Friday 18 August 2023 Nossob South and North

At 04h15 Earl nudged me awake – “Can you hear the lions?”  

“Well, I can now that you’ve woken me up!”

They roared on and off till 05h30 and sounded like they were just on the other side of the fence.  After a while, I got up and shone a torch into the veld but I couldn’t see a thing!  Perhaps they were at the camp waterhole!

I went to the loo and then tried to go back to sleep but just managed to doze and was wide away by quarter to six, so I got up, had a shower and started to prepare for the day.  It was freezing so I had to don the gloves again.   After a nice hot cup of coffee, we were ready to leave at 07h00. For the four days The Twins are here they will come on drives with us.

At this hour there was a bit of a queue at reception.  In the Kgalagadi, you have to check in and out with a permit indicating which direction you intend to drive.  Then if you don’t hand it back after your drive, they come looking for you. This is because there is no cell reception out there and you don’t want to be stuck in the desert all night!

So, it was 7:15 by the time headed toward Kasper se Draai.

It was lovely having Priscilla and Hilary in the back of the car.  Two extra pairs of spotting eyes make a huge difference to what you’re likely to see – especially as far as birds are concerned. 

The birding was quite good today – perhaps because it was cooler?

Bateleur

Pale Chanting Goshawk

Southern Fiscal all puffed up to keep warm

Yesterday we had an amazing sighting of lions at Kasper’s but this morning the pond just held the memory.

Kasper se Gat

But wildebeest came down to drink and were very entertaining.   The patriarch came first and checked to see that all was in order.  As the rest of the herd trotted down there was some misbehaviour in the line but it was all in good spirits and they all settled down to have a drink together.

We also saw a few birds.  The Kalahari Scrub Robin posed beautifully.

Kalahari Scrub Robin

After enjoying the scene for a while we left and made our way to Marie se Gat.   Alec and Cathy were making their way to Kasper’s and we stopped to chat.   We also birded along the way and while we were debating about an LBJ that could have been a chat flycatcher a man driving a car with a bumper sticker that read, We stalk birds, also stopped to check it out.  “Tell me what it is,” he said sternly. 
I thought he was testing me and said, “I think it’s a chat flycatcher.”

“Don’t tell me what you think,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “I need to know exactly what it is.”  His wife apologized saying he is very demanding.

“I know,” I said, “I’m married!”

We had a good laugh.

Later at camp, he came to show us his photos of a bokmakierie and a short-toed rock thrush.   I told him I was jealous of the bokmakierie but the short-toe was one I’d seen a few days ago too!

At Marie’s se gat we observed some Gemsbok and then they were chased away by the bullies – the gnus!

Then we went back to camp where the Earl cooked us some delicious scrambled eggs for breakfast.

Cathy and Alec reported that we’d missed a brown hyena passing by the fence after we’d left this morning. But at least my caravan was in Cath’s photograph. (See her guest blog in a day or two)

After breakfast, Earl had a nap and Hilary had a presentation to prepare so Pris and I went exploring around the camp and photographed a few birds.

Pririt Batis

Red-eyed Bulbul

We originally planned to go to the pool where there were bound to be some birds but decided to pop into the hide first. The usual congregation of sparrows and doves were there and we were about to leave when Pris said, “Look at where the water comes into the dam.”

  I trained my binos to where she pointed and was amazed to see the head of an eagle.

It was so still I wondered whether it was real!

 It sat like this for ages then flew up into the tree and we confirmed that it was a martial eagle. It hid among the foliage for some time and we continued watching the activity at the pond.  Then finally it flew out of the tree and landed next to the pond and then into the pond where it stayed for ages. 

We eventually left the hide and got Earl and Hilary to take a look before we took the North Road for our afternoon drive. The first waterhole we stopped at is called Cubitjie Quab which means aardvark burrow, but unfortunately, we did not see an aardvark!

What we were totally thrilled to see were bateleurs.  This is a favourite spot for them, and in the past, we have had excellent sightings of them here.  Perhaps it should be called Bateleur Bath.

We birded and enjoyed the other creatures until we came to Kwang which looked like it didn’t have much water although there were gnus and springbok scattered about.

On our return, we went up to a viewpoint and spotted some distant lions under a tree.

It was 6 by the time we got home.  The twins cooked us a delicious Chili con carne without chili but those of us who wanted a kick added some Cayan Pepper.

It was cooler this evening but still pleasant to sit outdoors.  But during the night it became quite cold