Kgalagadi - Mata Mata - 21/2/13

Restful, cool night. Had another sighting of wild cat but this one was more concealed in her tree den.

Ah, one giant, early morning leap of faith

I cannot even begin to imagine the story behind this picture (captions welcome!)

Lucky sighting of the extremely elusive caracul

Back at 14th waterhole and two sets of cheetah are there again. 2 adults with kill

Mum and her 3 cubs were in roughly the same spot as yesterday but had no kill when we left them. She is probably waiting for a herd of unsuspecting springbok to make their way to the water.
Back at camp. Swimming pool. Luis reading all about our battery charger - leaning on our adjustable table which collapsed. Nothing hurt but his pride. Really funny moment!
Evenings slightly cooler - nice.

Kgalagadi - Mata Mata - 20/2/13

Quiet night, animal wise. Lovely cool wind blowing - climbed under the duvet for the first time in yonks.
Early morning bonus with African Wild Cat

 Craig Lockhart waterhole appeared to be dry. Witnessed in excess of 12 jackal hanging around there. Maybe the water starts pumping once the sun hits the solar panels.

At 14th waterhole, we witnessed a cheetah kill

Quite far away so not the best shot. In this one, I missed the buck

Fortunately for the cheetah, she didn't!

She dragged her prey to the nearest spot of shade then called for her 3 young cubs to come. Wind was blowing against her so they could not hear. After about 10 minutes of repeated calling, she left her kill to go and summon them

A further 10 minutes and happily united, they returned

Cubs had walked sedately until this point. They may have sensed or smelled the nearby kill, but all broke into playful leaps, chases, hops and skips.

On trip back at same waterhole stretch, we came across a lone cheetah. Obviously cheetah territory.
A black breasted snake eagle wheeling in the wind

Mum and junior Hartebees took a pause in their wandering to pose

A crimson breasted shrike, elusive and secretive despite gorgeous striking colour, played peek-a-boo, flirting with the camera.

Back at camp, swam and lazed the day away. Luis made potjie bread (beer and self raising flour - best attempt to date. Delicious!

Kgalagadi - Mata Mata - 19/2/13

Woke to lion serenade. On the road at 6pm. Male lion at Rooikop. Honey badger at Marie se Draai

Lighting was poor due to dense cloud cover and time of day but what a pleasure. A jackal and a Pale Chanting kept him company. All part of their symbiotic relationship.

A lioness posing next to the road (could have touched her) at Cheleka. Initially she was totally inert but heat got the better of her and she moved.

Over the dune road, for the greater part not too bad. Corrugation evident in small areas.
We suspect a pale chanting was dive bombing this Southern White Quill. In his haste to escape he flew into the side of our car. No injury and hardly broke his stride ... Then off into the wide blue yonder

Onto Mata Mata road .... badly corrugated. Cheetah Mum and her three cubs at Dertiende Waterhole. Have photos but they were quite far and in the shade of trees.
Nice to see the giraffe have settled in and seem to be thriving

Juvenile Gabar Goshawk (we think) at Fourteenth Waterhole

Have found a shady spot at the campsite - near the pool!
Solitary young male lion came to waterhole early evening.

Kgalagadi - Nossob - 18/2/13

Choral lion last night with barking geckos providing percussion and jackal providing soprano.
Back at Cubitjie Quap where the Lanner was active again.

On the way back to camp came across the same two
Spotted Eagle Owl. Better positioned for photo this morning.

Have not yet mentioned, as did not want to tempt fate, that the roads are in much better condition ... thus far. Not sure what Mata Mata will bring.
Today is pleasantly overcast - welcome relief from baking hot sun.
Spent rest of day cooling off in pool, taking a snapshot of a pearl spotted

and watching springbuck playing in the early evening at the waterhole.
Light sprinkle of rain which drove the mongoose to their den. Squirrels, however, seemed to love it and began frolicking around, demonstrating magnificent judo skills

Kgalagadi - Nossob - 17/2/13

No choruses during the night apart from jackal. Up at crack of dawn and out to Cubitjie Quap for coffee. Two spotted eagle owl en route but not much else. Falcon has now been confirmed as Lanner.

Gemsbok and jackal hanging around. Went up to Kwang but nothing there. Back to camp.
Have had a confirmed (by ranger) explanation for the desiccated Eland carcasses mentioned on 15/2/13: Apparently last season had good rains and a massive herd of eland (6 000 to 10 000 strong) migrated down from Botswana. They arrived utterly exhausted and were easy picking for the lion. So many that the lion were eating liver and heart and moving on to next prey leaving the spoils largely untouched.
Another bit of info: the reason the Kgalagadi lions have such magnificent large manes is due to the lack of bush for the manes to snag on. Also, the alpha male proudly bears the largest, blackest mane. Once deposed, his mane will revert to a less magnificent version.
Spent a restful day. Napping & swimming. Discovered a new (for me) way to keep cool: Soak my sarong (thickish linen) then drape over me. Keeps sun off as well. Only problem is, from time to time I feel a gentle tugging and it's the squirrels munching on the moist tassels (of the sarong!!!).
Lovely surprise at the waterhole around 7pm - mating pair of lion

Magnificent!

Much later there was a scavenging jackal in the camp. That is the evening norm but this guy was jauntily trotting around proudly bearing a 2l flask in his mouth! Never did find out who the flask belonged to.

Kgalagadi - Nossob - 16/2/13

Awoke at 5 to a magnificent lion chorus. Think I need to get a decent recording to use as an alarm - what a pleasure. No sign of them once on the road, though. Lovely sunrise. Nice and cool but coolness will be short lived!

Ubiquitous Jackal posing for us

Had some fun sightings at the Cubitjie Quap waterhole (Botswana side). A falcon (Peregrine or Lanner - couldn't get a clear visual) was after a nice plump sandgrouse for breakfast. Was not successful and moved on. I couldn't get a decent shot of him but did get some flight school pics

On way back to camp for breakfast, a "Gymnogene" made a guest appearance

Hot day spent lounging in the swimming pool. Watched clouds gathering throughout the afternoon. Never came to much - a light sprinkling that didn't wet anything. Down at the hide from about 7 pm. Awesome to hear the barking geckos starting their chorus. A load of bats flew out of the hide just above our heads. In bed by 8.30

Kgalagadi - Nossob - 15/2/13

Left home yesterday. Long haul made longer by a temperamental Garmin (maps appear to be corrupted and kept losing satellite reception), together with many, many, many stop/go roadwork detours.
Nearly picked up a R500 speeding fine but a R100 contribution to the widows and orphans fund left everyone relatively happy!
Eventually got to Molopo (70 kms outside Kgalagadi) around 7ish. Pleasant enough evening spent there. Extremely hot but that will be the anthem of this trip, I fear.
The trip from TweeRivieren was long and dusty. Despite being in the rainy season, I'm guessing they haven't had much rain. Very dry. Evidence of quite a few desiccated antelope carcasses relatively untouched by predators - starvation?
Had a few highlights en route to Nossob: Mother cheetah and young cub; jackal (common sighting here but always enjoy); Giant Eagle Owl and Martial Eagle.

A large number of pale chanting goshawks were to be seen (always photogenic).

Took a walk to the waterhole - not far but hectic in the heat of the full sun. Secretary birds growling at each other in territorial warfare over the water. This is the victor

A very overheated me eventually retired to bed at around 8ish. Lion & Jackal serenaded us through the night.