Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Part 2 (5-23)

Sunday morning we headed south on the same road along the dry riverbed that we had taken north. 

We came across two male oryx fighting and watched until they separated and one walked away.

After a few hours, we turned west, which meant that we left the flat area along the riverbed and entered the hilly sand dunes. Our first animal was a steenbok walking in the road far ahead. Later we saw one cross the road, and it stopped for a photo. 

In the distance, Carli spotted a few giraffes that are sometimes in that area. 

When I mentioned to Willie that a woman had told me that they had seen an ostrich family, he said they were on that road. Soon we saw them on a ridge, the young heads barely visible above the grass. 

But not much later we met an ostrich family walking along the road 

and watched as they headed across the grass.

Later we saw a group of spotted hyenas resting under a tree above their den, which Willie knew about. 

Every several minutes one would lift its head to check out what was going on. When we passed the spot on the way back Monday morning, they were not on the ridge. So we were lucky to have seen them.

Sunday night my accommodation was outside the park at Kalahari Tented Camp while Willie and Carli camped in the park. I had envisioned a huge tent similar to the one I had in Sri Lanka last year, but this one is more like a room that has a tented top and sides. They call them tented chalets. 

My unit had a bedroom and a bathroom with a kitchen across the patio.

On the way there, Willie spotted a golden cobra in some fallen sociable weavers’ nests under a tree with more nests, and we had to stop to watch it. 

While we watched, it started to leave its spot and head toward the tree. 

After a few minutes we went to check in to my “tent.” When the local jackal came to greet me, Willie said it usually makes the rounds of the units.

While Willie and I went for a game drive, Carli prepared dinner, as they had to return to the park before the gates closed at 6:00. We stopped to see the cobra again on our way out, and it was in the nests. Whereas the versamelnes are usually full of the activity and sound as the birds fly in and out, it was completely quiet, and the birds were sitting on branches at the edges of the tree.

After the cobra, we didn’t see much until Willie noticed a group of cars parked on a branch of the road about 45 minutes later. When we joined them, we saw that the attraction was a leopard. After not seeing a leopard in Kenya or Sri Lanka, I was finally seeing one. Willie later told me that although this was his 13^th safari, it was his first time to see a leopard, too. So we were both pretty excited. The leopard was lying under a tree fairly close to the road but not close to where we could park. 

After we were there for a few minutes, it sat up, 

walked to a nearby tree and climbed up and down, 

and then walked across the open space to some distant trees. 

Definitely a highlight of the safari for both of us.

Monday morning it was time to head out of the park and back to Upington. Early in the day we saw three African wildcats in trees where Willie had seen them before. Two were nestled in the joints of the branches, but one was awake and sitting on a limb like a house cat. 

Then we saw a male lion sitting in the grass. 

We saw the large group of 27 giraffes that is sometimes along the road. 

Our last interesting animal sight before leaving the park was some male ostriches ruffling their feathers to get the attention of the female.

The safari was an amazing four days. Willie had commented a couple times that he felt bad that I hadn’t seen more—and hadn’t had more exciting animal encounters. Most of these comments were prior to the leopard. But I was happy with what I saw and could list special animals each day. In addition to the animals, I enjoyed the desert and the trees. It was a great way to finish my time in South Africa.