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Hi!

On the 9th of Dec, my fam and I set out for what was to be our first summer time visit to KTP. We were going in search of thunderstorms, open spaces, sand, and a couple of cats and dogs in between!!

We set off mid-morning from JHB, and stayed over in Kuruman, with a soon to be envied, prayed for aircon....!!!
On Saturday morning 10th of Jan, we found ourselves pulling up to those simple gates that we have come love so much, and long for.....Twee Rivieren!!!! The tarred road (well except for the last 50m or so) was smooth sailing....but I do miss the brain-shaker of old - it REALLY meant you weren't in JHB anymore!!!

We signed in, ready for our 10 days or so of magic!!! Couldn't wait!
Our schedule, after many re-adjustments and re-thinks.. ...was:
- 10th, 11th,12th,13th: Nossob
- 14th, 15th: KTC
- 16th: Urikaruus
- 17th, 18th: Twee Rivieren (we had added an extra night at Twee Rivieren shortly before we came as we had noticed on the forum that there was a certain leopard hanging around Samevloeiing with 2 cubs - at that stage).

So I hope, over the next couple of installments to take you through our trip and try and bring to life our experiences and appreciation of this little corner of the country which has a habit of sneaking into your heart and calling you back!

PS mybs was in the park at the same time as we were, usually on different sides/riverbeds, but sometimes not, so for those that have read mybs TR, a couple of pics might look oddly familiar...

- anne-marie, munchkin, ingrid60, wanderw, icurrie, gavinW, Vlekkie, lorrainepring, curiousCanadian: thanks for the encouragement!
- mybs: it was also great to see your side of things!!

Saturday 10 Jan 2009

So, we had signed in, did the pre-requisite stop at the shop....and then drove through the game gates into home!!!!
Our plan was to head all the way up the Nossob road to our first nights accomodation there, but we got to Samevloeiing - with seeing our first animal of the trip, yip, springbok - to see that much dreaded yellow sign in the middle of the road - ROAD CLOSED! We were looking forward to checking out Leeudril, Rooiputs.....we had seen leopard near there previously....oh well, we would just head over the dune to the Auob road, then cross over past Kielikrankie.
Now in retrospect, after reading mybs report, I did check EVERY tree after leaving TR, but maybe I missed those spotted ones.....especially as later in the day a couple asked us if we saw them in the tree, as they heard they were there...... Eish!!!
Anyway, we continued over the dune road, and that feeling of seeing the Auob as you come over the rise....
We saw gemsbok, springbok etc at Houmoed, Munro....then we got to Kamfersboom....a KTP traffic jam - 2 cars!!! We scanned the area of the water hole...nothing?? We glanced at one of the cars and the driver gestured for us to look the other way
And there they were, under a tree....



There were 9 lions, we think 3 mature females and then 6 cubs of varying ages. The one car pulled up next to us and the driver said that the pride had been hanging around there for 3 days. We sat there for a while, enjoyinh our first KTP lions of the trip, when suddenly the pride became very alert...





and then we saw what had caused them to wake up, a herd of wildebeest had arrived at the waterhole





One of the cubs crept forward to check out the possibilities, but then relaxed went back to the pride and they all settled down again...



The one female had a manicure appointment....



We sat there for a while longer, but we had a long road ahead of us, so we made our way up the road, and then over the lower dune road. Along the way, we saw our first ostrich chicks...



As we were approaching the end of the dune road, a car flagged us down. They told us there was a male lion lying at the back of the dam at Kij Kij. so we made our way there...and I tell you, if those people hadn't have told us he was there, we wouldn't have seen him!!!! So thank you for telling us. You couldn't see him if you were travelling north, but if you were travelling South, he was as clear as day....





And then about 2km up the road, a couple of lumps under a tree....



There were 4 reasonably young male lions in a pile under the tree



They were pretty much on siesta, except one that got up to change position, and then collapsed again!



By now it was about 3pm, and was reasonably warm, so we sat there for a bit, then carried on towards Nossob - 14 lions , and we weren't at Nossob yet!!!

To be cont....

Wow - its great to see there are so many KTP supporters out there - thanks for all the replies!!

- billyf, lorrainepring, sharifa, anne-marie, vlekkie, meanderingmouse
- annalie, nyamandlovu, caracal: without giving much away ....we had a great trip,lion-wise!!!
- wanderw: at that time, kamfers was definitely a lion hot spot...must be something in the water!!

Saturday 10 Jan 2009 cont...

So we continued on our way after seeing the 4-male-lion-pile-up, wound our way past Melkvlei, letting some French tourists know about the lions down the road.
The way up to Kaspersdraai was pretty quiet...but we could not complain with the day so far!!!!
We did see a couple of vultures on top of ?nests on the way up...


At Kaspers, we spied another couple-a-lumps under a camel thorn.....
and then one of the lumps sat up.....



there were 3 lion under the tree, 2 males and a female....but they were pretty much passed out...horizontal tawny
We were the only car there, so great! we sat enjoying the sighting for a while, and then noticed we had another visitor outside the window....



The agamas, we were later to notice, where EVERYWHERE!!!

We continued on our way, drove around Marie's - couple of vultures on tree tops, then just before camp, a 4x4 was stopped, with a lens and a half sticking out the drivers window, pointed just about at the ground next to the car????
We pulled up slowly, so not as to disturb.....



Ok, there was much debate as to what the id of this raptor is.....? Juv PCG ???? Any help????
Well, the bird just sat there on its behind for a few minutes, regarding all the £$R-worth of lenses shining its way with slight surprise....then took off. We were actually worried it was hurt, and that was why it was lying next to the road...but it seemed fine.

We then actually got to Nossob and checked in at about 6pm. We were in the guest house ontop of the hill - great!! We have always wandered about the hill top house!! We unpacked while dad wandered down to the hide - not much there, but he did get chatting to a family from KZN. They told him there were some lions up at Cubitjie Quap. So dad came back with the news compliments of the KTP grapevine - which I must add, I think is great, having a chat to total strangers, sharing info which could make you enjoy your trip even more. Anyway getting back to the lions, did we wanna go take a look? So we piled back into the car and made our way up to CQ, with strict instructions from Dad, we only had 1 hour, we could only go take a look then turn around. Well, we got there, we found the lions quite easily......COZ THEY WERE VIRTUALLY IN THE ROAD!!!



2 Males and a female....



With her best foot forward







To be cont....

Lions galore and beautiful pix! I think your cool bird is a juv PCG, but what a position! Great pic too! Thanx Jo!

Hi

- munchkin, ingrid60, foxy, caracal, dotty, micette, p@m, nyamandlovu thanks for the comments!!
- lisa: its always great to catch up on animals you had seen previously
- anne-marie : a gentle reminder
- patries: You make me that you will be in KTP soon!!!!
- wanderw: thanks for the confirmation about the raptor - juv PCG
- billyf: I think we did nearly see more lions than Gemsbok!!!! 20 lions in one day was a good start to the trip!

Sat 10 January 2009 cont....

A couple more pics of the CQ lions.....






And as you may have noticed, the clouds were building in the back ground....would we soon see a KTP thunderstorm?? That would be a first for us....and we had heard how spectacular they could be!
Anyway, time for a last few pics before we had to get back to camp - dad was getting antsy about the time.....


We got back to camp, headed up to our hill-top hut and noticed this view behind the hill....



A few moments later we noticed that rain was falling far out into the dunes behind Nossob. By this stage Mom was feeling the heat somewhat, and promptly declared that she "wished" that it would rain, to cool everything down - we were to constantly remind her of those words over the next few days.......


The clouds started moving in......


We settled down to supper outside on the verandah, trying to catch a breeze, whilst the weather closed in.....


The lightening also appeared to be coming closer.....


After supper we decided to walk down to the hide, along the way coming across this thick tailed chap scurrying across the path....


We saw the usual culprits at the hide....
View My Video

We headed back up to the hut, climbed into bed, but sleep was hard to come by. It felt as if the air was pressing down onto you, hot and humid. Then the lightening started moving even closer, and a breeze started moving the curtains......aaaaaah, the temperature dropped a few degrees. I must have dozed off, but I woke up into what felt like a war zone The windows were wide open, the wind was howling!!!!! The curtains were billowing horizontally across the room, and I was wet!!!!!

We were in the middle of a full scale Kgalagadi Thunderstorm of note!!!! I jumped up to close the windows a few notches, with the lightening streaking across the sky - it felt that there up on the hill, we were prime targets for a lightening sizzle. The bolts seemed to flash across right in front of the verandah!!! I grabbed the video cam and tried to record some of the energy. I must have stood at the window for nearly an hour, with the rain pummeling the glass, the wind whipping up the curtains.....it was humbling

I finally climbed back into bed, with the still rain pouring down, with a couple of thoughts in my head:
- mom got her wish.....
- how much rain does it take to make the roads unpassable.....

To be cont....

PS I think it was mybs, who was at ?Twee Rivieren? at the time, remarked in their TR that they had a noisy, wet thunderstorm that night too....

Hi

-vlekkie: its a pity i didn't think to grab my camera instead of the video whilst the storm was on the go, some wild pics!
-micetta
-nyala: A KTP thunderstorm is an experience you won't forget!
-ingrid60: Yes, i think it was the same storm that mybs mentioned - i just don't know if they had as heavy a storm as Nossob did, mybs doesn't mention
-caracal: Thats exactly what I was wandering at the time, Caracal!!! I had visions of been camped out at Nossob for a few days....
-Nyamandlovu: Thanks!


Sunday 11 January 2009

I peeped out one eye....ok....we still had a roof.....checked the floor....dry.....so far so good
Got out of bed, walked onto the verandah...........ladies and gentlemen......we had a river

Grabbed camera, shot into clothes and boots - not slops.....mud, glorious mud - and hot tailed it to the hide. The area infront of reception.......water......made it to the gate to the hide, I had glimpses between the wooden slats, of what was awaiting me as I made my way down the walkway.....

Oh my.....
Looking south along the valley








Nossob waterhole....


The sun rose.....


I just could not believe all the water!!!!
We packed for our drive as per normal.....left the gate in a northerly direction....following the tracks of what looked 2 cars that were ahead of us. There were quite a few puddles in the road....and some were quite looooong, and some were quite deep.....


We made it to Cubitjie Quap with out too much difficulty....this was the approach to CQ....




Just after CQ, we saw our 1st sign of life, a family of bat-eared foxes...






And then the going got a little tougher....


We spotted the other cars ahead of us, and they weren't having it all their way either (sorry pic taken from our moving car, we couln't stop, we were axle deep in water and mud.... )


We made it to Kwang......wow!!!!



We decided this was a good spot to have coffee. We enjoyed our cuppa, the clean, fresh air...mmmmmm. Ok decision time....turn back / continue for a bit?
We decided to give it a bash, we surely must have got through the worst......right???
We came across a herd of wildebeest, with the newbies to the herd enjoying the water....


And then we hit the Vaal Dam......This stretch of water was nearly 1km long with no islands along the way....and then there was the slight problem of a large underwater ditch in the road....




Notice water half way up door....Prado 4x4.....

To be cont.....

Hi! thanks again for the comments!


We did make it out of the "Vaal Dam" - not without the bow wave breaking over the bonnet as we went down into the dip in the road!!!!

We made our way out....


And met up with 2 cars that were on the other side. One couple was def heading back, they had a very small baby in the car and they were VERY worried about getting stuck. We waited while everyone turned around, and then did the same ourselves, no use getting stuck out there......but.....we had to re-cross the Vaal - at least we now knew where the ditch was

We came across a few birds on the way back to Nossob...

The flies were really bugging him

Some areas, like where this PCG was sitting, were bone dry????
The river bed at Cubitjie Quap....


We then headed back to camp to re-assess the road conditions

Hi! Thanks for all the replies....

- africat: Getting stuck in the red kalahari sand nearly became a close reality......but I don't think i would have minded!!!
- icurrie: it was scary , but secretly I think we all really enjoyed it, was amazing to see nature kick back.
- Mashona: I can't wait to see your 'wet' pics.....
- wanderw: We did notice 1 sedan car in camp while we were there....we had visions of them floating down the River Nossob, into the sunset.......!
- nyala, lorrainepring, ingrid60, billf, anne-marie, sharifa - Thanks
- munchkin: I think you have the same 4x4 as mentioned - #1. In fact out of the 4 cars that headed north on the Sunday morning, all 4 were of the same make, and all 4 did not get stuck. Go T _ Y _ T _!!! Its amazing what 1 really powerful thunderstorm can do!
- Caracal: You guys must have experienced one HANG of a huge thunderstorm to get holed up in Nossob for ?3 days? - unforgettable i'm sure
- p@m: uuuuummmm....it was difficult to say if it was actually flowing....personally I don't think so.....I think it was possibly just huge interlinked puddles!!! I know further down the valley (a few days later), it looked like they had had zero rain.

Sunday 11 January 2009

After a rest up in camp....accompanied by much road comparison with fellow cast-aways, we decided to head towards Maries then head north again.

So off we went....
Our first sighting were so bee-eaters...


And then just before Mari's we came across a wet and bedraggled Martial sitting in a tree next to a large puddle, the expression on his face says it all!




Marie's was a mud bath...we were concentrating so much on the road, we didn't see anything (or maybe there wasn't anything?)
Went past Nossob on the way north, a couple of Km's from camp, spotted this chap in a tree....


For some reason, all the birds there giving us strange looks.....maybe it was the mud-splattered paint job we were parading.....


We made it up to Kwang, the water levels had already started receeding - "Kalahari Thirstland"



We decided this was a good spot to turn around, didn't want a repeat performance of this mornings shinnanigans. Just after Cubitjie.....a traffic jam.... .....we were just hoping it wasn't a queue to get through a puddle!!!
It wasn't!!! After much searching.....Wildcat !
(sorry had to crop it a bit)





And we thought we would have a cat-less day today! There were actually 2 cats - possibly a female and an almost grown up kitten.
While we were sitting there, a jackal trotted up the road, and sat down quite close to us....and then a shongololo hot-footed it towards him.....

.....and then carried on past....I think shongi's are an acquired taste.

And then we saw our first kill of the trip....the jackal got up and shot over the ledge of the road, pouncing next to a bush....


Ta-daaaaaaa.....


The KTP was now 1 agama short.

We then continued on our back to camp....a couple a km away......a traffic jam......2 cars......

To be cont....

Hi!

-p@m: the expressions were priceless!!!
- Rayk: we were glad we got through, and glad to see the majority of the other visitors were also ok
- nyala, wannabeNerd, dreamer, shadowdog, lorrainepring, anne-marie, ingrid60, billyf: Thanks for the comments!!!

Sun 11th January cont

Yip, we came to another 2 car traffic jam.....then we saw a small feline shape heading towards the road.....another wild cat!!!!
By the time got camera ready, it had taken to the long grass, just peeping through....





It was getting rather late so we couldn't hang around. On the way back to camp we found Big eyes in the same place....



Once back at camp we settled in for a good old Nossob braai under the stars.....we checked, there were stars, but also some clouds.....but it landed up being fine our braai was not rained out! The sky was in fact great.....





To be cont....

What great AWC..sightings..you sure were lucky there Jo



Shongi's ( giant millipedes) can emit a poisonous liquid through tiny pores along the sides of their bodies. These secretions can burn the skin and eyes of larger predators. I guess the jackal knew that and favoured the agama to the shongi!...clever jackal !!!

I just love the pic of the moon.

Hi!

- micetta, gavinw, lorrainepring, wanderw, foxy: Thanks
- Caracal: Thanks for the info

- Munchkin: The AWC'c do look a bit like domestic cats, but they def have a wild gleam in their eye
- Mashona: I see we def had a lot more sun than you guys

Monday 12 January 2009

As I stepped out of the chalet on Monday morning, I found evidence that there are still jackals at large in Nossob camp....



Then continued down to the hide for the usual sunrise shots....Note how the water had receeded...




Once everything was packed and ready we decided to head around Marie's. We were winding our way past Rooikop, when we noticed a car pulled to the side of the road.....we scanned the bush....


Lions!! but farrrrrrrr in the distance.....


We sat there for a bit then decided to move onto Marie's, as the lions looked like they would be there for a while. I think prior to this, we had only ever seen a BBJ at Rooikop....

Marie's was very quiet, if fact it was quiet they whole trip.....luck of the draw i suppose
On the way back to camp, came round the corner approaching where we had seen the lions.....they were up and close to the road....





They made their way over the road and then up the hill on the other side, to survey the valley.....looking for breakfast?





Once they had dissappeared from view we continued on to Nossob, and decided to head north for a way. At one of the puddles we came across a BBJ licking?? the sand next to the water.....salt licking????....we couldn't see any termites etc that he could have been licking up???.....


At Bedinkt, there were some Gemsbok...


Butterflies at Kousand...


as well as Agama....




We would later learn that the locals believe that when the agamas are are up the drie-doring bushes, they are praying for rain.....everyone we went past, we promptly told to get back down to road level!!!!

We turned around at Polentswa, stopped at Kwang on the way back and saw this chap....

Uuuummmmm, Shaft-tailed whydah????? ???

Mom and I had booked for a night drive that night, so when we got in we got ready for our outing.....long pants, boots.....which I was to be very thankful for.....

Hi!

- munchkin: Agamas.....SA Weather bureau.....
- meandering mouse, katydownunder, lorrainepring, wanderw, micetta, ingrid60, anne-marie, p@m: Thanks, and......poor mashona, I think everyones giving u a hard time!


Monday 12 January 2009 - night drive

We had quite a mix on our night drive, a German couple, 3 French people, an Australian family and us 2 South Africans. We set off, eager to spot some nocturnal creatures.....

We stopped on Maries for a sundowner.....



and then all hopped on for the rest of the ride......we had gone about 500m when we hit one of the puddles we had battled with earlier in our 4x4.....now we were in a truck.....and the puddle was a puddle no longer....it was chocolate mousse!!!

Our guide, whose name was William, gave it his best shot......but it was like driving on jelly..........we got stuck
Porr old William tried 1st and reverse tricks to get grip.....no good.....so the next thing was to try manufacture gome grip for the truck, there was no jack on the truck, no spade, no spare tyre
So with William leading the way the guys went to scavenge some wood to wedge in front/under the tyres.....



They came back with a few bundles, so we all got to work jamming the wood in place, on the left side of the vehicle.....the right side was in the middle of the road, anyone trying that side would have been eyebrow deep in the brown stuff.....



We thought we had got it right, William jumped in, revved the engine.....mud flew and nothing else moved....
So William decided to call for help....."Nossob, Nossob, come in.......", no reply,......"Nossob, Nossob, come in.....", no reply. He tried a few more times, no reply......mmmmm, interesting.....So he tries again " Grootkolk, grootkolk, come in"........GROOTKLOLK Thats a bit far away! But he was probably just try to get someone to keep trying Nossob.....no reply from Grootkolk.....or from Gharaghab.......so we were on our own. This called for more wood. This time we got stuck in up to our elbows, then everyone got their hands on the truck and pushed and pulled while William tried forward/reverse......



Um, the one interesting thing with lots of people who are all speaking different languages with different degrees of competency, was that while some were pulling others were pushing!!!!!! But once we got each other sorted out, with strength in numbers and all the other cliches.......the wheels spun......and found grip.....and we were out!!!!! After much deserved we all clambered aboard.....and continued our drive!!!!

Although we unfortunately didn't see anything as exciting as our getting stuck experience - we saw bat-eared foxes, wild cat and BBJ. We arrived back at camp, with a great story!

And....thank goodness for boots.....I wasn't really game for a KTP mud pedicure



To be cont....

Hi!

- spotted cat: that thought was def in the back of our minds!!
- scipio: looking through the pics makes me miss the place too!!
- p@m: no refund, but William did take us on an extra road so that we had a slightly longer night drive!!!!
- Caracal: Good luck with the Brownies, Badgers, etc...judging by the other TR's running at the moment I would say KTP has now had its yearly quota of rainfall!
- janeli, billyf, ingrid60, vlekkie, meandering mouse, lorrainepring, nyamadlovu: Thanks!
- micetta: they sure are!
- anne-marie: KTP sure likes to keep things interesting!

Tuesday 13 January 2009

This would be our last day at Nossob, so we decided to head up to Kannaguass and back. Woke up a bit late, so missed the sinrise pics for today , so we packed the coolerbox etc for the day and headed north. At Cubitjie Quap, there was a herd of Haartebeest drinking...



We continued further north, the road being very quiet. Near Kousand, there was something in the road.....


Not sure what kind of snake it was??


But he was really struggling to get up the sides of the road - at this particular point the verges were almost verticle. So we rode up the verge a little next to where the snake was in the hope it could maybe use our tred marks to get out of the road - we didn't want to see a squashed snake on the way back down.

Then just after Kousand we came across a sad sight, I didn't take any pics, didn't seem right. There was an adult haartebeest lying in the road. We drove up slowly....our first thought was road kill....but this was a little large for someone to mistakenly hit....there was no grass, or bushes any where near the road that the haartbeest could have run out of.....The Haartebeest was still breathing. A quick look over showed bones showing through, sunken eye sockets, no obvious broken bones, no blood.....so it looked like this haartie had just reached its end It was a very sad sight, we didn't hang around. We had seen a car go past us earlier in the direction of Nossob, we thought they may let those in the know, and they may come give the haartie some peace....if appropriate

We continued on our way, coming across a puddle in the road just before Lijersdraai, with what looked like a juvenile Martial sitting on the verge...





While we sat there a secretary bird wandered over...




And promptly chased the Martial away!!!




We headed up to Kannaguass, which was very quiet. We turned around and came back past Lijersdraai, were we found a sringbok herd, with some youngsters, had wandered down to drink...


We were holding our breaths as we approached Kousant....would the Haartie be alive still? Would someone have put it out of its suffering?
As we came round the bend, the answer was there for us...



There were stacks of vultures, mainly in a nearby dead tree, and on the floor under it. They were on the carcass, in it, fighting over it....they are really quiet comical to watch, stalking up on each other, then getting a peck in on an opponent! The Haartie had passed on, now the vultures were doing their job.






After a while, the Boss landed in the grass off the road....Lapped faced vulture


We sat there for quite a while, and boiled....the clouds had dispersed and boy was it hot! The reflection off that white sand....
We thought that possibly another scavenger might show up.....BBJ, or maybe a Brown hyaena.....but no, that may have come later. We moved on, still feeling for the Haartebeest, but realising that now other things had to live off of what was left.

To be cont....

Wow ..in all the klls and remains of kills I have seen in KTP I have never seen a vulture/vultures on one...amazing !!!!!

I think your snake may be a juvenile mole snake .

What an eventful drive Jo..lovely photos of the juvenile Martial and secretary bird !

Hi!

- micette, icurrie, meandering mouse: too true!
- Vlekkie, lorrainepring, Sharifa and Duke, ingrid60, nyamandlovu: Thanks!
- Caracal: Thanks for the info...juv mole snake. It looks like the KTP vulture population is doing ok!


Tues 13 January 2009 cont...

The way back to Nossob turned into a good bird drive. A couple of the guys we saw included....





Kwang



We got back to Nossob with about 2hrs to gate closing, so we decided to take a drive around Maries. We saw a bat-eared fox den faaaaaar in the distance....



A bakkie pulled up next to us and we had a chat to the couple, who had been in the KTP for 10 days already and were heading up to Grootkolk then next day They said they had seen nearly 60 lion in the days they had been in the park, and were now on the look out for leopard - aren't we all (ask Mashona )



We then headed back to camp, to a great braai!!





PS While I was wandering around Nossob taking pics, came across this car. I have seen it in a Travel mag about KTP before....but I think its name is great!!!