Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

The next morning we got up especially early, to spend a bit of time in the hide, but all we saw was the sunrise. Heading north again, found some Kudu cows near the lookout point, but quite deep into the dunefield. At Bedinkt, some Springbuck were having fun, rushing around, pronking and generally kicking up dust in the beautiful early-morning golden light.
Heading on for Polentswa, we found our first Ludwig’s Bustard along the way.
At Polentswa, there were a few forlorn Springbuck lying in the shade of a large tree while a herd of Wildebeest bulls giving a fine display of why they are known as the clowns of Africa, dashing about, chasing each other, having the odd tousle and generally acting crazy. Their leader had a distinct blazed face.
We settled in under a thorn tree ourselves while a large flock of sandgrouse came for a drink. Shortly, we were royally treated when a juvenile Bataluer flew up and landed in the tree above us. He was evidently aware and wary of us, giving us the beady eye regularly. He was so close, I could hardly fit his head in, and this is one of the few occasions my dad took the teleconverter off his 300mm lens. After half an hour or so, he flew down and had a drink before flying off.
About five minutes later, a herd of female Wildebeest with 7 young calves came trooping down for a drink,



but Blaze-face started chasing them around. Each time they approached , he would chase them away again. Sometimes, he would even chase them through the waterhole, so that eventually it was nothing more than trampled mud, whereupon he let them drink. Bastard.
Because everybody says that Cubitje Quap is the place to be at mid-day, we headed back to see the action. But the only action we saw was a single shaft-tailed Wydah and a few butterflies. But at Nossob’s waterhole, we found the resident lion pride. While we were away, they had caught and devoured a Wildebeest calf.
We spent the hot hours lounging in the shade downloading photos and charging batteries, and shortly after 16h00 headed back to Bedinkt, where it was pretty quiet, until the resident pride of lions paid us a visit. And when we got back to camp, the Nossob pride were still pretty much right where they had been the whole afternoon, with some of the lionesses lying in the road. Eventually, right before gate time, they headed of into the dunes.

Our last two nights would be spent at Twee Rivieren, and as we had not been in the dune-fields yet, we decided to take the upper dune road and visit the Auchterlonie museam. But before we left, we once again spent some time in the camp’s hide. We were awarded with a beautiful sunrise, a prowling Jackal and some golden Springbuck. A couple of fork-tailed Drongos also put in an appearance.
At Marie se gat, we found some Spotted Sandgrouse and a pair of Secretary birds, and a little bit further along a couple of very well fed Cheetah taking it slow in the rising heat.
Shortly after turning onto the upper dune road, seven vultures climbed past in single file, having obviously just taken off.
However, the place they had taken off from was too far away for us to spot a carcass. While there is undeniably less game in the dunes than in the riverbeds, you see totally different animals. We saw a beautiful Steenbok ram, and quite a number of Korhaan (which up to then we had only heard). At Moravet we saw some stints and other small wading birds. We were also entertained by a Suricate colony in a drainage ditch under the road.
Reaching the Aub river there were large herds of Springbuck lazing in every available patch of shade. Not much further along, a Hyena was relaxing under a bush right next to the road (keep in mind it was 11h30).
Yup, we were definitely back in the zoo. Next up was a marshal eagle, and shortly another one, this one busy eating half a Suricate.
An hour later, after visiting the Auchterlonie museam, we found a small colony of swallow-tailed Bee eaters.
Just before Samevloeing, we came across Johan and Bridgena Barnard (http://www.images-at-bridgena.com/‎) (who had camped next to us at Two Rivers), who told us that there was a lion in the dunes above the waterhole. However, we couldn’t find him, but there were a couple of Gemsbok paying attention to something further up the riverbed, and came to the conclusion that he had headed up the riverbed. An hour’s wait saw the Gemsbok eventually relax and then leave, so we headed up the Nossob.
Shortly we came across two cars standing along the road. They were watching three Cheetah, presumably a mother and two cubs, relaxing in the shade a few hundred meters away. While we watched, a tortoise crossed the road. A little while later one of the junior Cheetah became animated, and jogged over for a look see at the tortoise, followed by his sibling. Mom took a few paces closer and kept guard. The two cubs where visibly flummoxed by this thing that moved and then didn’t. Eventually the whole family headed up and over the dune. We drove further north until we could see up the “dune road” to where they were keeping watch from the top of the dune, but by then they were very far away, such that they were only visible through binoculars. We watched for a long time, but they remained there and eventually we had to head back to camp.

Of all the camps we stayed at, Twee Rivieren was the only one that was nearly full, and we ended up with a very hard and rather sloping campsite. Thank goodness for a rooftop tent. We had a few drops of rain that night, with what looked like better rain passing by to the north.

Somewhere north of Samevloeing, we found a cheetah sitting on the top of the dune, but after an hour he moved over the top of the dune and we carried on north.
The weather remained overcast and gray. We followed another pair of hunting secretary birds, this time witnessing our one and only kill: a lizard.
Near Leeuwdril we saw the only Cape Foxes of the trip. Just past Rooiputs, a huge treat waited for us: water. It had obviously rained quite heavily in this area, and water pooled 200-300mm deep in the graded-out roadbed for nearly 3.5km.
At Kij Kij, we found another pride of lions.
We decided to take the lower dune road from here and cross over to the Aub, but the same stretch that had been so productive the day before yielded absolutely nothing of interest.
We had a late lunch at Twee Rivieren’s picnic site, then headed back up the Nossob for one last time.
At Rooiputs, we ran into Johan and Bridgena again, and decided to tag along behind them. The Kij Kij lions were still there, they had merely moved half-way up the dune. Not much further, we came across probably the largest herd of Springbuck we saw the whole trip, and about a km further, four Cheetah lying on the dune. They were showing signs of movement though, and shortly they came trotting down the dune to drink in a puddle on the road. They then crossed the road, climbed the calcrete ridge and started strolling in the direction the Springbuck had been, while we, the Barnards and a safari vehicle from Rooiputs lodge with a young couple aboard jockeyed for position with mounting excitement. Perhaps we would at last see that elusive kill?
Unfortunately the afternoon caught up with us long before the Cheetah caught up with the Springbuck and we had to head back to camp at top speed, and so ended a magnificent trip.

Great sightings & pics Peter!

Ek moet jou komplimenteer op jou foto. Mooi man.

Dankie Gerrie en Jorrie

Mooi fotos en verslag Peter!!

Peter,
Jou fotos lyk hieper professional.
Baie mooi man.
Riaan

Dankie Kobus en Riaan