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Ok, I start my Kgalagadi May 2008 Trip Report. Be patient if there are long gaps between updates please - still processing images !

We were three "musketeers" on this trip, Bucky, and myself, also joined for most of the trip by Texasboer. Words and images are mine, but I hope the other two will intercept if I get a bit muddled and also add their own images when appropriate.

So here goes......

I arrived in Johannesburg on 2nd May, to a cold wet day !
I was delighted to meet Bucky's wife, Lynn and their 3 Junior Bucky's ! I stayed with the family overnight and we began our journey the following morning with the "combi" fully packed for the trip.

We stopped overnight at a charming little private reserve at Spitskop, just about 10km North of Upington. The landscape on the route up was not too inspiring, being mainly of maize fields. Lots of lying water around, and I was amazed to see a salt pan in the middle of farm fields, with a large flock of Flamingo's !

4th May, Sunday With all the water around, we thought we would pay an unscheduled stop to Augrabies as we had plenty of time to do the last leg to the KTP, but a storm began to brew with heavy clouds over Augrabies, so we rapidly turned around and drove onto the KTP, arriving around 11 am.

We went straight out on a drive along the Nossob road, stopping at the first waterhole just outside TR and our first sighting was Jackal. I love Jackals, they are so photogenic and I never tire of taking pics of them !





There was a large Eland carcase near the waterhole, maybe from the sorry state of the dying Eland from last September?



The Dunes and riverbed were lush with grasses. We saw Wildebeest, Red Hartebeest, Gemsbok, 3 wildcat in quick succession, Pale Chanting Goshawk, but little else. Everywhere seemed very quiet - no bird sounds, and seemed so different from the visit of 8 months previously.

We returned to our Chalet (No 12) at TR, unpacking just enough for our overnight stay there and we were back out for another drive at around 3pm. This time we took the Mata Mata road, seeing many Springbok, Meerkat (Yeah - a first for me!) Vereaux Eagle Owl (2), PCG, Kori Bustard, Black Korhaan, Swallow-tailed Bee Eaters, Drongo, White-browed Sparrow Weaver, Shaft-tailed Wydah, and a Cheetah high on the dunes near to Houmoed waterhole ! Not really good enough for good pics although we did manage a few, but the Cheetah was obviously wearing a collar.












We also saw (we think) a Cape Fox, and a large brood of Ostrich with around 20 chicks of 2 different age groups. Obviously some had got mixed up somewhere !

We were joined in the evening by Texasboer and enjoyed our first Braii !

Just a few more from day one.

TRIP REPORT

5th May – Mon

We packed up and left TR around 7.15 am for our drive to Mata Mata. I have to say that at this point I think Bucky and I were feeling a little bit disconcerted about how quiet the riverbeds were and with the long grasses feared we may not get good sightings this trip. Even the camps were quieter than they had been last September.

I will not list the usual species that we saw almost daily, unless there is something extraordinary to report. The “usual” being Gemsbok, Springbok, Wildebeest, and this time we saw MANY Red Hartebeest, but absolutely NO Eland !
Birds in the Southern area of the park were definitely conspicuous by their absence, apart from a few PCG’s, but even they were less obvious.

I have now seen the Kgalagadi in two great extremes. Last September ultra dry and this year has been exceptionally wet, resulting in lush vegetation and grass growth. More on that later.

On our trip, we saw nothing until Houmoud. The riverbed was empty of all animals.
We saw typical Kgalagadi, majestical Gemsbok, nicely posing for us on the dunes in beautiful early morning light, featured in my first day repport. Well the park was originall the “Gemsbok Park” . We saw a male Ostrich on the opposite side, backlit against the dunes. Nearer to Mata Mata we encountered a large herd of Springbok in the riverbed, racing around, fighting and pronking. In fact most of the Antelope seemed to be intent on battles ! Wildebeest were fighting in the dust, giving us a good display and we also saw Ostrich dust bathing. We met up on the road with “Yellow Ribboners” Gavin & Debbie from Cape Town











We arrived at Mata Mata and set up camp eventually after unravelling our two tents – Texasboer had a rooftop tent so his was up and ready in 5 minutes ! A flurry of light-hearted and friendly but sarcastic banter was exchanged with Bucky over setting up camp ! After this first day set-up it became much easier and we only had to change camps and set up our tent twice.

In my next edition will begin the "Lion Fest" - and I apologise in advance if there are far too many lion pics to choose from. Also, on the 2nd day of our lion fest it will get a bit gorey, so please be warned if you are squeamish or highly sensitive !

We set out on our late afternoon drive not expecting too much, although there was considerably more game at the camp waterhole on arrival, Springbok, Wildebeest and a few birds. We saw many Yellow Mongoose, delightful Ground Squirrel who always greet new campers with much anticipation, and a Brants Whistling Rat. The Squirrels entertained by playing together.






On approaching Craig Lockhart waterhole, a number of vehicles were already parked and we were just in time to see young lions approaching through the long grass. Eventually a pride of 6 juveniles, 3 cubs,2 adult females and an adult male descended on the waterhole. One cheeky youngster was fascinated by the bricks surrounding the pump and did his very best to dismantle it ! We took lots of pics for some time and left around 5.40pm to drive back to the gate. Bucky reasoned that this pride was one that he had followed considerably last September and that an adult female and the other were missing, so we guessed they were away mating.





























On our way back to camp we also saw 4 Bat-eared Foxes on the ridge !

We were very excited on return to camp, all cards downloaded onto hard drives while the braai was burning merrily away. Bucky was a touch preoccupied and the braai almost expired before the meat was put in – Bucky did ALL the cooking in camp (and yes I have to say we were all well fed) ! We eventually ate when it was dark and COLD ! Temperature during our trip ranged from 1c at night to 35c during the day !

6th May- Tuesday

We were up early – VERY COLD today but sunny. We got out camp at 7.10 am. Saw nothing until we returned back at Craig Lockhart waterhole.

We arrived to find a few other vehicles already ahead of us and the lion pride from the previous night were stalking two unfortunate porcupine, who were trying their hardest to hide under one of the vehicles. They were already injured and with so many lions around they were not going to escape. The lions were attempting to remove the tyres of the vehicle providing cover so it was forced to move, leaving the porcupine now surrounded by lion, one porcupine quickly reversed into a young lion, leaving a good number of quill’s stuck in the lion’s face.








You can see from the pics that both porcupine had already sustained injuries.





This was their last photo call.






Apologies for the next being focused on the porcupine but I wanted to show the lion paw reaching out !






The next part of this chapter is the most gory.

The porcupine then shuffled off into the low, dense thorn bushes, rapidly followed by the pride, which saved us from actually seeing the massacre, although one did try to escape out the side and walked straight into the mouth of the pride male !







We watched for around an hour as the lions ate their kill, the pride male stripping off quills as he ate and most of the youngsters came away with quills embedded in them. The male had at least 7 quills stuck in his face, neck and forelegs.













This one was sporting a new beard!



Blooded & Spiked





I need a short rest now before continuing, and the page must be turned

It says somewhere in the KTP guide that porcupine make up about 35% of their diet if my memory serves me right, cannot find it just now. Porcupine are their most often caught prey after Gemsbok apparently !

We watched as the lion pride youngsters played and argued for a while, washing each other, before the pride eventually moved off into the dunes.

We left Craig Lockhart, driving onto 13th and 14th borehole. We saw 4 Giraffe and were surprised to note that they were spending little time in the riverbed, seeming to prefer the dunes.








We had our first Tawny Eagle sighting of the trip and 2 white-backed vultures.
In deep, long grass in the distance we spotted a tan coloured wildcat, which we think was probably crossed with a domestic/feral cat. It was really too far for good pics, even for ID, but I have posted two images together here to show it. It did seem a bit too big to be just a domestic cat.



On the way back we met Gavin & Debbie parked just after Dalkeith. Their Isuzu had died from a broken suspension. They had been on their way to Nossob, fully loaded with all camping gear. After Bucky determined the problem we decided to take them and their camping gear back to Mata Mata with us as it was not going to be possible to move their vehicle. Bet they wish it had bought a Landy ! Nothing could be done other than to leave the stricken Jap until parts could be sought from Upington, so poor Gavin & Debbie had to reset up camp again at Mata Mata. I will go more into the state of the roads in the camp at the end of my report – this will my big nit !

Back at camp we ate lunch and downloaded cards, glad to be warmed up by the mid-day sun. Again in camp we were entertained by the Mongoose, Squirrels, Shaft-tailed Wydah and Crimson-breasted Shrike.







On private land, to the left of camp, on the Botswana side, I saw two horse riders negotiating the dunes, something I have longed to do since my first trip to Africa is a horseback safari (sigh).




On our later drive we left camp at 4.20 pm, and were mesmerised by the sun falling onto the large herds of Springbok, beautifully lighting up their white flashy rears. We saw 7 vultures circling over the road. Driving onto Craig Lockart, 3 other cars were waiting, but no sign of the lion pride. A little further on we met up with Texasboer returning from TR with Gavin – he had seen nothing either. We drove back to Craig Lockhart and parked up under the tree branches to watch the waterhole, entertained by squirrels and doves cavorting around. We then noticed a juvenile Gabar Goshawk in the tree. He made several attempts at catching doves, always returning to the tree but not succeeding in a kill.





Even this little skink posed well !




We left the waterhole at 5.30 to get back to camp and again saw the 4 bat-eared foxes in the same place as the previous night.








We stayed with them for about 10 minutes but light was fading fast and they kept just a bit too far for good pics. We had to leave them to get back to camp, arriving back slightly late at 6.05 pm. The timing of the park gates closing did seem a bit out of wack with the sunrise/sunsets 

What a day this had been and it was ONLY our third day in the park – Another 7 to go !

Lovely report and photos - keep it coming please.

I have to come up for the Jap %(*& Isuzu. Mine has done 4 KTP trips, 1 Kruger and 1 all the way to Etosha and back via the Namib desert and I'll do it all again without any trouble. Oh and forgot to say that my wife also took if through a wall one year.

The horse rider (if you were in Mata Mata when you took the photo) was in Namibia and not Botswana. Botswana is north of the Nossob riverbed.

The most interesting part for me is the ginger cat you saw. It will be fantastic if someone can try and help us with and ID. I'm concerned about your comment that it is probably crossed with a house cat. The Kalahari AWC population has always been seen as a very protected pure bloodline because there are now house cats to breed with it. If your comments are true then we had a major intervention by man in the region.

No, this is the best I could get. Pity it was not facing the other way. Texasboer might have something better if he is around, not heard from him since we got back. Bucky is still offline until his cables are repaired but I dont think he had anything different to me.

Lirritma, I hope it is NOT a cross for sure, but it would be interesting to hear from an expert what it may be and if indeed an AWC can be this colour - it does not look truly "Ginger" as the domestic Ginger is a version of tabby, but this looks more "caracal" solid tan coloured. Hope someone can give an answer.

7th May – Wednesday

I will try and give you a short break from Lions today

We rose early today and were out the park as soon as gates opened at 7am. It was still cold but not as bad as Tuesday morning and it warmed up faster.

Texasboer needed to go back to TR, so took Gavin with him to check on the arrangements for his car parts as of course there is no phone landline or cell reception outside TR. Bucky and I took Debbie with us on a game drive.

There was little to see, nothing at Craig Lockhart so we pushed on and saw several Giraffe in two different groups. One group consisting of a Bull, Cow apparently on heat, a juvenile and a calf, all posing nicely for us.









A beautiful mature Gabar Goshawk was chanting in a tree.



We stopped to check on Gavin & Debbie’s vehicle, still where we left it the day before and saw that two lion had passed by it recently. We guessed these were the breeding pair that had been missing from the pride. We followed their spoor for some distance along the road. Just after Dalkeith we came across the breeding pair had probably tired for the day and wandered into the shade of trees to sleep. We left them and continued on, checking waterholes en route.






Oooops – did I say I would give you a lion break? Well almost !

A large herd of wildebeest approached up the riverbed to 14th borehole and we got nice pics of this herd with many youngsters.



The Guardian









Why do they have to jump?

Thanks for turning the page Anne-Marie !

As many others have witnessed, on this trip we came across a good number of Gemsbok with deformed antlers, I would love to know what causes this.






Just after 14th borehole we saw a female Hyena suckling two tiny black pups (cubs – what is the correct terminology for baby hyena?). The pups looked about 3-4 weeks old. Mom stood up and the pups disappeared into a den as she wandered out of sight. The grass was far too long for us to manage pics of the babies.



We then turned around to head back to camp. We watched a tawny eagle being chased and mobbed by several PCG’s. There were several Secretary birds going about their business, an Ostrich drinking and we also saw a barking gecko.




We arrived back at camp around 1.30 pm, It was much hotter this afternoon. Wilderbeest come to drink at the camp waterhole.

On our evening drive we set off at 4pm with hope of seeing the bat-eared foxes earlier. We took a steady drive to Craig Lockhart and met a Jackal at the waterhole who soon ran off. This was a bird sighting time, with Secretary Birds, Kori Bustard, Vulture, Scaly-feathered Finch, Pririt Batis, Common Fiscal, Sociable Weaver, Cape Canary, Capped Wheatear.



Capped Wheatear



Scaly-feathered Finch

We failed to see the bat-eared foxes this time but a few fluffy clouds had built up and we had a stunning sunset tonight. A pity there is nowhere to get a good photo near to camp.



Jackal in Grass at Sunset



Wildebeest Sunset




For our evening meal we had Poitjie and Bucky’s famous and delicious Braai Beer bread – yum !

During the evening a Vereaux Eagle Owl landed near the camp waterhole, staying for some time to catch insects and bugs attracted by the hide spotlight. It flew into the tree beside the hide and then returned to the waterhole, coming very close to the perimeter fence and posing nicely for pics !





Unfortunately this was the best I could get when he took off along the ground.




The night was cloudy and warm with occasional gust of wind and we even have a shower !


Tomorrow ... another Lion fest

Thanks for confirming that Gerrit, that is what I would usually call them but I have heard so many people calling them pups now I was beginning to doubt

I do know that Hyenas are NOT canines .

Thanks Gavin – this is going to be a BEEEG lion thread !

8th May – Thursday

We were out of camp at 7.10 am today. A much warmer morning and very hot mid-day ! We took Gavin & Debbie with is as their vehicle was still waiting for repairs where we left it – hoping the Lions had not eaten the tyres yet !

We saw 12 Giraffe on top of the ridges by the road as we did the waterhole loops.

Bucky was sure that by now the mating pair would soon be joining up with the main pride as they appeared to have finished their 3-5 days of mating ritual, which in fact we never witnessed. Just before Dalkeith waterhole Bucky spotted the main pride in the dunes on their way to the waterhole! We were the only people there at this time.

What’s that coming over the dune?

The pride breached the dune tops in nice light and crossed into the road.

What’s that coming over the dune?

Good Morning

The Hooligans are here

The King emerges



As we started to follow them they changed sides along towards the waterhole and just as Bucky had predicted we spotted the breeding couple coming towards us from the further end of the riverbed.

We guessed this was to be the big reunion so followed them as they played, drank and meandered up the river bed towards each other, parked at the waterhole and waited for them – what a wonderful sight !

Sharing

It was amusing to hear Gavin “camera back-seat driving” and instructing Debbie on which lion to take pics of next, and in fact both I and Bucky were pointing out different sightings to each other every other second ! Where to watch was the biggest problem – oh what a problem !



The Lady



Majestic Steps




We had about 2½ hours of incredible viewing with them. By now we were joined by other vehicles, but I swear that Bucky’s big red VW Combi is a Lion magnet as it always managed to find us lions ! At one stage the breeding pair “tasted” our vehicle before collapsing beside it with the femal lying half underneath and the male touching our front nearside window. Several times during viewing we felt it necessary to close a window PDQ as the male glared in with his ultra piercing yellow eyes. He passed right below the wing mirror, rubbing himself on the side of the car as he strolled by. The only I will say to Bucky is that he needs to get the boys to paint the RED bullet with camouflage paint before the next trip as it does tend to throw a red reflection on lions that get close to it !!! hehe

Pitman profile

Pitman’s drooly mouth

Wannabe King



The lovers

.. to be continued ..