Kgalagadi September 2016: raptor kills and roadside rescue

[Tdgraves]

 

It only takes one South African (or more) to make a party out of a disaster!

And where are the photos?

No photographic evidence....

[Atravelynn]

To get not only the Brandt's Whistling Rat's hole but the rat itself is very impressive. The sandgrouse kill and the birds at the waterhole prior to that event are stupendous. The sepia look of the into-the-sun shots at the start of #95 is attractive. I am starfaxed by that spiral behind the vehicle!

 

What a delightful alternative to astophotography.

[Treepol]

@@Tdgraves just catching up with your TR. Thank you for such a detailed report, that records each drive in KTP, one of my favourite parks.

 

I particularly liked the martial eagle building up wing strength, the 4 striped mice, the meerkats in camp, the photo of the Brandt's whistling rat (I dipped on these in 2014 in KTP) and the sequence of the jackal and the sandgrouse.

 

 

 

 

[Tdgraves]

Thanks @@Treepol and @@Atravelynn but the star trail vehicle belongs to @@Peter Connan....

[Atravelynn]

Thanks @@Treepol and @@Atravelynn but the star trail vehicle belongs to @@Peter Connan....

By gosh you are right, but the rest is yours. I must have had too many stars in my eyes to notice the party responsible. I think my head is still spinning.

[Tdgraves]

Day 11, Kalahari Tented Camp, morning drive. 21/9/16

 

First, here's one I managed to miss from the 20th

 

 

It was a bit milder this morning (7 degrees) and as we entered the valley, we were expecting the treacherous hill roads to be closed. Nope. Those in the know were using the diversions, so we made a note of their location, as best as possible and maintained speed on other sections. To say that this was the most stressful game drive ever would not be an understatement. We did not want to get stuck again. I had the 5D today. No sooner than we had got down past the more severe road conditions, than we saw this male lion on a mission

 

 

 

 

 

There was one car ahead of us, with a single photographer in it. We followed his lead and drove off ahead, to try and position ourselves on the loop road, so that he would walk right towards us, presumably en route to the water hole. The wilderbeest told us of his arrival

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, he veered off to the left, depriving us of the head on shots

 

 

 

 

 

 

He was now going along the main road, with a stream of followers, so we thought we'd get to the waterhole, so that if that was where he was headed, we would have a good position. It was a long wait and others came and went. We could see vehicles going backwards and forwards on both roads trying to get a good position, however when he was about level with the waterhole, he disappeared in the opposite direction up into the dunes.

 

 

 

 

There was not much else about and so we had to make our way back to camp, passing our South African rescuers just past the spot where we had got stuck, on their way out of the park. We stopped at Mata Mata for fuel and told them about the appalling state of the road, but they did not seem very interested.....

[Tdgraves]

Birds in Kalahari Tented Camp

 

A brief interlude to show the birds we encountered on our patio...

 

Ashy tit

 

 

 

 

Black-chested prinia

 

 

 

 

Southern grey-headed sparrow

 

 

Familiar chat

 

 

Cardinal woodpecker, female

 

 

There were also numerous white-browed sparrow-weavers, fork-tailed drongos and cape glassy starlings, with the odd sighting of an acacia pied barbet

[Tdgraves]

Day 11 Evening Drive, Kalahari Tented Camp, 21/9/16

 

It was a hot afternoon (34 degrees) and we were nervous of the road as we set out for a drive. It was a pretty quiet, if stressful affair.

 

There were a few vehicles parked at a waterhole, presumably waiting for a cat to arrive, but it did give us a chance for a Bateleur take off

 

 

We moved off and then found a couple of vehicles stopped, looking up into the dunes. It took us a few minutes to see what they could..

 

 

The cheetah family!

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed quite a while with the cheetahs, hoping that they may come down, but it was not to be. So it was time to take on the evil road again. Sundowners were well earned!

[Tdgraves]

Night time photos, 21/9/16

 

After the battery fiasco on the first night and the interruption of our South African rescuers on the second, I was determined to finally get some star trails on our last night.

 

 

 

Milky way rising

 

 

 

And a couple of different star trails, with the milky way

 

 

 

 

Mission accomplished!

[ice]

We moved off and then found a couple of vehicles stopped, looking up into the dunes. It took us a few minutes to see what they could..

 

 

 

The cheetah family!

 

 

 

 

Are you sure it was a family and not the coalition of four males hanging around this area?

Edited January 2, 2017 by ice

[Tdgraves]

@@ice yes, it was the mother and four cubs. But because I had the 5d i didn't have a decent picture of all of them....

[Tdgraves]

@@ice

 

Here's one courtesy of the OH of the 4 cubs

 

 

With the bins, you could see mum resting in the shade (small lump of head in shadow) whilst the cubs played

[ice]

@@Tdgraves

 

ok, initially I didn't notice that there were five of them; also the most recent picture clearly shows that the cheetahs are not fully grown (as opposed to the coalition of four males). Did you try to identify the mother (or have her identified)?

[Tdgraves]

@@ice I seem to recall someone referring to her as Corinne - does this sound right?

[michael-ibk]

@@penolva mentioned the name Corinne in my report when I posted a Cheetah with four cubs. The one I saw was very close to Twee Rivieren, though.

[Tdgraves]

Doesn't necessarily mean anything though @@michael-ibk this was the one we had seen near rooiputs and she had travelled all the way up to near mata mata....

[ice]

It is indeed Corinne who had four cubs last year and another litter of four this year. And she seems extremely agile, even with cubs, historically she was sighted between TR and Kransbrak as well as between TR and Mata Mata

[penolva]

Great to see Corinne with her second litter of four cubs. She is a fantastic mother. I will never forget the time we spent with her and her first litter a couple of years ago. One photo won me two free nights in the Kgalagadi! Pen

[Towlersonsafari]

I did enjoy the photo's of the wildebeest watching the lions in particular @@Tdgraves, and indeed your whole report just reminding again what a wonderful place the KTP is. So the big-and probably silly question is- which do you prefer the Kruger of KTP-or is it very important to keep going to both, before you finally decide! I do enjoy your reports

[Tdgraves]

@@Towlersonsafari That is a very difficult question. I like them both and they are so different that they do not really stand direct comparison. I love the KTP for the light and clear visibility of sightings, as there is little or no bush cover, but driving the exact same roads can get monotonous. It has fewer beds and therefore less traffic, but because of the limited number of roads, it can feel more busy than parts of the KNP. However, the KNP is so much busier generally, but even from one camp, there are so many options for drives and thus the ability to avoid the crowds. I guess the birding is better in KNP and there is more variety of mammals as well. We have had some amazing sightings in both parks, often to ourselves...decisions, decisions. I suppose the 6 hour drive from Joburg to KNP vs. 11 hours to KTP has to be taken into account, these are holidays after all!! We will continue to frequent both parks. Does that answer your question????

[Towlersonsafari]

Thanks @@Tdgraves we love the KTP but are going soon to the Kruger to get a great value good old fashioned wildlife fix!

Edited January 3, 2017 by Towlersonsafari

[Tdgraves]

Day 12 Transfer from Kalahari Tented Camp to Twee Rivieren, 22/9/16

 

Due to the dire state of the road and the fact that we would be going all the way to Upington today, we committed the safari sin of not going on a game drive

 

We didn't get much of a lie in, due to the light, but it was nice to lounge around with coffee, rather than rushing out of the gate. As we left, some grey hornbills flew overhead.

 

I had the 7D today and it was a warm start - 24 degrees!

 

Our first sighting was this pririt batis on the entrance road

 

 

And then a somewhat larger bird, a juvenile pale chanting goshawk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided not to take the loop roads, primarily as the annoying minibus was doing so and it was our attempt to get ahead of them, so that they did not ruin any more sightings! A small road block lead us to these guys...

 

 

Spotted eagle-owls

 

 

It was quite hard to get a shot with the angle and all of the branches (and the fact that they really wanted to be asleep!)

 

 

 

 

And on another tree on the other side of the road, proud dad

 

 

I had a bit of road rage at this point. A 4x4 vehicle was trying to monopolise the sighting and had parked at an angle. This meant that the only view for one other car, was to block the road and more importantly, meant that the front tyres were in the deep sand at the edge. Consequently as I tried to pull off, the car would not move. He begrudgingly reversed by a few inches to allow me to point into the middle of the road and get going.. Grrrrr

 

 

 

 

We saw another bateleur drinking at a waterhole, but it was quite far from the road and into the sun. We were almost at Twee Rivieren, when this guy popped up on the passenger side of the car

 

 

 

 

His colleagues were quite far down the road on the opposite side.

 

 

 

And our final sighting of the park, at the Twee Rivieren waterhole, a new bird, South African shelducks

 

 

As the sightings were few and far between, we had made good time and had not built up an appetite for our packed breakfast until this point, so we had this at Twee Rivieren, before reinflating the tyres and checking out of the park.

 

[michael-ibk]

Love the Owl chicks - and the Meerkat of course.

[Tdgraves]

Motion camera photos

 

We didn't have much luck with this camera on this trip - a small selection of critters only

 

Mata Mata

 

 

 

 

Urikaruus

 

 

 

KTC

 

 

Nossob

 

[Tdgraves]

And a few iPhone photos