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Already our time in KTP is over .
Way too fast.
We had a wonderful time and are already sure that we will come back next year.
It will take some time to write my report and have a look through all my pics.
But here is my first sighting in the park :


Mongoose with Armoured Ground Cricket


This is the guy the Mongoose was looking at

Katy

Ok, here is the beginning of my report:

It was a good decision to fly up to Upington instead of driving all the way from Cape Town.
We rented a car at the Airport and stayed fot one night in Town.
Early the next morning (02.05) we stocked up on food (as meat and veggies , drinks, charcoal, water etc.) and left for the park.
We had a good drive from Upington to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
The tar road to Molopo Lodge was easy to drive.
Unfortunately we saw too many roadkills.Numerous Bat-Eared Foxes, a Jackal and a bird of prey (could not properly ID it).
We did not see any foxes on the road while driving in bright daylight.But if you are going while it is still dark, please drive carefully.

The famous 60 km from Molopo Lodge to the Park were not as bad as we thought.
In passages a bit rough but it is all a matter of speed.We managed that part in one hour.
Checking in at Twee Revieren was quick and friendly.We couldn’t wait to get to our Bungalow , as we planned to start as soon as possible for a small ‘gamedrive’ on our own.
As soon as we checked in we had a small rain shower and with that the Kalahari even greeted us with a little rainbow.

After the rain a Mongoose and an Armoured Ground Cricket came to visit us right in front of our Bungalow.
We started to the direction of Mata Mata from the camp.
Just 2 hours left before gate closing time. But we enjoyed the first impressions of KTP very much.
It was the first time that we saw Whistling Rats and we liked the little sturdy guys right away.

But we met quite a few Gemsbocks as well.Which was really picturesque in the fading sunlight.
;
Our first Braai this year and we had a superb view from our ‘home’ to the Botswana side.

Enjoying a drink we were very much looking forward to the next days.

Next part within the next few days.

Katy

More Whistling Rats pics :

Thanx Jay and DB!

@ Jay

Yes we did hire a VW Sharan .It did cope very well with the park roads (again in most of the times it's a matter of speed) .You have to go slow anyway to have a chance to have good sightings.
Moreover you are sitting high enough to look over the grass and the banks of the rivers, and most of the times you had a very good view. But north of Nossob with all the really high grass even that wasn't enough.
We had a look for a 4x4 like a Hillux or similar. But that was way over our budget.

Katy

The promissed early morning sighting.
We tried to get up early the next morning (03.05) as we had to drive all the way up to Nossob and wanted to take our time.
Entering the toilet, still a bit sleepy, we could not believe our eyes.
We already had a frog swimming in our toilet bowl in Namibia, but that was something new.
A bat managed to land in the water of the toilet and was now swimming for her life .
So I quickly got her out of the water and placed her on a towel.
She looked really exhausted and was breathing heavily.Poor little thing.
We tried to let her dry.Placed her out of the chilly wind in the shade of the bungalow and later in a tree nearby. I hope she made it.But she looked much better by the time we left and even crawled a bit higher into the tree .
I did not want to place the bat on the wall of the bungalow , as I thought it might make a good target for raptors.
While we waited that she was drying , we had a coffee and another coffee and another.....
Needless to stay we did not have an early start.


Still very wet,taken shortly after getting her out of the water.




Looking better and better on every pic.

Everything was prepared.

But we started a bit later as planned.
Just a quick pic of our bungalow in Twee Revieren and off we go.

Heading north to Nossob Rest Camp.
We were crawling our way the first 20 or so kilometres as there was so much to see.
But having the distance in mind we could not go at an speed of 20 km/h all the way up.
There were quite a lot Jackals around and it was always fun to stop and have a look at these shy but always curious guys.

Huge herds of Gemsbock.We have seen them already during a trip to Namibia, but most of the time solitary animals and never in such big herds.

(Here not a herd but a single Gemsbock )

Next part:

As there were still water puddles on the roads from previous rains , you were able to see some of the birds close by having a bath.


Burchell's Sandgrouse

I was so much looking forward to KTP for the dunes but most of them were still covered in thick green bushes and grass.But every now and then you were able to catch a glimpse of them.
Later up in Mata Mata the desert looked more like a golf course than anything else.
But we were not disappointed, it is something special to us to see the Kalahari so green.


Taken on the way to Nossob.

The roads up to Nossob were quite good.Even though there had been still (sometimes quite big) water puddles on the roads , we could easily cope with our Sharan.
(Sorry no pics of the water on the roads )

Thanx Jay!

Believe me there is much more to come....

First stop at Melkvlei Picnic Spot.
Very nice (sorry but I had to take a pic of the loo )


All the facilities were very excellent throughout the park.

We had guests for breakfast.
This little begging bird was a bit upset that he did not get his share.


A lot of Squirrels around as well.You can forget time just watching them running around.


But take care driving onto the Picnic Spot as they digged some huge holes in the ground.
Make the ground looking more like a swiss cheese.


You can see one of the holes right behind the mirror with the YR.

More:

We had not seen a Cat at that time (but hey it was still our first full day in the Park)
Shotly after Melkvlei a nice family pointed out that they saw Lions just after Gunong water hole on the right handside of the road.But very well away from the road (about 100 metres).
So we drove having a very intense look at all the bushes.
We went well past Gunong and even turned back to have a look again (nearly gave up on it) until I suddenly discovered a Lion bum behind one of the bushes in the distance.
So we stopped and had a closer look.And there they were.
A male Lion, two Lionesses and some Cubs.
We stopped there at least 20 minutes ( and no other car was passing by).

But there was still a lot more to be seen :


Tawney Eagle

Juv. Pale Chanting Goshawk

Thanx Jose and mfb for your help to ID.


And we saw our first Snake in KTP!!!!
Quite an impressive one.




Puff Adder

The ones we saw so far during all our travels in South Africa were most of the times squashed on the streets.We did see just two that were alive (in Kruger).

And it goes on and on....

Driving around a bend we had a whole family of Ostriches right in front of the vehicle (another good reason to go slow).

Close to Nossob another Snake.


Mole Snake

And two Goshawks sitting close to a Sociable Weavers nest and looking as if they were up to something.

;

Thank you all for your nice comments!


Close to Nossob we saw Elands (Jannie told us, that we had been very lucky to see them in KTP and that it was even better than any Leopard or Cheetah sighting.) We promissed him to post the pics.So here they are.Not in the quality as I wanted them, but they had been very shy and as soon as we stopped the car they just ran away.So no time to change to a bigger lens, as they were not too close to the road.

Arriving at Nossob we reconfirmed our Night Drive that we already booked back home.We were asked if we would like to change to the Night Drive on that day, as we were the only ones for the next day and so it was very likely , that there was no Night Drive at all.
We qickly made up our minds and changed.
So we checked into our bungalow prepared dinner and got prepared ourselfs for the Drive.
But more about that later.

Road block Kalahari style

Some pics of my favourite Jackals :



This one was very curious and stared at us for quite a while





This little guy was just laying down in the road to play with a stick, how cute.



Look at these two

Glad we did the night drive at that evening , as there was no Night Drive the day after.

Well , we should have been warned, thanks to some forumites and especially Dreamers pic of the Night Drive, at least we thought we were prepared.
We brought our hot water bottles with us, along with a lot of warm clothes.
Trekking shoes, thick and warm socks, long johns, a long sleeved shirt, a fleece jumper, Gore Tex Jacket,mittens and a warm fleece cap.



I really did wear all this

......And we have to admit, it still wasn’t enough.Take an extra blanket with you at that time of the year.
We were still feeling hot until we got on the open vehicle.
Still feeling fine.
But, this just lasts for the first ½ hour. Then everything was getting colder and colder.
You just cannot ignore the windchill factor on the vehicle.
We saw a lot.
Cape Foxes, Bat Eared Foxes, White Faced Owles, Spring Hares, Spotted Eagle Owl and more.
The cold air was creeping up our legs until we felt cold all over.
Allthough it was a very good and informative Night Dive (thanks to our guide Andre), we were glad to be back at the Camp.



After the Night Drive at Nossob Rest Camp (looks more like a winter holiday in the Swiss Alps, than a trip to Africa

Fortunately we already prepared our hot water bottles and placed them in the beds.
Anyhow do not miss to book one of the drives, we had three and they all were just great.
But be prepared to take enough clothes with you when travelling in May.