Caravanning in the Kgalagadi Twee Rivieren Tuesday 31 March 2015

Today is our last full day in the park. We are up at the usual early hour of 5:15 and ready to leave by 6:15. From tomorrow gate opening time moves to 7:00 am.

It is still overcast but the air temperature is warm. We take the Rooiputs Road. Just before Rooiputs Jim and Maureen stop ahead of us. I look to the right and spot one cheetah, then Earl says there is one in the tree – then a second one jumps down from the tree. We watch the three cheetah play and roll and generally get going for the morning. Soon other cars gather and we all jostle for position while watching what the cheetahs will do. Eventually they make their way to the ridge and disappear.

At 7:15 we find a tawny eagle that is very photographable. There is a Lanner in the same tree.

At quarter to eight we find the same two male lions we saw yesterday. They are fat and lazy and do very little but sleep. We wonder where the females are and Earl finds them on a distant dune but they do not make a proper appearance. After watching the more wakeful male do his ablutions we move on as the loo is calling.

At Melkvlei we have a brief loo break then move on to see if we can find the other cheetahs but don’t have any luck so we return to Melkvlei for breakfast.

Later we find one of the males on the move. We hear the first one had already gone over the ridge.

We then make our way back to Twee Rivieren stopping to enjoy the smaller things.

Back at camp, I do the laundry and make sandwiches for lunch. The Pearl Spotted owl is back in our tree and while photographing him I find a brubru as well. Earl takes a nap and I wander around camp to do some birding. When he wakes he joins me. We then go for a short drive to find more birds. We do find a Brant’s Whistling Rat!