Southern African Parks Tours: Finally, we reach the Kgalagadi

Finally, we reach the Kgalagadi

After arriving at Kgalagadi, we drove to the Confluence waterhole and was met with this scene: A few animals lurking in the shadows of the trees and the hollow skin of an Eland, telling the story of the Eland migration which saw the South Africa side's falling short in delivering enough water to the thousand or more Eland that trekked from the Botswana side and finished the water each night with the weakest of them not getting enough water,

This resulted in many deaths and a feast for the lions and other predators and a hollow Eland-skin every now and then along the road. It seems that even the final cleanup brigade of the Kgalagadi, the Brown Hyenas, are too fat and lazy after the Eland slaughter to finally clean up the hollow skins from the place.

The Confluence waterhole on 7 November 2013. It looked like this until 9 December when the rain came.

On the nigh of 9 December 2013 Tweerivieren Camp received about 40mm of very welcome rain and turned the Confluence into this.

We ventured north and found more rain has fallen and at Rooiputs it looked like this:

Photos taken on trips from Tweerivieren

We were lucky to be able to vist all the camps in the Kgalagadi's SA side, including the Wilderness camps, which we enjoyed tremendously. I will first do the bigger camps and then the Wilderness Camps, as well as the Nossob 4x4 Trail.

We have learned on previous trips to the Kgalagadi that one normally sees a lot of lions and it was the same this time. Especially at the Kij-Kij waterhole area we saw many lions at many visits. One could almost guarantee that there will be lions around Kij-Kij if you can be there quite early in the day.

Later on in the day, they like to sleep in the shade of a tree and they are more difficult to see. But if you are lucky you can find one very near the road, like the old guy on the picture above who just opened his eyes wide enough to let us know he was still alive.

The lion above at the Kij-Kij waterhole did a balancing trick while drinking and later moved to his older friend under a nearby tree. This friend of his is maybe the most beautiful lion I ever saw. Have a look at the video below.

We were also lucky to find these two Cheetas next to the road near Auchterlonie. We suspect they are the kids of a mother who reared them and only recently left them to fend for themselves - something they can do very well - judging by their bellies.

Above is a view over the Aub river with the lower dune road crossing into the dunes past Kieliekrankie and joining the Nossob road at Kij-Kij. This was a wonderful circle route. Tweerivieren past Auchterlonie, turn right into the dune road and see what the dunes offer, then the expected lions near Kij-Kij and back to Tweerivieren with the Nossob road via Rooiputs and Leeudril waterholes where anything can show up to entertain you.

Cape Fox near Auchterlonie. Supposedly the only real fox in the Kgalagadi. The others are mere jackals.

This leopard is a female who was lying in the tree near Auchterlonie. With her was her young subadult cub who, upon us stopping beneath the tree, decided to leave the tree. Not very impressed with the attention we offered them.

The young one leaving and mother following suit where they joined each other again below the tree in the river. (Below)

They moved up the dune and vanished over to the other side and we not able to follow it! So beautiful, these cats.

Back at the camp, we met up with a visitor, a Cape Cobra, which luckily was not aggressive and only peeped from its home under a braai and later left for the bush. (Below)

One morning, as we left the camp for our early morning drive, this female lion greeted us just outside the gate and walked along for about a kilometer before vanishing over the dune.

Early morning drives on the dune road produced quite a few sightings of Honey Badgers. The ultimate Honey Badger sighting is when you see them in the company of a jackal and a Pale Chanting Goshawk who both like to strike at the mice and other animals that run away from the Honey Badger when he is digging them out.

We saw this Rooihartbeest who got its neck broken by a leopard and the hind parts eaten out. The leopard was nowhere to be seen - perhaps in the bush behind it. We were not willing to check :-)

A Bat-Eared fox hunting for food early in the Aub river near Monroe waterhole. They use their super hearing abilities to hear small animals and insects under the ground, which they then quickly dig out to eat. Just look at those ears focused on the ground.

We suspect this female Cheeta is the mother of those two we previously saw. Judging by the size of her belly, she also know how to look after herself in the bush. After a while she got up and moved away. (Below)

Two Tawny Eagles in a tree near Kij-Kij. Tawny Eagles are almost as common as lions in the Kgalagadi.

Lions under trees above and below.

A wonderful sighting of a Bat_Eared Fox and her siblings. They were playful and vanished into their den holes ever now and then, playing with each other.