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One more sleep in Cape Town...and one more sleep en route and then we are there.......

and C. O'Dee has kindly offered to do a sms report or two.
Thank you C. O'Dee

C. O'Dee posting under J.D.O till my "technical challenges" are sorted by admin

To say I am a very is an understatement!! But, yes, I will happily be posting reports from sms's for D & M. Hope you guys have a safe and awesome trip!!

Hot off the cell.... Micheles first report has come in from 2rivieren!!

All is well in KTP and at 41deg Michele has not yet lost her sence of humor. D & M used the Botswana enterance which I believe was an abseloot pleasure... the road was almost as good as a tar road. Guess what? for those of you who know the Kalahari Girls... IT RAINED!!! Well of course, with a Kalahari Rain Maker on her way it HAD to rain. Mich said they had some really nice sized puddles to drive through.

As for their sightings, Mich has only listed the exciting ones and not ALL of their sightings... so here goes...
Marshel Eagle, Bataleur (very nice sighting), Tawny Eagle, Giant Eagle Owl and a cobra!!

Thats all for tonight folks! Mich has promised to phone home again tomorrow night, so will up date you then again.

Okie-Dokie, here is your next instalment:

At 6pm it was 39degrees. I think Mich is melting!! This morning 2 lions were sighted on the way to rooiputs, and on the way back 10 more! The leopard, at saamevloeing? Well as usual Mich JUST missed it both during the morning and afternoon drives The lions were still fast asleep under the tree in the afternoon. RAIN?? Not today thank goodness!!

Tomorrow D&M are going to stake out the saamevloeing waterhole! Lets hope their patience will pay off and that they get to see their leopard!

News just in from 2rivieren LEOPARD & CUB sighted!!! Oh yes, yes, yes!! Nope the stake-out didn't work! But eventually D&M found what they were looking for about 2km past Saamevloeinig! Both the leopard and the cub were in the tree, so not really a good photo opportunity.

Saw another cobra and also found Jb72 along the road. The tempreture today was round 38/39 degrees.

Right now D&M are sitting outside having a beer and coco-rico & pineapple juice. I will touch base with them at midnight to wish them for new year and their 25th wedding anniversary. Tomorrow they will leave very early for Kieliekrankie and meet up with Jb72 at Agterlonie. We're not too sure about cell phone signal at Kieliekrankie, so you will have to take it as no news means no signal!! They will be back at 2Rivieren on the Saturday the 5th.

In the mean time.... Happy New Year to all of you reading this thread!

@HP, yip, at this stage D is still awake!! Just got another sms in... Mich FORGOT to mention the lioness and 2cubs at monro this morning!! No action from them though cause they were fast asleep under a tree!!

Happy New Year to you and yours aswell HP, hope you have a stunning year!

Hi BB & TB, nice to see the 2 of you catching up again!!
Had a call from MN earlier on... they are back in 2rivieren, but alas she would tell me nothing about their sightings except to say they have been awesome!! ... so we will all just have to wait and try be a little patient!! I'm sure she will make a posting or 2 before laying her head on her very own pillow tomorrow night. They leave KTP at the crack of dawn tomorrow and head for home. So... until then... keep the beers cold... and you eye on this thread!

We are home safe and sound. It has been a long road and I am shattered....but firstly I have to welcome Wannabe nerd to the forum..great to have you on board!
and secondly@ BB...careful BB ..this new broomstick has all sorts of new features so best you watchit!!!
And thirdly...thank you everybody for your wonderful wishes and Happy New Year to all...a bit late I know but I was over a thousand km's away from my computer!!

And a big thank you to C O' Dee for posting sms report..you are a special

Oh a trip report...you all want a trip report!!!! Oh goodness...well not just now... but boy oh boy do I have some sightings to tell you all about !
We didn't see a honey badger nor a brownie...nor a caracal...not even a pangolin but we saw.....oops a bit tired to tell you now. Tomorrow is another day!!I will just end by saying that we had some awesome sightings...probably the best ever....and some great experiences...probably the hottest ever!!!!The highest temperature we experienced was 42.5°C. It was hard to believe that when we were in the park 6 months ago we experienced minus degrees. It just goes to show what a diverse place the Kgalagadi is...more later. Right now I need my bed!

Nope.....no change !!!! You can sit inside the kitchen when we braai okay. We will all look after you...that is a promise. Anyway the hyenas prefer car tyres to humans....so providing that you are not too old and rubbery you should be quite safe.

By the way I am so pleased that you have joined the forum....you can help out with C. O'Dee's spelling.

I will try to post something this evening...in the meantime..patience is a virtue !!!!!

I AM old and rubbery!! now you've really got me worried.


Hi, Dreamer. If you can't beat them, join them. Now I know why C.O'Dee spends so much time at the P.C.


Thanks for the welcome, icurrie. 4 PCs!! Only way to stop the fighting.

Me, too. Only I hope you are going to be there this year. Haven't decided exactly when we'll be in KTP next year.

You are ????? Oops sorry K O'Dee I hadn't noticed. You will be fine...just don't lie in the foetal position quaking and shivering...cos if you do the hyenas will surely mistake you for a rubbery tyre!!!!

Okay guys I know you are all eager for a trip report but I am still trying to sort things out...please just a few more hours!:pray:

Gosh you guys really do drive a hard bargain!!!! So okay here goes!

Expect the Unexpected - Kgalagadi 2007/8

The most unexpected thing of all was the trip itself. After our trip to KTP in December 2005 I vowed I would never go to KTP in summer again because of the heat and Doug vowed he would never take the kombi there again because of the roads…….
29 December 2007 found us driving into the park. The temperature was 41°C and we were in the Kombi…
Never say never!!!
By now you probably all know that we would be celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary. It was sometime in November that Doug joked about us going up to KTP....well some things you just don't joke about! I took him seriously and before he knew it I had booked and we would unexpectedly be spending New Year in KTP.
Seeing this was our umteenth trip to the park we decided to take a different route. We traveled from Cape Town to Springbok, where we spent the night. The next day found us meandering through Pofadder, Kakamas and Keimoes. We did a few geocaches along the way….helps to relieve the boredom of traveling!
We also opted to enter the park via Botswana and Two Rivers…..a very good move indeed. The dirt road was almost like a tar road.
We eventually arrived at Twee Rivieren at 14h30.

http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=6jmifm9&s=1

After a quick unpack..chalet no 28.. we headed out on our first game drive. The temperature was a searing 41.5° C but the aircon in the kombi saved the day! Also I was far too excited to worry about the heat. I had recently bought a new camera that I was dying to try out. Just before I left Cape Town Mashona had kindly given me a crash course on using it. He also very kindly lent me all sorts of camera goodies and gave me many hints and tips .....but enough of that.... just now you will all be knocking on his door.
We drove out full of expectations..... I was on a leopard mission. We had missed the leopard and cub at Samevloeiing in June. I was determined to find it this time.......

Why am I sitting here waiting for your next instalment when I know you're not at the computer. You are sitting, chatting about your trip, and drinking with my wife!! Good guess, right? Will you tell COD I say 'goodnight'?

Hey K. O Dee...me drinking with your wife ???? ...you are giving out private information ...I may get a moderator to tell you off!!! or better still I may just tell you off myself

Okay ...I am sorry no report tonight...I have been driving around fetching and carrying kids....poor excuse I know but I will try really hard to get something done tomorrow night
In the meantime I am working on the video clips and photos ..it does take time you know!!!!!

Okay...just a few more lines before I disappear for the night!!

Well as I said we were full of expectations. Many people had sighted the leopard and cub and I just presumed we were next. Not far out of Twee Rivieren I spotted a Martial Eagle. Well it was an opportunity to test the new camera but my goodness me he was far away…not a very good photo at all but I just loved the way he was gawking at us…I thought we were in the KTP to gawk at animals and birds…not the other way round.


Anyway we soon moved on and rounded the bend to Samevloeiing. I am not quite sure what I expected to see, but I was shocked. There was nothing at the waterhole except carcasses…it was silent... not even a chirp of a bird. There were 9 carcasses in all lying around the waterhole…all with horrible grimaces on their half rotted faces. I took one or two photos but I did not like what I was seeing. I asked SO to move on. I then realized that even though there were huge puddles in the road the surrounding veld was still very dry. This was not I what I expected. Where was the leopard and cub that I everybody else was seeing at the waterhole?
We continued and I was concentrating really hard on finding the leopard. Instead we came across a beautiful male bateleur waddling around like a duck. It was rather comical.

I was all fingers and thumbs with the camera so i decided to grab the video camera...at least I knew what to do with that!

PS I am battling to upload video of bateleur. I will try again tomorrow


Next up was a lanner falcon….I managed a photo or two before the falcon flew away (typical!!!! ).

We then went on to see a Verreaux's eagle owl , secretary birds and a fork tailed drongo squabbling with an tawny eagle.


In the meantime I was getting more and more grumpy. My fingers were hitting all the wrong buttons on the camera and I knew I was missing some good shots because I was not quick enough.
We continued passed Leeudril and Rooiputs without seeing much...and then onto to Kij Kij. Maybe there would be some lions at Kij Kij. There was nothing not even a bird or a jackal. Just carcasses....very depressing. After sitting at Kij Kij for a while we turned around and headed back to camp. It was still 40° and we had not noticed that rain clouds had gathered