Day 5 Kgalagadi Journey Steve Bailey

We decided that today we needed a “ration”  run to Twee Rivieren, ration run? Change that to “booze cruise”  One always feels that when packing for a trip away in the Kgalagadi  that you must be a drunk, all the bottles of wine, the cases of beer and of course the whiskey.  It looks shocking that half the food packed actually is bottles or cans. Then it becomes worse that after the fourth day your stocks are beginning to run out! So after a long evening looking at the night stars and the sound of wine corks popping, it was decided that Twee Revieren would be the destination today.  The morning noises in the Kgalagardi tend to wake you up before dawn, so coffee is on the go very early, this morning no exception. Greeted by this amazing sun rise, nothing better than the combination of the sunrise, the African bush noises and steaming hot coffee and a Rusk

We moved out of Mata Tented camp at 05.30 temperature around 8c and headed south, we were lucky early into the drive, African Wild cat on the road about 200  meters in front of us, these skittish little animals seldom hang around for photography shoots, this photograph taken in 2004 was the closest I ever witnessed these beautiful cats.

06.25 We came upon a large group of Giraffe wondering along the dry river bed, we counted 20 in all. Giraffe were reintroduced into the park from Etosha about ten years ago, staying in a boma for about two years; they were then released and so far have been a great breading success, despite the odd Lion kill. They are moving further and further south and east  away from their original release point south of Mata Mata

06.37  A long distance sighting of a Bateleur Eagle, resident in the area  and  quite a common sighting

07.08 another good sighting of a Spotted Eagle Owl, Just before the loop road into the 13^th Waterhole this trip seems to be a very good one for Owls

07.19 we drove slowly into the 14^th Waterhole loop road and as we did we could see this lion, stand up, stretch and flop down again, right time right place. We sat on them for about twenty minutes hoping for some “action” but they seemed content to sleep. They looked like Sub Adult Males, 4 in total,

Travelling slowly south we came upon the Hyaena den , today was going to be our lucky sighting day. We arrived and switched off the vehicle, the adult female was out of the den plus three cubs, we noticed the female had blood all around her neck, an obvious sign of a successful kill.  Then another adult came out of the den and deposited “some food” for the cubs. They attacked their meal with great gusto; it was only after looking at my photographs did I realize what their meal was……a Gemsbok fetus. Obviously the kill was a female Gemsbok with an unborn fetus, the Hyaena had  brought this back to the den for the cubs. Quite a sighting, quite a photo opportunity. The den is about  40 metres away from the road so is ideal for viewing these amazing creatures of the night.

Not a bad start to the morning, African Wild Cat, Giraffe, Lion and now Hyaena with a fetus, the Kgalagadi can give you many moods, the emptiness of Saturdays drive and this morning being spoilt

We drove on after spending a time with the Hyaena, south, very good sightings of Wildebeest, Steinbok, and Springbok

Another good sighting of Cape Fox at the den.

Springbok were in great numbers along the Auob river bed; here you can see “wall to wall” Bokkies enjoying the mid day shade

There was nothing  of note to report as we passed the Southern Waterholes besides the odd Wildebeest  or Gemsbok.  Was interesting as we approached the 20 km radius of cell phone reception before Twee Riverien, silence?  We stopped at Samevloeing  waterhole hoping for the resident Leopard, nothing  today!!!

Twee Riverien has a very well stocked shop (especially wine, beer and whiskey), we rounded up fresh bread and vegetables (Potatoes are great in silver foil on a braai) It was quite a shock when it came to paying for our shopping, yes we had noticed the cell phone reception was not working, now the  penny dropped, the phone lines were down, the electricity was off. How does a credit card machine work ? How do we pay? We had an empty tank. The ATM machine was not working, no cash. Shock horror, another lesson learnt, always carry cash in the park, it’s impossible to purchase fuel at Nossob or Mata Mata  with a credit card. The same situation at  the Mata Mata shop, CASH ONLY .

We sat around for a few hours wondering how long we would be stuck without fuel (and beers of course) We were saved by the Manager of the shop, in exchange for a driving licence   and the promise of payment as we left  the park we were given a “loan” to cover the purchases  and of course the vehicle fill up.  We thank the management very much,  that is service.

The trip back north was very quiet as it was in the heat of the day, the same Springbok, Gembsbok, Wildebeest etc but no Lion, Hyaena, Cape Fox.

We arrived back at Mata Mata tented camp, had our normal afternoon “snooze” . The afternoon drive was very quiet, nothing of note to report. That evening  re stocked with important “stuff” like food and bottles we settled down to another great evening of the African night noises, Lion in the distance, Jackal and the odd Hyaena whoop …..CHEERS