Over the last few days I described our experiences at the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park when we visited the area this October. Although I still have one post pending as it will probably be published somewhere else, I have one more, perhaps the last, story about this trip.

As I told you earlier we camped at the Lesholoago pan campsite during the 18 and 19 October 2017 and there was great fun both days. It is always exciting to camp in non-fenced areas and Mabuasehube strongly reminded us of our “wilder” camping days in Kenya and some of the more recent camping experiences in Zimbabwe (Mana Pools and Hwange). There is nothing that compares to a night under canvas in the proximity of wild animals.

Lola and mongooses.

I always think of a safari as a visit to an area that gives you a snapshot of it and then you go away. However, the animals that tolerated you remain there and life goes on! At Lesholoago we entered the territory of a few mammals including Ground Squirrels and Yellow Mongooses. At first I thought we were responsible for the two species mixing and expected some confrontation. As this did not take place, I realized that they coexisted, respecting each other.

Although the squirrels kept their distance, the Yellow mongooses would be moving about camp apparently oblivious to our presence. They would dart in and out and feed on any scraps they found but never showed any inclination of raiding our food supplies or trying to steal from our plates the way other creatures do. In the evenings we saw the arrival of Black-backed Jackals that watched us from a distance.

The bushsnob getting to know the jackal…

Things started to get interesting after we had showered in the evening of the 18th. My wife was the last to shower and soon after twilight gave way to darkness, as there was no moon to speak of. At that stage Lola -who had a knack for spotting action- pointed out some eyes just behind the shower area that also happened to be behind their car-tent. A rather cursory look (by me) revealed that the eyes belonged to one of the visiting jackals so I dismissed it and headed back to my evening duties that, at the time, were rather complex: sitting down, talking and having a glass of wine!

However, before I reached my chair I heard a loud and alarming shout unquestionably originating from Lola: ” Fraaaannnnkkk, look, there is a leopard just here!” She was pointing to the area where I had made the diagnosis of “jackal eyes, do not worry” a few seconds earlier! Although I imagine that Frank went to Lola’s rescue, I reacted sluggishly (no, it was not the wine) and I was the only one that did not see the cat! However, I did recover fast by getting into the car to follow it.

As I drove towards the area, the leopard’s derriere was seen wobbling away for a few seconds before disappearing into the thicket where we lost sight of it. Although we drove around the area where it had disappeared, we failed to get another sighting. Clearly it just had to crouch to become invisible. We continued our exploration and drove to the pan’s water hole, located about a km away on the other “shore’ of the pan. Although we saw lots of Springhares and Bat-eared Foxes, the leopard was not at the water. To compensate, we had a very nice view of a Barn owl at the water’s edge.

Back at camp later, the unexpected leopard visit gave us a topic of conversation (not that we needed another one!) that lasted well after dinner and delayed our usual early night. We could not ascertain why the animal decided to come within a few metres of us, as normally leopards are very secretive and reserved [1]. We went to bed later than usual, still thinking about our amazing encounter and hoping that the animal had walked in front of our camera trap so that we could have proof of its presence.

The first thing we did the following morning -even before breakfast- was to follow the “leopard walk” to check its pawmarks in the sand and to retrieve the card from the camera trap to check for images. Success was partial. We did find the footprints but also realized that my camera placement had been -to put it mildly- rather inadequate. The leopard had walked too near the camera that only managed to register its over-exposed silhouette in the first camera burst, followed by a flash of light in the second. The latter was of us in the car looking for it. Luckily, this second burst had one shot where the leopard’s spots can be “spotted”, albeit poorly.

The following day, inspired by our night visitor, we decided to spend the morning driving around in search of game, focusing on the various pans in the neighbourhood. We did not find large predators but enjoyed the time spent at the water holes, mainly bird watching.

We came back to camp in late morning and as soon as we arrived another visitor arrived, this time a human! It was a German camper that came to -curiously- ask for a glass of water! Although we offered him more of our precious resource, he only took one glass while asking us whether we had seen lions as -according to him- they were coming our way. We exchanged some information on the area and soon he was gone after telling us that he would be at Camp 1, just on the other shore of the pan, close to the watering hole.

Some discussion ensued about the reason for his visit as some of us -me included- thought that there was an “ulterior motive”! [2] As it was rather hot after lunch, my usually solitary siesta this time featured the company of most of the others. It was a good strategic move to wait for the day to cool of.

After the rest, I decided to improve the placement of the camera in case of a very unlikely second leopard visit! This time I convinced myself that I had done a good job. I was now free to spend time watching the constant stream of small birds to the water. Soon however, the Yellow mongooses started to behave differently and attracted my attention.

They were all standing on their hind legs and looking fixedly at a point near our toilet while uttering their calls. My first thought was that someone was using the toilet but soon I realized that something more serious was happening as they persisted and became increasingly agitated, so I decided to have a look. For a while I saw nothing and then I realized that something was moving in the tall dry grass. I realized that it was a young adult lion and I shouted “Lion!” to alert the group.

First pictures of the lion.

It was looking at us from behind our toilet and finally I understood the reason behind the small windows placed lower down on the toilet walls. They are there to allow you to see what is outside before you come out!

My wife immediately came to have a look and joined me taking pictures and keeping a watch on the cat. It was soon clear that, although it had us “covered” we were not its target but rather the water hole at the other end of the pan. At no time did it attempt to come our way and only gave us a couple of cursory looks before showing its derriere and continue its walk towards the pan.

Clearly I was also affected by the general excitement!

The improved version!

While these events unfolded, Lola and Frank went AWOL. Suddenly from the corner of my eye I caught movement behind us and I saw them. Lola was inside the car and Frank was standing on the ladder leading to their roof tent. Although they claimed that they were searching for their cameras to immortalize the lion visit, I believe that they were actually moving away from the lion exercising great prudence and speed! [3]

Lola and Frank going AWOL?

The lion passed by us a few metres away and walked on towards the pan escorted at a distance by a solitary Black-backed jackal that was clearly hoping for a kill to enjoy the spoils. We followed the lion’s trajectory from the camp while it crossed the pan. We then drove towards the water hole and watched it drinking. It drank for a long time and it was dark by the time it filled its belly. It then walked in the direction of Camp 1 where our German camping acquaintance was very excited to see it and ready with his various spotlights.

Lion with jackal escort.

The lion walking to the water and drinking its fill.

Walking towards the pan and the water.

We decided to leave him to enjoy the cat’s visit as it was time to go back to our camp and have dinner. Our return was further delayed by another unexpected find. A yellowish lump at the water hole became a crouching caracal drinking! For us this was a great find as a caracal in the wild is a rare sight. We watched this beautiful and elusive cat for a few minutes until, its thirst satiated, it moved off and went into the darkness. It was an unforgettable sight and we almost forgot all about the lion!

Despite the excitement and the long post-dinner talk, we slept soundly. The following morning I collected the camera trap but, as we were leaving, I had no time to look at it until later. However, the location of the lion’s pawmarks gave me confidence that I had caught the lion on camera.

It was only later in Harare that I had sufficient time to examine the camera trap pictures and I was happy to see that it had registered the lion.

What I did not expect was that we had also caught the lion on camera when it returned late during the night while we were sleeping! Of course we did not hear it at all and Lola and Frank will only know that this happened when they read these lines (if they do!).

[1] Later I saw a leopard “exploring” another campsite so these visits may not be as rare as initially thought? See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zZZFHc0YmU

[2] We believe that he wished to find out for how long we would be staying at Campsite No. 2 as he was in Campsite No. 1 and preferred ours!

[3] In the absence of any pictures of the event taking by neither Lola nor Frank, I am still unconvinced!

2017 was going to be devoted to exploring Namibia, a place we thoroughly enjoyed when we were there in 1991 and two years ago when we visited the Caprivi strip. However, it all changed when our friends Lola and Frank invited us to join them on a safari to the Kgalagadi. This was not to be similar to our last year visit but it would include a visit to the Mabuasehube area, a rather wild and remote area on the Botswana side of the Park.

The “usual” Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is on the left of the map. Please note the Mabuasehube area is on the right. (Map from Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, SOuth African National Parks).

Excited, we accepted the invitation without much consideration as it was a unique opportunity to visit a remote area of the Kalahari desert that requires two vehicles because of the remoteness of the area.

The proposal was to meet at Upington in South Africa and from then to travel to Twee Rivieren on the South African side and from there to a string of campsites in the Mabuasehube area in Botswana.

Such a trip required a bit more planning than usual. An internet search gave conflicting reports on the availability of water at the various camps so we decided that we needed to carry all the necessary water for the six nights. In addition we needed fuel and as usual “glamping” requires good chairs, tent and other items but of foremost importance is to carry the best ingredients for cooking!

Although we agreed to get the water in South Africa, we were already quite loaded when we left Zimbabwe! We spent a few days in the Kruger National Park we eventually met up as planned on 12 October at Upington when fresh food was procured and the water jerry cans filled. The idea was to travel to Twee Rivieren the following day, spend two nights there and then proceed to the Botswana area.

I must confess that at the time of the offer we were about to visit Mana Pools and Jecha Point (see https://bushsnobinafrica.wordpress.com/2017/10/27/nebbiolo-wine/ and https://bushsnobinafrica.wordpress.com/2017/10/31/wild-elephants/) with our son. I agreed to the idea without checking the map and thinking that traveling would be at our current “retirees” pace. It was only a few days before the event that I realized that it was all well until we reached Twee Rivieren! From then on a true marathon waited for us! We needed to traverse 150km or 4.5 hrs to Nossob and then another 170km through the unknown to get to our destination: Bosobogolo campsite!

Keeping my misgivings to myself we luckily met our friends as planned. Lola and Frank were not alone. A group of six friends from the Canary Islands had come to join us at the Kgalagadi. They were great fun, luckily. From there they would continue on to Namibia while we would embark on our journey. So it was a four-car convoy that left Upington and, after 265km, we got to Twee Rivieren where, luckily, we managed to swop our camping booking for a stay at one of the comfortable bungalows.

Apart from meeting some clever lions near the camp (I will tell you about them in the next short post) and an unfortunate incident as a result of drinking the water from Twee Rivieren that kept us near the loo for an extra day all went as planned! This mishap forced us to stay an extra day and, as Twee Rivieren was full, we camped in Fortunately we managed to get an extra night at the Botswana Twin Rivers campsite as the South African side was totally full! It seems that the Kgalagadi is in fashion at the moment!

Twin Rivers was quite comfortable and, apart from an interesting night visitor that we did not hear, our extra night was uneventful.

The brown hyena inspecting our camp at Twin Rivers. Clearly by 22:17hs we must have been sleeping soundly as it did sniffed our tent!

So, with a day delay we were ready to go!

After the dusty road that took us more than the expected time, we reached Nossob just before lunchtime. We stretched our legs for a while and, after refueling, we set off towards Bosobogolo.

After refueling at Nossob camp. Still in South Africa.

Although for us this was uncharted territory, Lola and Frank knew the way as they had visited the area a few years back. As expected, the road was a red sandy track that can only be traveled by a 4WD. This was not your Sunday outing to the sandy beach in Maputo! The road was not only sandy but also very corrugated. The situation brought to mind a signpost I had seen sometime ago [1].

Taken from http://www.gpsa.co.za. If this is copyright material, please feel free to contact the writer for credit or removal.

It really felt like that and, after about 60km Frank stopped and -wisely- suggested that we deflate our tires. After that, our travel became more comfortable. After 107 km the Matopi campsites came as a relief for a stop and a cuppa. In it we were introduced to the residing yellow-billed hornbill crowd defined as “spooky” by Lola (but that I liked!). As soon as we arrived the birds started to appear and soon we did have a flock of them watching us and, I am sure, waiting for some morsels or water as the area is, needless to say, extremely dry.

After that welcome stop the last 90 km were long and rough through a rather empty landscape where we only rarely saw gemsbok and springbok as well as the occasional hornbill and, for some reason, two spotted eagle owls. The road twisted and turned, the sand got deeper at places but, gathering speed was enough to negotiate it.

The sandy and corrugated track.

Never ending.

A break to stretch legs and to take in the view.

Watching events.

Looking at one of the pans in the distance.

So, after another couple of hours and several sand dunes and pans later we got to Bosobogolo. Frank had booked camp No 1 which was more or less the same as camp No 2! Both had a few things in common: an A frame, a long drop and no water! The latter became obvious when, after arrival, I visited the bushes for a “short call”. A few birds immediately came to investigate the source of the water noise and the birds immediately surrounded me! We did offer them clean water from then on.

Bosobogolo welcoming committee. Expecting food and water of course!

Luckily we had enough time to set up camp. On the issues of tents we differ with Lola and Frank. While they prefer a roof tent, we, used to our Kenya camping days, stick to the more conventional ground tent and camp set up. We still have failed to convince each other about changing but enjoy each other’s company!

Bosobogolo was rather uneventful and we were rather tired. Luckily food was soon ready thanks to Frank’s organizational skills and we were in bed early. He managed to produce an Indonesian dish known as bami goreng that raised the stakes for our cooking. The next morning, rested, we explored the area and continued to our next campsite: Monamodi pan.

At Monamodi we were visited by yellow mongoose (Cynictis penicillata), Cape ground squirrels (Xerus inauris) and lots of birds, including Southern Grey-headed Sparrows (Passer diffusus) although Cape Sparrows (Passer melanurus), Violet-eared Waxbills (Uraeginthus granatinus) and Sociable weavers (Philetairus socius) were also present. Half a dozen Southern Yellow-billed hornbills did also come. We spent the final two nights at Lesholoago pan and had a great time. I will describe some of our experiences at both Monamodi and Lesholoago in future posts.

As it is usually the case, time passed very fast and we needed to leave this wonderful area. We departed through the Mabuasehube gate towards McCarthy’s Rest border post. The road was still sandy and corrugated and eventually we got to the border. Now, that was my kind of a border crossing: only the four of us so it was probably the fastest ever! Once in South Africa we headed back to the Kgalagadi as we wished to visit the Kalahari Trails to spend three nights relaxing and watching the meerkats.

The long and sandy road ahead.

Waiting for the pressure to increase (in the tires!).

A final stop to pump up the tires.

We said goodbye to our safari companions at the Concordia junction and then we drove on through a route known as the “Heart of the Kalahari” to a small town called Van Zyslrus, 129km further on. The town was small and clearly people had made an effort to decorate it. We found fuel and a shop that offered some food and drinks.

Map from “Roaring Kalahari Route” (2009). McCarthy’s Rest is on top of the picture.

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The shop was what we imagine old shops were (we knew them as “dukas” inEast Africa). It not only sold the usual groceries but it had its own bakery where various breads were being kneaded and baked in full view of the customers! The latter were queuing waiting for their special breads ordered in advance as well as discussing with the very busy master baker on their new orders! The shop also run the town’s post office and, I am sure, it offered other services that we were not aware of.

Our shopping and unique experience at Van Zyslrus over, we went on through Askham to finally reach the Kalahari Trails where we met up again with its owner Anne who is an expert on mongooses, having done extensive research and publications on the dwarf mongoose in Kenya and on the yellow mongoose at the Kgalagadi. While doing this work she acquired land at about 30 km from Twee Rivieren where she runs Kalahari Trails. The meerkat sanctuary is located near her house and there you can get in real close contact with these lovely animals.

Our cottage at Kalahari Trails.

With the meerkats.

We had three restful days at KT where we recovered well and enjoyed Anne’s company and also the meerkats. Time flew and we were again on 5he road, this time to reunite with Lola and Frank in Johannesburg where we took our car for a thoroughly deserved major service after a rather grueling trip.

I leave you with a collection of pictures that show different aspects of the trip.

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