We got away bright and early. Marianne enquired about cancellations at reception when we collected our permit, but no luck. At this stage we were thinking of going to Nossob and back. We approached Samevloeiing with great anticipation, but the cheetahs were keeping low. We had an amazing sighting of two raptors interacting alongside the road. We were not sure whether it was a mating game or whether they were just having fun. We also came across at least 14 young ostriches accompanied by an adult on the dusty road. The dust was once again a bit of a problem and we were glad to get to Melkvlei for morning coffee. It was good to be here again. We have mixed memories of this picnic site. We had a great time with performing ground squirrels here many years ago (our first real encounter with these cute animals) and it is also where the starter motor of our bakkie packed up. This time we just had good bird company and Marianne photographed a very active agama digging his hole in the red sand. The Ashkam milktart was now even more of a pudding from all the shaking, but it still tasted good. We found a turnoff that was not shown on our maps just north of Melkvlei and we decided to check it out. It is actually just a short loop into the dunes before Melkvlei and soon we were on our way north again. On our way to Dikbaardskolk, we got a puncture. While I “stood guard”, Stephen changed the tyre. Only one vehicle came past, but just as we finished and were ready to go a vehicle from the park approached and we explained to the ranger that we had had puncture, but all was sorted. He probably was grateful that we had not been “helpless tourists” who were waiting for help! The dust was less now, but we saw very little. Goodness knows what we might have missed watching us from beyond the tall grass alongside the road. At Dikbaardskolk picnic site, we realized that it would be silly to push on to Nossob and we decided to take the dune road across to the MataMata road and then back to Twee Rivieren. The undulating road across the dunes is very attractive, but initially it was devoid of animals. The heat was unrelenting and it was not surprising that the animals were in hiding. We had been lucky on a previous trip to come across a pride of lions lying in the shade. We turned off to the Morevet waterhole. The heat really hit us as we stepped out of the vehicle. On the next stretch up to Kamqua, we came across several big herds of ostriches. The young chicks are so cute!! At Kamqua we decided to use our gas and toast our bread, since it was getting very stale by now. Our gas toaster is great for this. The funny crows were doing their gurgling tricks again. We now took a slow ride south and once again came across the group of giraffes enjoying the lush riverbed. A young male was trying to mount another male. Do we have homo's amongst giraffes too? We quickly popped into Auchterlonie again. This time we stayed on the Auob River road. There was nothing particularly exciting to see and we turned into Samevloeiing waterhole where there was also nothing to be seen. To our surprise there was once again a pile up of vehicles at road intersection and the cheetahs were out again. There was a lot of dust and we had a brief sighting of the mother, but the two cubs lingered on the road and were playing with each other. This was a great sighting to end the day with! Back at reception, we got good news from the lady I had been pestering, that she had a site at Nossob for the next night and then one at MataMata. We were so delighted and decided to forget about going to Namibia and rather enjoy more of the green Kgalagadi. We went back to our site of the night before and decided on using our gas grill. Marianne used the camp kitchen’s microwave to cook our vegetables. It is great that the national parks generally have good kitchen facilities, especially the scullery with hot water for greasy pots. The microwave is an extra bonus. The insects were at it again. Two young campers who were from a tent behind us, came back late again and we decided to ask them whether they were doing research or something and therefore had special permission to come back late. They laughed and explained that they went to the hide behind the camp and ate there and only then came back to their tent. He was Dutch and she was from Italy. They were hoping to start a project and find a way to stay in South Africa. They were struggling to get resident permits. We were very interested in this hide and with directions from them we set out to find it. It was not shown on our maps and there were no signs to it. The chap had warned that it was very difficult to find. He was quite right and it was a miracle that we found the faint path winding through the dunes in our torchlight. The hide is quite elaborate and we could not understand why this wonderful asset is not promoted. It was quiet at the floodlit waterhole, but we did come across one of the infamous scorpions. Fortunately we saw the little monster in time and photographed it. Now it was time for bed and we could look forward to two more nights in the Kgalagadi!

Geschreven door Leartravels