Martial Eagle | Diary of an Adventurous Retiree

A Brief Preamble

You can, if you are brave and not particular about your motor vehicle, travel the roads of The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in an ordinary sedan car. We have done it twice in my Volkswagen Caravelle which is four motion. But we found that it was expecting a bit much and ever since the first shake up of a trip we suffered the consequences as the poor vehicle had its insides and parts severely shaken up and it was never the same again!

The plan this trip was to take Earl’s Toyota Hi-Lux twin cab – not as comfortable as my Caravelle but it still had plenty of room to pack the catering equipment and luggage for four travellers. Earl has never been completely happy with the afore mentioned Toyota which he’s had for about a year. The back didn’t seal well. He was afraid everything would be covered in red dust. It was an automatic and he didn’t like the way it handled on the road and the list went on. After having a special holiday service something went wrong and that sent him over the edge and the day before departure he arrived home with a brand new Toyota Fortuner. Well! All very nice and comfortable with tinted windows (just done and couldn’t be opened for 48 hours) BUT what about the packing space! He should really have purchased one of those aerodynamic roof rack thingies with bags that fitted snugly in included but there was not time for that!

He arrived home late on the day before departure. Our travelling companions had dropped off their luggage and now the Magiver manipulation began to get everything in and leave room for the passenger. Talk about canned sardines – we were canned tourists for the next 10 days! Having said that – it all worked out and got the packing an unpacking down to a fine art for the rest of the trip!

26 June 2012

I am always like a kid before Christmas the day before departure and so of course I was too excited to sleep. I must have dropped off an hour before the alarm went off at 3:30 a.m. Typical! But I was up and out of bed like a shot and soon we were picking up Peter and Heather in Fish Hoek and we were on the road on schedule. We stopped at Muis Huis in Van Rynsdorp for breakfast and spent the night at Kalahari Guest House just outside Upington. Our hostess cooked us a delicious three course dinner – mushroom soup, babootie, roast leg of lamb with sweet potato and vegetables followed by Melba pudding followed by Melba pudding and custard.

She also gave us a packed breakfast – toasted cheese and tomatoe sandwiches, yogurt and juice. I thought cold toasted sandwiches would not be so great but they were delicious!

Earl, Peter and Heather at Muis Huis, van Ryndorp

27 June 2012

It was freezing when we got up but we dressed in layers knowing that the days warm up considerably – so it was a short sleeved shirt, jersey and warm jacket over jeans and shoes and socks all wrapped up in scarves, beanies and gloves. By the time we reached Twee Rivieren we were beginning to peal off the outer garments!

Before entering the gate we were treated to a wonderful sighting of this magnificent eagle.

Martial Eagle

We checked in at around 10 o’clock but could not get into our accommodation before 2 so set off for our first game drive. Everything is exciting on the first day so the cameras were clicking furiously as we stopped for every creature.

The white-browed sparrow weaver is a common resident in these arid parts.

White-browed sparrow-weaver

The black-backed jackal was not too shy to greet us.

Black-backed Jackal

It was good to find our National Mammal – or Rugby Buck as my grandsons used to call it. These beautiful antelope were everywhere and we never tired of watching their antics.

Our National Animal – The Springbok

The Kgalagadi was formerly known as the Kalahari Gemsbok Park and was originally created to protect these handsome creatures.

Gemsbok/Oryx

The Kori Bustard is the heaviest flying bird in the world. He is a magnificent bird and we get really excited if we spot one. This beauty proudly showed himself early in the trip.

Kori Bustard

Another common resident of the Kalahari is the ground squirrel. These cute, cuddly creatures are my favourite. I just love their bushy tails and cute manners.

Ground Squirrel

Earl started complaining that his muscles were sore – I told him to stop being grumpy so he showed me GRUMPY. Watch this space to find out why he was grumpy!

Grumpy Old Man

The last pictures we took were of Red Hartebeest – lovely to see – and then we went to check into our family chalet.

Red Hartebeest

Twee Rivieren did not have a more comfortable bungalow for us so we had to settle for one with one bedroom and a kitchen with two beds in it! You had to walk from the kitchen through the bedroom to get to the bathroom – but we managed and it was only for one night.

Once unpacked we set off for another brief game drive. We found these beautiful black faced waxbills just outside the gate.

Black-faced Waxbills

The Kgalagdi is home to many small rodents and birds and so it is not surprising to find a variety of birds of prey. Lanners and red-necked falcons both prey on small birds and look pretty similar. This one is a red-necked falcon – it has finely barred underparts whereas the Lanner has none.

Red-necked falcon

One of the little creatures that has to keep a constant look out for raptors is this cute little whistling rat. We had great fun watching him and his mates.

Whistling Rat

The colours of the Kgalagadi are beige, stone, brown, cream, pastel greys and blues, pinks and mauves. Now and then you get a splash of brightness like this swallow-tailed bee-eater.

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

Just as beautiful but not as brightly coloured, the scaly feathered finch is a common resident and appears frequently with flocks of friends.

Scaly-feathered finch

As our afternoon drive took us back toward the gate – closing at 6 o’clock – we watched a tawny eagle fly over and then settle in a tree giving us a good photo opportunity.

Tawny Eagle

Altogether it was not a bad start to our trip. As the sun set the temperature dropped and we added our discarded layers and sat outdoors to enjoy a good South African braai before tucking up into warm beds to rise early and continue to our next camp – unfenced in the wilderness – Urikaruus!

FRIDAY 30 MARCH 2012

Earl was so exhausted last night that he could hardly eat so we decided to make a late start this morning. I thought this would mean – leave camp at about 9 a.m. but he was totally refreshed when we woke up and our ‘late’ start was at 6:30 instead of 5:30!

Although each day in Kruger has its special moments, some days can be slow with little game appearing. Yesterday was such a day and I knew that if we didn’t do something to keep the kids interested we’d have some rioting in the car. So we started straight away with the points for first sightings and the competition was on!

Our first excitement were elephants crossing in front of us – they’re a favourite with the kids although they get the adrenalin going when they get too close.

Then buck – not impala – a different buck – Jay called out in excitement – and there on the side of the road was a lovely Male Bushbuck – so different from the female they’d seen yesterday at Afsaal. That earned him 5 points as it’s not a common one to see.

Jay kept ahead with spotting birds and animals first but Shannon was better at naming them. Josh insisted that the people in front had an advantage but Jay still seemed to beat me to it. We laughed when he then insisted that it was because he was on the wrong side of the car.

Of course when he won 10 points for finding Granny a Marico Sunbird no mention of unfair advantages was made.

The competition certainly kept the eyes glued the bush and we saw lots of wonderful things in the time that it took us to travel from Skukuza to Nkulu picnic site.

Female Red-backed shrike with breakfast

Bad hair day for this hamerkop

Nkulu is on a river bank and we love stopping here. The only problem is that the monkeys are rather naughty and you have to be very careful that your breakfast isn’t stolen. Our attention was distracted by a green-backed heron on the opposite bank when our order was placed on the table. Fellow tourists yelled a warning when a cheeky Vervet snatched half a toasted cheese sandwich from Joshua’s plate!

He was horrified but placated when I offered him my chips and half a toasted chicken mayonnaise. Shannon told us she didn’t really like monkeys – they scared her and a large male must have sensed this as he actually threatened her with a grunt and a made a move toward her. Earl shouted and she hid behind me giggling nervously.

Cheeky monkey enjoying Joshua's breakfast

Jay is enjoying Nkulu's famous buffalo pie

As soon as we’d eaten we packed up left over buffalo pies and sandwiches and continued our journey. Shan was sitting up front with me. We stopped to photograph some very young monkeys and Shan was really enjoying them until Earl pointed to a big one right next to her window – she started to wind up the window and I said – “no – don’t I just want to snap his portrait” she burst into tears and leapt over onto Earl’s lap. I think the incident at the Nkulu upset her more than we realised. After a cuddle and comforting words she was fine again and we warned the boys not to tease her about monkeys, please!

We had further fun with primates when we stopped on a bridge and a troop of baboons had the kids in fits of laughter with their antics – chasing each other, play fighting and tumbling and almost 0ff the bridge.

They then went and climbed the sandy cliffs and foraged for termites or whatever lives in the bank.

There were other interesting things to see in the water too. Simon spotted a legawaan on the rocks and another where the monkeys were climbing up and down the bank.

A Goliath heron patiently fished in some fast running water

Birds of prey earned our young spotters lots of points and gave us an opportunity to teach them how to tell one from another.
The brown snake eagle has yellow eyes and feathers only to its knees while the lesser spotted eagle has ‘stove pipes’ , pale eyes and yellow feet. And the don’t be too convinced that you’re right – all birds of prey are tricky to identify – even the experts make mistakes. But the martial is unmistakable with its black chest and white, speckled tummy.

Brown Snake Eagle

Lesser Spotted Eagle

Martial Eagle

At Sunset Dam the challenge was to see how many crocodiles you could count – they camouflage so well and perhaps there were more than the 10 we got. Plenty of hippos lazed and grunted in the shallows and the shore birds gave us lots of pleasure.

Wood sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

After a refreshing drink at Lower Sabie we made our way home. Simon had been as good as gold but was now starting to ask when he could go for a swim. It was really hot today.

The elephants could not let us off lightly today – a rather angry looking bull decided not to make way for us as he trundled down the middle of the tar road. We had to reverse until he found a place that suited him to get off the road. A lovely adrenalin rush to end the day!

After the kids had a swim we went to the nearby hide of Lake Panic for just half an hour. There were hippos and birds but at this time of year not the variety that we usually see. Still it was good to see that no damage had been done by the floods.

A thunder storm cooled things down this evening but put rather a dampener on our braai. Jay stripped to his waist and used a storage box lid to prevent the fire from going out while he finished off cooking our chicken.