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30.11.11

Today we are leaving Mata Mata and move back to Twee Rivieren.
We were pretty sad as, although we like Twee Rivieren very much, it always means that the end of the trip is near.
Of course we cannot leave without yet another early morning drive.
I was rewarded with a wonderful sunrise by the time I drove past Kalahari Tented Camp.


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Just after Sitzas waterhole I met this wonderful young Kalahari Lion.
The light was just awesome!


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I stopped at Craig Lockhardt but there was nothing.
But a couple of kilometres down the road I met the Cheetah mum with the two youngsters again.
They were walking along the river bed, mum obviously looking for breakfast and the youngsters chasing each other.


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I followed them for nearly 40 min before I was heading back to Mata Mata.
On the way back I suddenly discovered something brown in the grass.
I couldn't believe my eyes it was a very small Springbok.


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It started to struggle to get up and I could clearly see that it was still a bit wet and the knees were quite wobbly.
This was the freshest Springbok I ever saw, you could even see the still bloody umbilical cord.


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I still had a big smile on my face when I arrived back in the camp.
Now it was time to pack the car once more and to say goodbye to Mata Mata.
Of course we had to say goodbye to our Owls along the road.


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We checked the place where I had found the little Springbok this morning again. Now all the other Springboks were gone and the little one was lying flat on the ground, as mummy might have told him, now three hours after I have seen him/her for the first time he was nearly dry.


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At Dalkeith we spotted Old Badmouth again, this time he was resting in the shade of a tree.


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At Rooibrak waterhole there was another male Lion very sleepy in the shade.


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After a short break at Auchterlonie we checked Kamfersboom waterhole again and believe it or not the Hyenas where they are once again.


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Just as we nearly reached Twee Rivieren we spotted a dead Oryx in the riverbed. No predators around.


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The check-in at Twee Rivieren was done in no time and soon we moved into our home for our last couple of nights in KTP.
It was hot, clouds were building up quickly, we could hear distant thunder and soon we had a wonderful downpour, which produced a nice rainbow.


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Of course the rain did not keep us from going out for another drive. After the rain we found quite a couple of Tortoises.


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Close to Rooiputs an Oryx in the pouring rain.


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One of my favourite mice was balancing in some tall grass close to the road.


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Francolin still laughs about a sentence I said a little later: Stop! I think I've heard a Whistling Rat!...
I think she thought I had completely lost my marbles.
But we stopped and indeed there were a couple of Brant’s Whistling Rats in the late evening sun.


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Aren’t they just too cute?!

What an unbelievably successful day once again. We might be near the end of our trip, but there are still 1 1/2 days to come and Twee Rivieren has always been very generous to us, so let's see what the Kalahari still has in store...

01.12.11

When we arrived at the Oryx carcass a Lioness was around.
The bloodied face showed that she already had breakfast.


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Then she walked over to the direction of Botswana and we could see that she met up with one of those beautiful Kalahari Lions.


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Today we wanted to drive the Botswana detour. Shortly before we reached Leeudril waterhole we spotted some Meerkats in the distance.


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After yesterday's rain some of the spots close to the road were pretty muddy. It was funny to observe this Eagle running through the mud and looking as if he had really good time.


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He then flew up and landed in one of the bushes…


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The detour was quite easy to drive and it was nice to be able to drive through this area once again after a so many years.
We were happy to find yet another Bat Eared Fox Den close to the road. One of the little ones was reeeaaally tired.


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We had just passed Kij Kij and were on our way to Melkvlei to have breakfast when we discovered a Hyena walking through the riverbed towards the waterhole, so we turned around and followed her.


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This is maybe one of my favourite shorts taken during last year's trip.


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We waited at the waterhole for her and after a while she slowly walked towards us.


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I tried to capture the water dripping from her face, but somehow I think the concrete in the background is really nice...


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As soon as she stopped drinking she turned around and walked over to the direction of Botswana.
Shortly before we reached Melkvlei I spotted a movement in one of the trees close to the road.

An African Wild Cat!


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But soon we discovered that she wasn't alone...


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We thought we had enough photos of the cat and the little ones and decided that it was time to leave, as we did not want to disturb them too much. And Mum wasn’t too happy about our presence either….

Now we had breakfast at Melkvlei and were soon on our way back towards Twee Rivieren again.
This time the Eagle was sitting in one of the trees and his feet were clean again, lol…


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Shortly after that we observed a juvenile Pale Chanting Goshawk eating something on top of a Weavers Nest.


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There was no action at the Oryx carcass when we returned, but we decided not to leave too late in the afternoon to have a look again.
And indeed we were lucky, by the time we arrived the big male Lion was having his share.
Sorry pics may be a bit gory……


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He then walked onto the road sniffed at one of the trees (I think the car in the background belongs to one of the forumites that had been on the 4x4 trail) and walked very close past our car.


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More cars arrived and now it was time for us to leave.
We drove all the way to Rooiputs waterhole, but it was really quite. So we decided to return back to the Oryx carcass.
En-route we spotted this lovesick Ostrich, lol….



Too many cars for our taste, everybody got too excited so we thought it might be a good idea to leave the carcass and just stop at the waterhole to have a look if the Lion might fancy a drink.
And indeed here they were, aren't they just too beautiful!?


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While we stood there we could see that there were hundreds of Red-billed Queleas at the waterhole, it made an amazing sound when they flew up every now and then.


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The Lions were really sleepy and there was not much movement, so one more farewell shot and we returned back to camp.


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On the way back to our cottage I spotted the yellow ribbon and had a lovely chat with Jo and her Dad.
This was the last evening on this year's trip and I think I do not have to explain how we felt. Fortunately we still got a couple of hours the next day before we finally had the leave.

02.12.11

Well I did my best trying to ignore that this was our last morning in KTP. So I started into the day again exploring the surroundings of our cottage.
Although it was the beginning of December the temperatures in the early mornings were still a bit crisp.
And so the Mongooses around our cottage just enjoyed the first rays of sunshine.


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Our plan for the last couple of hours in the Park was to drive to Melkvlei again for breakfast before heading back to Twee Rivieren and finally Upington.
But for now it was still too early to think about that.
Just after we had passed Sammevloeiing we spotted the group of Meerkats again.
But again too far away from the road for nice photos.


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Driving the Botswana detour we found the baby Bat-eared Fox again.
This time not as tired as he was yesterday.


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Shortly before we reached Melkvlei there was a Cake Fox and some holes in the ground that looked like a den, but no youngsters to be seen.


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We had breakfast at Melkvlei with some small visitors around.
A curious little Mouse.


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And a small Lizard.


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Then we decided it was time to leave, only a couple of hundred metres after we had left the picnic spot we found two young Jackals by the side of the road, they were curious but cautious at the same time.


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Near Rooiputs we came across a nice little herd of Hartebeests. Three adults and two youngsters, after seeing nearly hundreds of them last year, it has been a really rare sighting this time. And we were very happy to see them.


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This was our last sighting of the day, well the last sighting of this years trip actually.
It has once again been an awesome time in KTP and I have to say the Kalahari was once again very generous.

I think we never saw so many Cheetahs as we did this year, we discovered a new and beautiful accommodation for us, the riverfront bungalows at Mata Mata.
We saw baby Bat-eared Foxes for the first time, we spotted so many different Owls, big and small, and, and, and ……..
We loved the sun rises, the sunsets, the wind, the clouds the thunderstorms and the rain. We already knew that we will miss all this.

We have to thank all those who made this another memorable stay, all the friendly faces who greeted us with warm words of Welcome, who cared for us and make this place such a special place.

We will be back that's for sure...