The gates only open at 7:30am as the sun rises only at that time. It actually felt like a ‘lie-in’ morning for Helen and I as we are used to getting up much earlier when in a game park. We headed out just after 7:30am and went north (you can only go north though from here) toward Mata Mata. It was pretty cold this AM with the temperature reading 0 degrees C when we left the camp. There was not a lot of game to start with but the bird sightings were pretty good. In particular we saw a lot of raptors including two pygmy falcons very close to the road and tawny eagles in their nest. Our trip list is just over 30 birds now.
The highlight of the game viewing was seeing black-backed jackal (which we ended up seeing a few times) and suricate (meerkat). We did also see gemsbok (oryx) and springbok but those are the pretty common animals to see here in the Kgalagadi. We did see two springbok fighting until the one gave up and ran off. Unfortunately none of the major predators.
We stopped at a picnic site and made breakfast on Mr Gs skottle. Bacon and eggs on the skottle for breakfast was just what was needed at that point. After breakfast we took the same road back down to the camp again. On the trip back the highlight for us was watching one male ostrich chase another male ostrich. Both were ready to mate and so we guess that the one was chasing the other one away so that he could get the female.
We got back at around 1pm and the temperature had risen to 23 degrees. Definitely cooler than yesterday when it was around 27 degrees we when arrived. While I type this, some of the group have gone for a 30-minute run (trying to make sure they maintain their Discovery points).
We went out for another game drive at 4pm but three of the wives decided to skip and so only Mrs W came out. We went out with 3 cars only as Mr G and Mr M decided to drive together. We saw a reasonable amount of game but again no predators unfortunately. Hopefully tomorrow will yield some predators as we are driving from Twee Rivieren to Nossob and that is a 160km drive.
Our second communal braai for dinner and some more good conversation. Only problem was that the temperature seemed to drop rapidly and eventually it was just too cold to sit outside. I suspect it will be pretty cold tomorrow am when we wake up.
Until tomorrow …
P, H, S, M & O (and she deserves the last spot on the blog tonight (she knows why …!)
PS: If I don’t post over the next 4 days – don’t worry – it is just that there is no cellphone signal at any of the next 4 camps.