So in my last Blog a couple of weeks ago, I was about to embark on a much-awaited trip to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier park. So did it live up to everything I had hoped? Well I will leave that for you to decide…..
The remoteness of this place hits you the minute you leave Upington, it’s 270 odd kilometers of, well nothing, until you reach Twee Rivieren on the border of the park. From there it a further 180km to Nossob and 160km to Mata Mata and once there it’s just you and the bush. It took us a good 12 Hours from Pretoria to reach the border of the park, approximately 1120 km’s and then a minimum of 4-5 hours to Nossob and I tell you what….it’s certainly worth the effort.
The park itself is fascinating as it really is based around the two ancient riverbed systems, the Nossob and the Auob. Ancient as these rivers only ever flow around once every 100 years, the last being in the 60’s. The game is plentiful along the riverbeds and as such it is where you are most likely to pick up your predators and other life. We spent 4 nights situated at Nossob Camp and were most certainly not alone, the local lion pride kept us up most nights with their roars echoing off the emptiness (Don’t ask me how it just happens). They proved to be elusive during the day but who can blame them after their performance every evening and temperatures in the late 30’s each day. Mild for these parts but thankfully so. Back to the park, water is pumped through a series of boreholes and keeps species such as Blue Wildebeest alive that otherwise would most likely not be here. The park is now fenced and stops the game following natural migratory paths which would take them to greener pastures when the dry winter kicks in. Between the river systems lies what often feels like endless rolling dunes. These dunes are vegetated but when travelling through them the reduction in game numbers is clear. I was still however very surprised to find a pride of recently fed lions exactly half way between the rivers one afternoon, roughly 25km’s each way. I suppose for lions that isn’t very far at all.
It is difficult to describe and all the pictures I had previously seen of the park did not prepare me for it. The contract between the dunes and the riverbeds is like black and white, it really is a stunningly beautiful landscape. As a budding photographer I wish I could spend years in a place like this to get the ultimate picture of a predator against the magnificent red dune background, thrown in with some golden light of course… one such as Lee Slabberts mesmerizing shot here of a leopard on the dunes…..one can only dream. (http://www.capturedexperiences.com Round 3 animal behavior)
So how was the game viewing? In 6 nights we managed to notch up a few on the belt but make no bones about it, we worked for our quarry. 8 separate sightings of Lion, 2 Cheetah, a Caracal (my first) who was feeding on a bat eared fox, 3 sightings of Bat Eared fox (Alive), Leopard, Spotted Hyena, Gemsbok, Wildebeest, Giraffe, Springbok, Ostrich, Ground Squirrels and the list goes on. I was disappointed not to pick up Pygmy falcon but scored booted eagle, a beautiful Great Spotted Cuckoo and the arrival of thousands of Abdims stalks was fascinating to witness (and I mean thousands).
The highlight for me was seeing the condition of the game especially the lions. In the Greater Kruger National Park the lions sadly carry TB, a domestic cattle disease brought in from Europe in the early 1900’s. They are constantly under pressure for territory and controlling prides as weakening condition allows other males to push in before their time. In the Kalagadi one gets the feeling that prides roam a much greater area and there is less conflict, coupled with the lack of disease and you get probably the most stunning lions I have every seen. The black mained boys are truly gorgeous. The Caracal is also up there for me as it is my first confirmed sighting, but what did it for me here was the landscape and the remoteness. There is nothing quite like the feeling that you are in the middle of nowhere….did anyone actually hear us scream?
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