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Kgalagadi Sept 2018: long drives and at long last a leopard!


Tdgraves

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Day 9, evening drive, 23/9/18

 

We went up the Nossob valley. It was quite warm, up to 31 degrees and very quiet. So much so, that nothing made it into the favourites folder!!

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Day 10, morning drive, 24/9/18

 

It was a full moon and there were thunder storms overnight. We chose the Auob and I had the 5D. It started at 19 and was up to 32 degrees when we got back to camp. The dunes were quiet and we were covering the distance fairly quickly, when I noticed something on the dune ridge - a cheetah!!

 

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It was a miracle that I had seen it at all and after a few minutes, when it put its' head down, it was completely invisible.

 

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However, we decided to wait. and wait. Several cars came and went and an hour later we were rewarded (as was the last vehicle to arrive, just as it got up - timing!)

 

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We found these on the dune road

 

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The OH caught these on the 7D

 

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Back to camp for breakfast!

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~ @Tdgraves

 

After the wealth of cheetah images (thank you for those) the small tortoise is a pleasing contrast.

 

The trick shot with four horns — that's one for Dr. Dolittle!

 

Tom K.

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The photographs of the cheetah and your comments on the other vehicles coming to look because a vehicle is parked, cannot see anything and moving on, just proves that patience pays off.

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Day 10, evening drive. 24/9/18

 

First a couple from in camp

 

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It was really hot this afternoon up to 36 degrees and overcast (again..). We chose the Auob valley and started off with birds

 

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A pygmy falcon couple were sharing a bite..

 

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We then found a mother cheetah and two cubs. We drove to the next waterhole and then back to wait to see what would ensue. Mum had spotted something...

 

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She was stalking and her hunt was almost ruined by a police car who wanted to get through the parked cars. Fortunately she was successful and caught a small hare/rabbit (we didn't see the end as our view was obscured)

 

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Enough dinner for these guys!

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What a fantastic report - great cheetah sightings and I love the meerkat pics.

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Day 11, morning drive, 25/9/18

 

It was cloudy again and I had the 7D. We chose the Nossob valley. It was 18 degrees when we left and 28 when we returned

 

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There was a vehicle stopped next to a dune. The reason soon became clear....

 

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And then it went to sleep and was completely invisible. We carried on further north and had our best African wildcat sighting ever

 

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The sun even came out for a few minutes!

 

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The rest of the drive was quiet apart from some birds

 

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We spotted a monitor lizard close to camp

 

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Time for breakfast!

Edited by Tdgraves
typo
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What a fantastic wildcat sighting and really beautiful photos 

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Have just played catch up from the start- i would say it was worth all the effort booking on phone-long drive from J/burg etc by the looks of things.Great photo's of all and you certainly have had a cat bonaza :D

 

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Lovely sighting of the wildcat! and what a cheetah galore.

 

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Day 11, evening drive, 25/9/18

 

Some in camp

 

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We again chose the Nossob as the OH didn't fancy 10km across the dunes to get to the Auob. It was a pretty quiet drive

 

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This was the first time we had seen this "classical" behaviour

 

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That night we had a brief power cut whilst cooking. The older couple next door came to check on us, to find a large pot of butter chicken cooking on the braai - we are prepared! The day previously, he had questioned what my solar lights were....

 

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The power was on for washing up :(

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Day 12, morning drive, 26/9/18

 

We again chose the Nossob, as we had to check out by 10am. It was a blamy 13 degrees as we left and only reached 20 by the time we were back in camp. I had the 5D today. This goshawk could hear something in the bush, he kept walking around and around and was not bothered by us at all...

 

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Eventually he gave up with no breakfast. It was not long before we found the stars of the show (and their entourage)

 

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A mating pair of lions coming straight towards us. There were a couple of safari vehicles which sped past us (after asking) and nipped onto the Rooiputs road and then I was able to turn around. Unfortunately, the driver who was now at the front of the queue was much less courteous. He was driving a small minibus of photographers (with a long lens himself), so would stop in the optimum position and park diagonally (against the rules) stopping all of us parking and also comprehensively blocking our views. :angry: Eventually he made a mistake and we all passed, parking appropriately, so then he just drove straight past us all, ignoring the cameras which were pointing out of the windows. What an ****hole!

 

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The minibus had also decided to use the Rooiputs road (not sure whether they were staying there or not) and zoomed ahead, presumably to get the best angle with their lenses. This proved to be their mistake. The lioness seemed to want to cross the road....

 

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And so the male came to meet her in the middle

 

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and they mated right in front of us with no view for the minibus (Karma does exist!! :ph34r:)

 

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the ****holes after the action had finished

 

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and so it continued

 

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Then they were off on the march again, presumably to the waterhole. The remaining vehicles were very polite and we would all pull forwards so that they could walk along the road towards us

 

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As they crossed the dune, we had to leave to pack up and check out. The last sighting of the park was some sandgrouse...

 

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Time to leave....

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Day 12, Upington, 26/9/18

 

As we were going on to Cape Town, rather than Joburg, we chose a different B&B on the way back. It was about 30 Km south of Upington on an island in the Orange river. After the dry Kalahari, it was a little oasis, called African vineyard (as it is surrounded by vines...). We were the only guests that night, but there had been a wedding at the weekend. As we parked, two of the photo safari vehicles we had seen at the lions were parked there, so I assume that they rent parking space to save driving game vehicles too far outside of the park. The setting was lovely and we had a large room. They provided dinner and prior to that, I had a wander around the garden, looking for Orange river specials, rather than using the spa...

 

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and there he was, an Orange River white-eye

 

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A lovely place to relax and recuperate for the next long drive...

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Day 13, Upington to Cape Town via Nieuwoudtville, 27/9/18

 

According to our neighbours in Mata Mata, further rain had lead to a second flowering of the wild flowers. And at exactly the point he had mentioned, we started seeing flowers at the side of the road. Every few Kms the type of flower would change and it made the arid landscape more picturesque. Nieuwoudtville is in Namaqualand and has a wild flower reserve, a waterfall reserve and botanical gardens. Given the time pressure, we chose to drive around the wild flower reserve (for free - need to call at the gate to say that you are entering!)

 

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It was an unexpected part of the trip and it was a shame to rush off, but we still had the greater part of our journey to complete. In general, the road to Cape Town is much quieter than to Joburg, but this also means a lack of towns/service stations. However, progress was much quicker, but there are two mountain passes where you could potentially get stuck behind trucks (which were far less numerous anyway). We saw two distant pairs of blue cranes on the farmland around an hour out, but there was nowhere to pull over to photography them. As we got closer to Cape Town, the clouds gathered and by the time we got there there, were thick, dark, angry clouds. Luckily it only rained a little as we arrived, but made up for it overnight! We stayed in Newlands to be close to Kirstenbosch and the temperature difference was stark, the B&B had the heating on for us as we arrived :blink:. We had an excellent burger in a very busy bar a short drive away and slept very well after our long journey.

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What a awesome Male lion - a pity about the minibus clown.

I had a similar experience in my last trip to Kruger on my last day just before the exit gate at Malelane.

Thanks for a wonderful TR @Tdgraves.

Edited by Hads
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Towlersonsafari

I do love the namaqualand flowers-and also your close up of the mousebird @Tdgraves

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