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Maybe KG can point you to some data.

MM is cheetah country because of the prey in the area.

My observation - very non scientific - is that there are more springbok in the Aob riverbed than the Nossob, which has plenty of gnu.

Welcome to the forum mistral.

I was in Kgalagadi in Feb, and it was the wettest it has been for ages - the (usually dry) Aob river flowed.

The area around 5 km north of 2R (Twee Rivieren) was a predator hotbed and had been for quite a while.

We saw brown & spotted hyena, many cheetah and lions, but missed the leopards. 2R is the place to be, but MM is cheetah country also.

@Mistral,

Welcome to the forum. Regarding the question if the weather has changed the animal’s behaviour. Things are still normal as it has been. During the winter or very cold mornings the animal become more active as soon as the sun is out and they have heated up, then they tent to move down into the river beds and in the afternoon they would leave the riverbeds to go up the dunes as it would be warmer there as in the riverbeds.

Other than that no serious changes in their behaviour.


KG

@Mistral,

In general, the Kalahari shows little habitat variation. Although the whole area is covered by Kalahari sand at varying depts., there is a gradient in rainfall increasing from south-west to north-east which is clearly reflected in a gradient in plant communities and species composition. The Nossob River forms a natural boundary, roughly dividing the area into two sections. Terrain morphology to the west of the Nossob River is more sharply divided into dunes and dune valleys and the vegetation structure is predominantly shrubby grassland, except in the north and along the rivers, where an open tree savannah develops. to the east of the Nossob River the country is flatter and the vegetation is an open too dense tree savannah especially towards the north and east with large grassy plains in the central and southern areas.

Regarding the animals, it all depends on the rainfall and where the prey species concentrate, which will be mainly in the riverbeds where hunting is much easier and the grass in the riverbeds much more palatable and therefore a higher concentration of prey species.

Hope it helps

KG

Most interesting!

Thank you.

Camping in October - do we need blankets in addition to sleeping bags?

I know days will be hot 30C or so......

Hi Mistral,

The general straight forward answer for night time temps in the Kalahari for October would be to leave the blankets but put in a fan - but you know how our weather is like these days, anything can happen, so if space is not an issue, maybe put in an extra thin blanket,if not needed then you were rather safe than sorry.

Accuweather is a nice website to watch long term forecasts.

I agree with Switchback, October is just starting to warm up but our evenings can still be very chilly, so to play it save pack in something warm for the night.

KG

Nice question

I will also be camping in October and was wondering what time of the year to expect the first rains.

First rains should come end January to beginning February. October should still be dry. Again, anything is possible though these days...

We were there in late October last year and had amazing thunderstorms up at Nossob but it was 37 degrees still .....

We were there 2009 end Sept to early Oct and had a huge storm on the Wednesday night. (You could almost sit and read with all the lightning) with a lot of rain and then on Saturday afternoon the biggest cloudburst i ever experienced. Afterwards we went for a drive and the samevloeiing area looked like one big dam. The water flowed a foot deep through Twee-Rivieren. These Kalahari storms are some of the most unforgettable Natural experiences. Would love to have it again.

Here's a photo.

WOW

that water is amazing

Mistral, we've been in KTP late Oct, early Nov for 2 years in a row now and Jannie is right. Although we don't camp, I must tell you that early mornings are pretty chilly Down as low as 3 There were a couple of cool days as well -- below 25, so be prepared for anything