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I've returned from yet another very productive trip to the Kgalagadi. There were lions left, right & center and I've had some good cheetah sightings. A bonus was having mother and cub leopard at Samevloeiing waterhole for an entire day. I'll start working on my pictures (6500+) this week and I'll make an attempt at writing a trip report for a change

The image below shows how close some of the lions came to the car

Here's a shot of the mom and cub cheetah to keep the anticipation going

All right, one more than of a spotted cat and cub

Now that we're on the cat and cub subject....

As you noticed my website hasn't been updated yet. I returned from SA yesterday and I'm just browsing through my pictures now. I thought it would only be fair to share some with you

Here's the last one for today, a lioness close to Leeuwdril waterhole on a misty morning.

I'll start of my trip report with a weird hobby of mine. When I'm in Africa I enjoy using the evenings for star trail photography and scorpion photography in UV light. I had good hopes of seeing scorpiions this trip as I've seen scorpions a lot in summertime. I had booked Kieliekrankie, KTC, Urikaruus, Nossob and Twee Rivieren for our trip. In the wilderness camps you're not allowed out of your tent at night so looking for scorpions is not possible there, but I had good hopes of finding scorpions in Nossob.

When we stayed at Nossob I looked and looked for scorpions the first night of our stay but I was unsuccesful. Quite disappointed that I didn't find any I joined my wife in front of our chalet, opened a bottle of wine and enjoyed watching the night sky. After about 30 minutes I saw something moving from the corner of my eye. I couldn't believe it when I saw a Buthidae scorpion (yes, the poisonous kind) running towards my wife's feet. I yelled "yeeeh scorpion" and ran inside to get my UV light and camera. My wife wasn't very impressed with my reaction because in all my enthusiasm I failed to tell her that the scopion was running towards her bare feet She managed to lift her feet off the ground before it reached her though I managed to shoot some nice pictures of the scorpion that night.

The next night I decided to give it another go and I started looking for scorpions again. This time they were everywhere. I must have found 50+ scorpions in a circle of 20 metres from the entrance to the Nossob hide. Once again I got some nice pictures.

I'll just add one picture here, should you like to see more UV light scorpion pictures then check this link.



I was amazed by the number of scorpions that I found in Nossob. Should you ever stay in Nossob then please realise that there are scorpions there and if you're there with kids make sure that they wear proper shoes when walking in the camp at night.

I'm siffting through my pictures again and I just can't resist posting these two. It's one of the cubs from the pride that has it's territory around the Houmoed and Monro waterholes. These guys provided us with hours of entertainment during several sightings.

When we were driving from Nosson to TR we were overtaken by a 4x4 that was driving at speed. In the passenger seat was a woman with her foot on the dashboard, around her foot she had a bandage. I guess she was stung or bitten by something and they were probably going to Twee Rivieren to get some medical attention.

It's easy to forget that there are scorpions and snakes in KTP as you don't see them often. Here's another customer which I found at Nossob that you wouldn't want to get into an argument with....

I can vouch for that as I was stung by one during my time in the army. Was not a poisonous one but still hurt like hell. Oh and it stung me through a running shoe.

Some guys in our unit got stung by more serious scorpions and ended up in the medical tent for a day or two.

And I just made a BIG mistake by showing my wife these glowing scorpions!
The conversation went something like this:
Me: "Hi come and check out these cool photos!"
SO: "What is it?"
Me: "Scorpions taken under UV light"
SO: "Where was it taken"
ME: "Madach took them in a camp in Kgalagadi. He said there was about 50+ of them in a 20m radius of the hide"
SO: "I don't think we'll be going there soon"

Think FD before you speak!!

Thanks for the comments! I'm a bit busy over the weekend but I'll try to put some pictures on the forum next week. I've seen most of the pictures now and I'm very happy with the results

Here's another shot of the cheetah cub to keep the anticipation going

Beautiful photo yet again , Madach. I wonder if this is the same cub we saw. The mom was collared and they were about 600m N of Urikaruus. Of course my pics are nowhere near as good as this

Hi Michele,

This sighting was about 1.5km North of Urikaruus. I'm sure it was the same cub as you saw as there is only one collared cheetah with cub in the Urikaruus area. I was told by the attendant at Urikaruus that she originally had three cubs, two were killed by lions.

M.

Beautiful photos as ever Visited your scorpions Now I am curious as to what colour they are normally?

The Buthidae (the ones with the big stinger and the small pincers) were black while the other ones had a yellowish/brown colour. Under UV light they both glow in the same colour.

Oh yes probably the same because I meant 600m N of the Urikaruus waterhole not camp??? Pity about the other two cubs ...I do hope this one grows to maturity.
Thanks
M