkolk, the missed afternoon nap and the heat we soon called it a day.....

12.11.

We were hoping to see the famous Grootkolk Leopard coming for a drink in the morning…
But we were not lucky enough.
Instead a Mouse came for an early morning visit.

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The workers started again at 7.30 am and so we made a quick decision to leave the camp towards the direction of Unions End.
Only a couple of kilometres after we had reached the main road we sighted a single Meerkat on his lookout point. He looks like he is feeling abit cold,don't you think so too ?!

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We very slowly made our way up to the north and saw Meerkats on two more occasions.

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Meerkat

And another one close to Unions End Picnic Spot.

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Apart from that, everything was veeery quiet.
Aftera stop (checking the Yellow Ribbon book) at the signpost at UE, we returned back to a hopefully now quiet camp.
At Geinab we observed dozens of Squirrels running around and searching for food for a while, like Mongooses and Meerkats they are always able to entertain us.

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Around noon we reached the camp again , but before we unpacked the cooler box from the car Oliver came by and told us that some people had seen a Lion at Kannaguas waterhole.
So we decided to give it a try.
On the way south we saw another small herd of 5 Kudus, but unfortunately too far away for some decent captures.

Then we reached Kannaguas and indeed the Lion was still there on the other side of the road and…. fast asleep

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It seemed that he was going to move within the next couple of hours and so we left again.

The workers were still very busy, hammering, sawing and painting.
So again we did not have a quiet and relaxed afternoon.
Will post some pics of the changes they made to the new fence gates in one of the next parts.

Yet again the Mouse, the Lizards and some birds where coming for a visit.

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Later in the afternoon the workers packed all their stuff away (well they did so as well yesterday…. ) and stopped working around 4pm.
We were reliefed to discovered by the time we returned back to camp, that they had left.

But as it was still very busy due to them packing all their stuff away and doing the last changes, we decided once again to leave for the north.

We drove up till Unions End Waterhole and waited, but it was still so very hot and again quiet.
We observed a Kalahari Scrub-Robin, a Lark and later a Pin-tailed Whydah at the waterhole.

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Pin-tailed Whydah

Then it was time to return.
Along the way, in a tree far from the road, we spotted one of our favourites, an Owl .

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Eric took over from Oliver in the meantime and so we were greeted once again with a huge smile and a welcome back, we already knew Eric from our stay at Grootkolk the previous year.

After dinner we sat there in darkness and silence to observe the waterhole.
Tonight there were three Hyenas coming to visit.
They closely observed the cabins.
Our neighbours were having a braai on the boma of the kitchen tent. And one of the Hyenas came even a bit closer, attracted by the smell of the braaivleis. But then turned around a left again.

The light at the waterhole went out….and so it was time to go to bed.

13.11.

Wow, already our last full day at Grootkolk.
Sowe did our best to leave the camp early in the morning to drive up towards the direction of Unions End.
There has not been too many activity at the camp waterhole the previous morning, so we decided to give it a try to spot smething at the waterholes on the way up north.

We had just passed Geinab Waterhole when we detected a movement, and discovered a Brown Hyena. She was very shy and as closer we got, the faster she ran…..

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She did not stop for a single second to grant us a better view. She ran across the road and soon disappeared in the high grass.

But that was already a great start of the morning.
We stopped at Unions End waterhole for a closer look.
A Jackal came to have a drink.

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He eyed us suspiciously the whole time.

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After he had left Sandgrouses landed in dozens…
Oh I just love the sound....

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Scaly-feathered Finches joined them a little later.

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We decided to only drive up to Unions End for the last time in the afternoon and now returned back to camp.
We drove past the entrance of the camp to check Kannaguas waterhole.
But nothing.

On the way I could not resist to take a pic of this signpost.

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I can not describe it but to me it looks like ,there is an adventure waiting….

Just as we returned back to our "home" Eric came over and told us, that only minutes after we had left the camp,he thinks we must have just passed the first bends on the way to the main road, a beautiful male Lion had come to the waterhole to have a drink.
He felt sorry that we missed him, but was glad that we spotted the Brown Hyena.

We enjoyed the time in the camp.
Of course we had once again all kinds of visitors.

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Of course the Mouse.

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A Violet-eared Waxbill.

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Weavers….

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And Red-headed Finches.

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But then we decided it was time for one more last game drive from Grootkolk.
Only a few kilometres before we reached Unions End Picnic Spot we sighted thhe Meerkats again.

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We passed the Picnic Spot and the waterhole and drove straight through to Unions End.
Last year ther had been many Cheetah sightings in that area, this time we did not even see Springboks....
We stopped at the No Entry sign and scanned the area, but we spotted nothing apart from this little very grumpy looking Sentinel on the signpost.

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At Unions End Waterhole we discovered that the Pin-tailed Whydah was back again.

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And a little further down south the Meerkats were still roaming the area.

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Once more it was time to return back to camp.
We enjoyed the sunset, but on the sam time we were a bit heavy hearted as this was our last evening at Grootkolk for this year.

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While we watched the sunset we saw that something furry and very fast was running over the top of the newly build fence. Having a closer look with our torch we discovered an Acacia Rat.

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She was swiftly climbing higher and higher and was soon gone altogether …..

We watched the waterhole till the light went out.
Tomorrow we are moving back to Nossob, for our next 3 nights….

14.11.

Unbelievable, but our last night at Grootkolk was over and very sad we started to pack everything back into our car.
The sun was slowly making her way up behind the cabins and we decided that before we leave we wanted to make the most of every single minute that was left of our stay.
So I made some more coffee and we sat outside, quietly listening to the sounds of the birds and observing the waterhole.
Then suddenly I detected a movement to the right of our cabin.
I could not believe my eyes an Elephant Shrew!!!
I think the very same one that some other forumites encountered as well during their stay in #3

It was so very hard to take a pic, as it was still quite dark underneath the bushes and she was moving very fast.

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What a promising start of another day in Paradise.
We enjoyed one of these very special "golden" mornings.
Sitting there in silence soaking in the whole beauty.

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We had just finished our coffee, when we finally had visitors at the waterhole......

To be continued.....

Three Hyenas ( it seemed a mother together with two youngsters) were making their way through the high grass. They looked wary,but then they walked as if they perfectly know the terrain.

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Hyenas 1

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But then…..they disappeared as quiet as they appeared.
The magic of the Kalahari.

Just before we left I found this Beetle right beside our cabin.
It was enormous. But still I do not know what kind of Beetle that was….
Maybe someone is able to help?

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By then it was time for us to leave.
Sadly we said goodbye to Grootkolk, but then we were already sure that we will be back once again next/this November again….

The drive south was quiet.
We stopped at Lijersdraai waterhole, but all we could found were some tracks in the sand. We wondered when our furry friend had passed through that area....

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At Polentswa the waterhole was quiet as well. Only a little Lizard observed us for a while.

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It was nice to be back at Nossob, we like it very much and we often had lovely sightings there.
Just after we moved into our new home,#1, some neighbours told us, that Lions had been at the waterhole nearly the whole morning.
Of course we went straight to the hide, only to find that the Lions had moved and were now lying in the shade of a tree, far away from the waterhole….

But a Bee-Eater was sitting in the tree close to the hide hunting for insects.

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In the afternoon we took the road down south towards Marie se Draai, but it seems that this wasn’t the best decision….
Not much to see at all.
We discovered a pair of Ostriches, obviously caring for their clutch of eggs.

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We felt so sorry for them it was still so very hot and it almost looked as if the female was panting.

We then decided it was time to return back to the camp.
It has been quite a long day and we were hungry.
We ended the day with yet another lovely braai and some of the delicious roosterkoek that were waiting for us on our return.

Soon after we had finished dinner it was once again time to call it a day….

15.11.

We had an early start this morning and the south was once again our choice.
Hoping that it was a good decision this time….

The first couple of kilometres wereagain quiet.
We drove Maries Loop and turned at the southern exit.
Right as we were approaching the waterhole we saw something coming closer and were really chuffed to discover that it was another Brown Hyena.
The light really absolute dreadful, I had to take the pics against the sun.
But I tried everything to make the best of it.
Of course it was an awesome sighting, we were able to watch her for about 20 minutes. Only one other car shared the sighting for a few couple of minutes, before the ones in the other car got bored and moved on

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And then she left again …

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Brown Hyena 1


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Back at camp we had a small brekkie and then left again towards the northern direction.
Here we sighted the Bateleur just outside the camp gates again, this time with a Juvenile by his side.

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There was a huge number of Vultures South of Kwang, unfortunately a little too far from the road.
There obviously had been a kill. Having a closer look with our binoculars showed that it was a Wildebeest. But there was no sign of the predators.

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Only a couple of minutes later a huge herd of Wildebeest crossed the road. Maybe the killed one we had belonged to this herd.

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Further along the way a Jackal was enjoying some shade underneath a tree and was lying on the side of the road.
He eyed us suspiciously while we stopped to take a photo.

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These were our sightings for this morning.
Back at Nossob we heard that there had been sightings of Lions and Cheetahs north of Cubitje this morning.
But we were happy that we had seen the Brownie at Marie.
It still was so very hot, but it did not looked it was going to rain or to cool down.

In the afternoon we once again drove south .
Here we discovered the Ostrich lady again, only the head and neck could be seen and it reminded us of a periscope sticking out of the grass …..

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The poor lady was still so very hot….

Our last sighting for this afternoon was another of those wonderfully coloured Lizards.

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In the evening we were listening to the sounds of the barking geckos and watched the Jackals roaming the camp.
Later we visited the hide, but this time the waterhole was quiet.

16.11.

Each and every morning at Nossob there is the same question, driving north or south

And yet again it was the southern direction.
Always good for some nice sunrise pics on the way to Marie se Draai.
I was not disappointed.

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Oryx in this very special early morning Kalahrai light.

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But apart from that the southern direction was once again quiet.
So we returned for a small brekkie before heading north.

Here we found some Dikkops right beside the road.

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This time the Cubitje Quap was really busy.
There were a couple o Jackals hanging around, always entertaining to observe.

He looks like it has been a hard night….

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Then one of them started to chase the Sandgrouses, without success.

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He really seemed a bit frustrated in the end…

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The little water puddle near the pipe was full of Sandgrouses.

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Then a huge herd of Wildebeest arrive to have a drink.
They silently came close to the waterhole. It was amazing.

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Wildebeest

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We drove a couple of kilometres to the direction of Kwang, but then decided as we had so many nice sightings at Cubitje and as it was already getting later to turn around, checking the waterhole once again before heading back to Nossob.

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The first couple of Flowers, so nice.

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Some Secretaries and an Oryx shared the waterhole.

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Secretaries

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Both of them did not look as if they felt very comfortable about the presence of each other.

I used the afternoon for a little walk through the camp.

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His time I was nt able to find the Owls in camp , but had a great time with a ground Squirrel.

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Then we had a Yellow Ribbon sighting
Munchkin discovered our car in front of #1 and walked over for a chat.
It was so lovely to meet you and your SO at Nossob.
While we chatted we found out that we were going to stay at KTC again on the same date for one night .

It was already late this afternoon when we lft for our afternoon drive.
A Secretary was still at Cubitje. Has he been there the whole day ?!

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Then the Doves arrived and there were hundreds of them.
They were even landing on top of each other as there was no space left on the stones around the waterhole.

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Two Bateleurs were sitting there as well, observing the Doves.
They too seemed to be surprised about how many of the Doves arrived.

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Do you see all the Doves in the background behind the Bateleur?

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Doves and Bateleur

Then it was time to return back to Nossob .....

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Agin it was our last evening at Nossob.
Roosterkoek for the last time on this years KTP trip….*sigh*

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Of course we were sad to leave Nossob, but now Kieliekrankie was waiting for us. We haven’t been there for a couple of years and were now looking forward to it.

17.11.

Well as I already mentioned, it was time to leave Nossob…
Of course we could not leave without a last drive to Cubitje Quap.
So we left the camp towards the northern direction.
At Cubitje another Jackal came for a drink.

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I detected a movement underneath the bushes opposite the waterhole.
Checking with my binos I discovered that it was an Elephant Shrew ,not as close as the one at Grootkolk, of course, but still a nice sighting (even though not really great photo opportunity ...).

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The Doves were back again and the atmosphere was a bit hectic.

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Soon I we knew why.
Three Lanner Falcons were hunting for their breakfast.....

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And within seconds one of them caught a Dove.

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Everything happened so very fast.
I had not the slightest chance to capture the hunt with my camera, well maybe next time I am more lucky….
But then it was finally time to say farewell to Cubitje , return to Nossob for a brekkie and to pack the car for our onward travel to KK.

We had just taken a seat outside the chalet, when....

To be continued with some awesome encounters

So here is what happened...


............ when our neighbour came over and told us, that only a couple of kilometres down the road, a small Lion pride with cubs was lying in the road. And she thinks that they are still there.
So of course I left the breakfast behind, grabbed cam and camcorder and off I was (Francolin decided that it was too hectic for her and stayed at the chalet).
It wasn't hard to find them. They were causing a little traffic jam.

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Lions near Nossob

But everybody behaved well at the sighting (Munchkin unfortuantely had not that luck and so she had left the sighting quite quickly).
I returned back to our chalet with a happy smile on my face.
Now I finally had the time to have my breakfast , after that we packed the car and departed towards KK.

We drove Maries Loop, and again had no sightings at all.
Only about two kilometres after we turned onto the main road again, Francolin shouted: Stop, Caracal….

I instantly jammed on the breaks and was only able to see that he/she disappeared underneath a log that was lying close to the road.
Oh no, too late she’s gone…..

But no, thanx to the log she seems to feel safe and lied down in the shade and observed us.

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Caracal

After a couple of minutes she got up and moved a bit further away before lying down again.

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We were excited to say the least!!!!

At one of the waterholes further south we sighted Kudus again.

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Who are you?

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But after we had left the waterhole we had no sightings again, only a big grader was driving in front of us nearly all the way till Melkvlei.
Well that made the driving a lot smoother, but the sight was bad because of all the dust in the air.

Coming closer to Melkvlei. Francolin discovered something in one of the caves of the rocks.
An African Wildcat…..

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I think we were never able to spot her, if she had sat like this right from the beginning…

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Just before we turned onto the Lower Dunes Road, we spotted this beautiful Snake-Eagle.

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On the dunes road we saw many Ostriches and Oryx, but I do not like to stop on the dunes roads as I think it is far too dangerous, we saw some bad examples of reckless driving at completely insane speed .
So most of the times we only slowed down to look at the animals, but did not dare stop completely.

Fortunately we sighted this Steenbok at an open stretch of the road.

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At KK we moved into #3 our home for the next two nights.
KK had changed a lot since we had been here the last time.
But we like the new windows. They are huge and you can see the stars in the night from your bed.

We enjoyed the breathtaking view into the dunes with a coffee in our hands.
A couple of mice very busy collecting pods and seeds of the grasses.
It was so much fun to observe them.

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Acrobatic Mouse

I discovered a Chestnut-vented Tit-Babbler sitting on the ground, waiting for mummy to feed him..

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We took a short drive in the late afternoon and sighted nothing.
Well it has already been an absolute brilliant day, we were not disappointed at all and returned back to KK for our evening braai.

We were just enjoying our sundowners outside, when we saw a movement in the dunes.
A Brown Hyena was coming towards the waterhole for a drink.

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What a day!!!!
We looked at the fire listening to the Barking Geckos.
Heaven!

Sunset at KK

18.11.

The sunrises in KK are always awesome….
So I made an early morning coffee and waited for the show....

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As we needed to stock up on some food we were driving south to Twee Rivieren.
It was very windy when we left KK.
The trees were shaken and our first sighting of the morning, this Giant Eagle Owl was looking a bit grumpy in her tree.

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Giant Eagle Owl

We met some lovely Springbok herds at the waterholes.
The young gentlemen were in the mood to do some fighting.

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We discovered some flowers, always great to see some colours in this harsh environment.

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After that it went quiet.
Until we observed this Juvenile PCG, whose eyes were bigger then his belly....

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We were already on our way back o KK when we spotted Meerkats again.
As you can see, it was yet another very hot day.

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Not too hot for the Springboks though.....

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Some more of them at Auchterlonie Waterhole.

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Back at KK and had our usual siesta…..
It was really hot and clouds were building up in the distance. Does that mean we are getting some rain later that day ?!
But only a few drops ( and I really mean only a few drops were hitting our outside porch) and that was it, which makes the heat even worse, as it started to be humid now as well.

Our choice for the afternoon was the northern direction.
A young Ground Squirrel was looking for a spot in the shade.

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Our next sighting was this Dikkop.


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And already on the way back, a Common Scimitarbill.

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The wildebeest already were looking for their resting place for the night.

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Sundowner at KK.

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Tomorrow we will be at KTC

19.11.

Time to leave KK again.
The morning started stunning. By the time the sun slowly made her appearance you could see that the “valleys” in the dunes were filled with mist. It looked quite unreal and was nearly impossible to capture by camera.

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The birds woke up and visited us.

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Aftersipping my coffee I went inside to pack the bags, and then the sun was gone.
I stepped outside and was amazed, the sky was covered with dark grey clouds and it was cold.
Somebody had switched off the light….. I never ever witnessed such a fast change of weather before.
We hurried up with packing our stuff as it really looked like it was going to rain.

The Weaver Birds were really busy, we found them still on the private stretch of road.

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When we met him, the sun was slowly struggling her way back through all the clouds.

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At Kamkwa we had a coffee and toilet break. Someone told us that there was a sleeping Lion not too far from the Picnic Spot.
We checked the area after leaving the PS and discovered her underneath a tree not even 40 metres from Kamkwa.

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A little further on we saw another Ostrich family and yet again with loads of chicks.

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Ostriches

We discovered another Dikkop hiding underneath some trees and even better camouflaged the little chick hiding under a log.

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In a low branch above the road a Raptor…

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Springboks on the way to the 13th Borehole.

At one of the boreholes a Jackal had stopped and waited (like us) for visitors, that did not appear.Or maybe he was just looking for a shady place to rest.

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We searched the areas around the waterholes for predators, but nothing. Not even tracks on the roads…
A Kori Bustard that did the best to ignore us.

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A familiar sound stopped us. We searched the trees and indeed discovered a Kingfisher in one of the trees.

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At Craig Lockhardt some of the Kgalagadi Giraffes had gathered for a drink.
I am always amazed to watch them bending down to have a sip.

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Giraffes

We stopped on the right side of the tree at the waterhole and did not discover the dying Lioness that was lying on the other side of the tree, as there was already another car.
Thank God we only saw her the next day, then she was already dead. Poor soul we only heard later that it took quite a while. I will not post any pics, it was such a dreadful sight. She must have starved to death.

Now we drove on towards KTC.
Of course not without checking our Owl tree.
And…..Indeed they were still there.

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We moved into tent #2. A lovely view to the waterhole. So far we always had #3. here a huge tree blocks the view.
Then we discovered who stays in #3 this time Munchkin and SO, What a lovely surprise.
They later told us about the dying Lioness they had seen her, and my eyes filled with tears....

We decided to stay in the camp and enjoyed the beautiful setting.

A nice braai in the evening, sitting outside and enjoying a nice glass of wine and the sounds of the Kalahari. Magic!!!!

20.11. Part One

We Left the camp at around 6am and slowly followed veryone that left earlier.
Just after passing Sitzas waterhole we were held up by a small traffic jam of 3 cars ...
We staretd to scan the area.
A Cheetah was lying in the dunes.
Having a look with our binoculars we discovered that it was the female collared Cheetah that we had met before.
At that time with her injured cub Anton....

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We knew that she now had two cubs and we also knew that they were still with her, so we scanned the area even more thoroughly…..
And yes we were successful and spotted one of them on a smaller dune nearby.

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The cub walked over to a small tree where the other one was already playing.

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Mum joined them and together they left into the direction of the riverbed.

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And then the fun started….
The two cubs were fighting and chasing each other. What a joy!!!

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Mum waited for them patiently.

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Then the youngsters discovered a new tree and climbed it.

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Cheetah cubs are so cute and fluffy.

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The three of them stopped at the bottom of the dunes and were looking a bit excited. We soon discovered why..
A herd of Wildebeest was making it’s way through the riverbed, walking straight towards the Cheetahs.

The mother observed the Wildebeest and tried to ignore them.

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The Wildebeest started snorting and even stepped closer. After that the Wildebeest went further away and the Cheetahs left again.This time to the direction of the dunes top.
And we thought that was it.

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But no, they were making their way back into the riverbed.
So we followed them yet again till they reached a small sand mound.
Here they lazed a bit in the sun.

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Only until the mother discovered a small herd of Springbok and started to stalk them.

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She walked to the end of the mound and waited in the shade of a small tree.
Of course the cubs started to follow her and ruined it all, .
The Springboks spotted them and ran further away.

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This time they left the riverbed and went into the dunes.
But what a sighting….
We observed them for more than 2 hours.

Cheetah 1

Cheetah 2

Cheetah 3

Cheetah 4

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Cheetah 6

Cheetah 7

Cheetah 8

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Cheetah 10

Cheetah 11

Cheetah 12

Cheetah 13

Cheetah 14

As it was already quite late we just wanted to drive to Dalkeith and then return back to KTC.
We stopped at Craig Lockhardt before that and discovered the dead Lioness.
We changed our plans again, took some pics for the Rangers at Mata Mata and turned around to report her to the reception there.
I had tears in my eyes, especially when I saw the state of the poor Lioness.
She must have starved to death....

We felt very heavy hearted, but we enjoyed the sightings along the way nevertheless.

Like this Kingfisher on the 20km Mata Mata sign.

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And the Hoepoe roaming for food.

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All o a sudden there was a commotion on the road.
The Cheetahs were back again and crossed the road right in front of us…..

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It all happened very fast, mum ran into the dunes and the cubs followed her. With a hysteric Jackal in tow

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Of course we checked the Owls again.

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Back at Mata Mata we reported the dead Lioness at the reception.
The man on duty told us that people kept reporting a dead Lioness for several days in a row now, but that she was always still alive.
So the Rangers always checked and returned back to Mata Mata.
We told him that she was definitely dead now, as the Crows had already visited her and showed him the photos we took, he was aghast. And left to tell the Rangers immediately.
We were just on our way to leave Mata Mata, when he told us that the rangers were already on their way.

20.11. Part Two

Having such an exciting morning we needed some rest afterwards
We had a nap, did preparations for the dinner and downloaded some of the pics.
Well did I said we needed some rest ?!.....
I discovered this Melba Finch in a bush nearby while downloading the pics in the back of the car.

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We set off again into the direction of the Boreholes later that afternoon….
Again it was very quiet.
We checked Craig Lockhardt, only to see that the Lioness was no longer there.

Nothing at the boreholes. No tracks. Not even the birds were there.
South of the 14th Borehole there is a tree with ahuge Weavers nest he we stopped, it was the tree were we sighted the Mongoose. Let’s give it a try, maybe she is still there.
Of course she was not, but……
We go very excited, an African Wildcat. Very relaxed.

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And then she was gone.
What an absolute beauty and we had the whole sighting all to ourselves.

AWC 1

AWC 2

AWC 3

AWC 4

On the way back we met this group of Ostriches.
It was so funny to see the heads going up and down….

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Ostriches

At the Owl Tree we saw that all three chicks were on the ground.
The "Aoub Sisters" (that's how we called them in the meantime ) were waiting for dinner.

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Owls 1

Owls 2

Owls 3

We stopped at Sitzas, here we observed a couple of Jackals with some interesting interaction, you could clearly see the hierarchy in this group.

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Then it was time to return back to KTC.
That evening we had some toasted Bacon-Egg-Onion Sandwiches and a visitor in our Kitchen ….

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Already this was our last evening in KTC yet again, we loved it. Especially the newly build doors at the tent and kitchen improved this lovely camp a lot.
But tomorrow we will be back to Urikaruus one of our favorite camps.

21.11.

Another moving day.
We moved back to Urikaruus and were of course already looking forward to it.
Even though it was our last Wilderness Camp before heading back to Twee Rivieren for the last couple of nights….

We were not in a hurry and so we took our time.
Slowly driving south passing the waterholes and boreholes but again it was quiet.
We were coming closer to Urikaruus when we discovered another AWC in a tree right beside the road.

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AWC

We passed the Hyena den, this time they were already having their siesta , when we spotted another Wildcat having a nap.

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A a Dikkop, very suspiciously.

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And one of those sweet Ground Squirrels just close by.

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We moved into our new home for the next nights, this time it was #1….
It was so good to be back, Urikaruus is one of our favourite Wilderness Camps.
We made ourselves at home and observed the waterhole from the wooden deck.

Later that afternoon we started for another drive along the boreholes.
No question we checked the Hyena den and this time we were lucky.

They were out and playing around.

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Hyenas 1

Hyenas 2

We had nice sightings of a lone Giraffe.

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And a couple of Springboks.

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On top of one of the dunes Daddy was taking care of the kids….

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Just as we decided that it was time to return back to Urikaruus again, we discovered the PCG close to Dalkeith that was inspecting the breeding holes of the Bee-Eaters at the roadside…

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PCG

We turned around and headed back.
Reaching the weavers nest, where we spotted the AWC the evening before, when I suddenly spotted a movement in a tree close to the road.
I simply could not believe it, another AWC…

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....she climbed down the tree…

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....and posed just beside our car…..

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…crossed the road, only to lie down again under a small bush.

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AWC 1

AWC 2

AWC 3

AWC 4

By now it was already pretty late and still a couple of kilometres to drive.
We arrived right on time at Urikaruus but without any further sightings.
So we started to have a braai and enjoyed the beautiful setting.

A Bat Eared Fox later roamed around the cabins and slowly disappeared into the darkness again.

Bat Eared Fox

The end of another wonderful (Feline filled)day in the Kalahari. *sigh*