Tswalu sirens

[kittykat23uk]

On 10/1/2017 at 7:54 AM, Kitsafari said:

I don't recall how the topic came up.  I suspect we were asking about black footed cat, and started talking about the small cats at breakfast before we set off for our drives on the second day. Kosie said black footed cats, africa wildcats, caracals and striped polecats were not easy to see.

I didn't know there were caracals in Tswalu, but my friends had a brilliant sighting of a very relaxed caracal and so we held up hope we would see them. One late evening after a hunt for dogs, we were driving through the mountains when Kosie suddenly stopped and asked if we had seen it. a caracal had dashed across the road and vanished into the thick bushes. it was too dense to crash into, so sadly we gave up the search.

I had no clue what striped polecats looked like and didn't pay much attention to it. as usual, we headed out half an hour earlier than the others. We were going to see the famous residents at Tswalu - the ever entertaining meerkats. 

Just as we had settled in with our beanies and thick fleeces, Kosie shouted striped polecat. my head swung to my right and saw a flash of a skunk-looking animal which white stripes on its body and a flash of a white tail before it dived into the bushes and disappeared. Imagine my surprise when I googled and found out - the polecat is  also known as zorilla! so now we have bragging rights to having seen a zorilla! incredible! but no photos - it was just too fast. 

 

There are two grou ps of meerkats being studied by the researchers - the horses and the rock stars. we were on the way to meet the horses. 

On the way to the meerkats: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucky!  We narrowly missed a zorilla at Kalahari Trails meerkat sanctuary,  the guide Johnny saw it dash in front of the vehicle, but failed to locate it for us! We did see a sad roadkill one on the way to kgalagadi.

[Alexander33]

You got that pangolin again!  Ugh. I just have to go back to Tswalu. Have a safe trip. 

[Kitsafari]

@kittykat23uk we were very lucky indeed! We could have missed it by seconds too - it was that fast!

[Peter Connan]

Thanks for sharing Tswalu with us. As bucket-list destinations go, this one is pretty close to the top!

[offshorebirder]

@Kitsafari - @Tom Kellie sends his regards and is very glad to hear of your success at Tswalu. 

 

He said:

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"What?! Kitsafari spotted a Zorilla at Tswalu!

 

TERRIFIC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If I were able to access Safaritalk, I’d certainly post an applauding comment in her trip report, praising her sighting.

 

She works so hard and seldom is able to have adequate vacation time.

 

I’m so happy that she was blessed with an honest-to-goodness Zorilla sighting!

 

[optig]

@Kitsafari I did see the pangolin, as well as cape fox three times. I also saw aardvark, brown hyena, aardwolf all for just the second time on safari. I was delighted to see meerkats as often as I did. The mountain zebra were just awesome. I also saw cheetah, white rhino, black rhino, lions, and yes even a leopard. The sightings of birds and antelope were simply awesome. My trip report is coming. As you know it meant so much to me that you contacted me while I was  there and also on safari with @Zarek Cockar. I will revisit Tswalu Kalahari and hope to see a zorilla as well as a caracal.

[hannahcat]

What is it the kids are saying these days — “jelly” for “jealous”? Anyway, call me green as mint jelly over all these amazing sightings. Even with all the top-shelf wish-list sightings, though, some of my favorites have been the charming meerkats (they get you every time, don’t they?), the cheetahs, and the picture of you just beaming. That’s just how I feel too. Thanks so much for all of these, I hope you’re enjoying your travels, and I’m looking forward to the next installment. 

[Kitsafari]

On 10/10/2017 at 2:24 AM, offshorebirder said:

@Kitsafari - @Tom Kellie sends his regards and is very glad to hear of your success at Tswalu. 

 

He said:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"What?! Kitsafari spotted a Zorilla at Tswalu!

 

TERRIFIC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If I were able to access Safaritalk, I’d certainly post an applauding comment in her trip report, praising her sighting.

 

She works so hard and seldom is able to have adequate vacation time.

 

I’m so happy that she was blessed with an honest-to-goodness Zorilla sighting!

 

 

So sorry to hear he's still unable to access ST, but glad to hear my sighting of the zorilla has cheered him up! hope he gets a sighting very soon in his next trip to Africa. Thanks @offshorebirder for conveying his message.  when and where  is he going for his next safari?

 

[Kitsafari]

Now I'm back and aghast to see that Joel has started and finished his TR report while I"m still sitting on mine. so to get going....

 

Since we had arrived, we had been asking about the wild dogs. When I was there in May last year, i heard the dreadful news that the entire pack was wiped out by distemper. I think there was some mention about how the fenced and managed reserve could not prevent the disease. What was also disturbing was that the dogs were vaccinated but still succumbed to the disease. while the dogs did not run out of the reserve, it was suggested that the smaller canids like the bat eared foxes could have run out of the reserve and brought in the disease.

 

When I heard the dogs were back in Tswalu this year, I had thought it was an entirely new pack of canines brought in from other reserves as Guy had told me last year. But there was a lovely surprise!

The original pack from last year had seen a split of four young males which somehow managed to dig their way out of their reserves. while its former family was being destroyed by distemper, the runaways were saved because they did not contract the disease. They were found running towards Uppington before Tswalu caught up with them, captured them and brought them back into Tswalu. The reserve then introduced some female dogs and they have formed a pack and had pups earlier this year. 

We could not see the dogs the first few days of this trip as the dogs have found home in the mountains. as long as they were up in the mountains we weren;t able to find them. But earlier today there were reports of them coming down from the mountains and this was finally a chance to find them. and found them we did, even if the long grasses prevented good views of them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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a rather long video of the dogs much of which were hidden by those dastardly long grasses. watch out for the pups at around 2:15mins. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

Next morning we decided to see if we could catch the lionesses with the cubs and so crossed into the eastern section. On the way, Ben's sharp eyes caught sight of a very spiky creature. a porcupine minding its own business in the early hours o the morning! this is the first time i've laid eyes on a porcupine's face, and I was surprised how large this amazing spiky rodent is. 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2017 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

I had very fond memories of the south pride of lions. last year, I witnessed the two sisters reuniting after a long separation as one of them had cubs and stayed away. then on my last morning, the entire south pride, minus the sister and her babies, paraded in front of me to give me a long and most memorable farewell - making it one of my top experiences in my safaris. the pride once again did not fail me this time. 

 

we found them on the road, as if waiting for us to appear and yawning at us for taking our time about it. with the golden morning sunrays lighting up their tawny coats, the sub-adults were mingling with four tiny tots. Last year's sub-adults had become independent and were translocated to other reserves looking for new blood. This year's sub adults will probably face the same fate to prevent inter-breeding. there are only two prides in Tswalu but hopefully the addition of a large tract of land further south, now in the midst of being fenced, can expand the territory and perhaps provide space for another pride. 

the south pride however had a bit of tragedy. one of two sisters had died earlier in the year, but her most capable sister adopted her cubs and brought up the sister's cubs and her own cubs all by herself. It is one of those more remarkable stories that reflect how animals can truly stand up for their empathy and fierce loyalty to the family ties. 

the current group of young cubs belonged to her daughter. 

 

grooming, bonding, loyalty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

more lion fest! skip this if you are tired of looking at lions.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2017 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

Just before we saw the lions, we came across a most accomodating bat-eared fox which was out in the early morning hours searching for something. it circled around us, totally uninterested in us, but hanging around in the vicinity. But seeing it out in the open, being comfortable with us in the daylight hours, and coming after the porcupine, it was pretty awesome to see the usually nocturnal animals in the early morning light. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2017 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

a word about the Tswalu waterhole....

 

The waterhole is a very productive area. it attracts lots of antelopes and many guests make a beeline for the dining hall to have brunch/lunch or generally any meal. 

 

as mentioned earlier in my TR, unlike last year when I saw plenty of springboks, sables and kudus at the waterhole, this year yielded more roans, hartebeests, oryx, a handful of sables, some reedbucks and even a lizard. 

 

here are some pictures at the waterhole: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

during another lunch hour, a herd of roans came crashing through the waters. one seemed more intent on checking out another roan but I couldn't tell if it was showing dominance or if it wanted to mate. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sorry for the shakes... 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2017 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

 

This being our last evening game drive, Kosie decided to change it up a little. we would leave for the normal afternoon drive, come back a little earlier, grab an early dinner and do an after-dinner drive. That suited us fine, especially since Kosie would join us for dinner.

 

we decided to have a second visit to the meerkats in the evening instead but we would try to join them before they headed back to their den. the problem was there was no sure thing we would find them as they would be foraging far away from their normal den and they could den wherever they were. we checked in with the researcher but she was still looking for them. luck was on our side, thank goodness, as we found them spread out in an area not too far from their normal den. we joined them on foot once again, watching them foraging, and watching the young ones learning to forage for the more juicy stuff and following them as they would suddenly surge as a group closer to home. 

 

as expected, it was just another entertaining and such pleasant time spent at the meerkat manor. Just when you think these are such harmless, adorable, defenceless looking creatures, a meerkat would dig up one of those nasty scorpions and would chew joyously on those juicy poisonous stuff. Yup. innocent looking meerkats they certainly are. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

I had pre-warned my OH that in Tswalu you could drive for a few hours with not much to see. Tswalu's reserve is massive, and in the five days that we roamed around, the area we had covered was possibly only a third of the entire reserve. I had two full days out exploring the deep south and deep north and western areas of the reserve last year, so I think I did know how vast the reserve was.

 

But what made up for the lack of density of animals that you would see in Kruger or the Mara, for example, was the stunning landscapes of the semi-arid Kalahari desert of Tswalu. You could never miss the varied changes in the landscape whether it is a pan, or a savannah looking plains, or the red sands, or the rolling dunes, or the awesome mountains in the background. @AndMic would have embraced the long straight roads up and down the rolling hills of the dunes and done a better job documenting them than I had.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited October 22, 2017 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

some pics of the various species - mainly mammals than avarians - that we saw during the trip: 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

we squeezed in one last morning drive before we flew to Capetown the last day. FLights to capetown is around 2+pm while flights to Johannesburg is around 10am+. and our mission was to see white rhinos in the eastern section, which are infamous for their shyness in Tswalu. 

 

it took a long time with no rhinos to show for the combined efforts of Kosie and Ben. as we bumped into another vehicle, Ben suddenly shouted out : rhino!. it was a young black rhino bull running a marathon in the thick bush, but because we were on a ridge, we had a good view of the bull. it ran, and ran and ran. and even when we drove through a couple of blocks more, we could still see him running. Perhaps it was his routine morning jog, but it wore us out first before he vanished into a very thick bushy area. Kosie got a call that a brown hyena was spotted but it was in the western section and we would have to do a safari ferrari for 20 mins before we got there. we made the call - we've missed it twice during our stay, we might as well have a go. but the white rhinos had other ideas about. when we dashed along the road, we glimpsed rhinos just by the road. a call was made - we would stop for the rhinos. it was two adults - a female and male , a young adult and a calf. they hid behind the bushes making photos tough.

 

the delay could have caused us to lose the brown hyena. when we reached the area, we found out later that the guide who called in to Kosie had not given precise directions. but the delay at the rhinos could have also given the hyena time to slip away. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

but all these is getting ahead of our last evening drive and our post-dinner drive. 

 

we had to go see the two-male cheetah coalition but it was a very hot afternoon and the cheetahs were in no mood to move from the shady spot they were lying in. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

so back to the lodge for the boma dinner. as usual, the food was delicious but way too much for us. 

and then onwards for our night drive. a couple of sable practising fencing. a cape fox. 

 

 

and then, Kosie said the magic word..

 

AARDVARK!

 

OMG. OMG. OMG. i fumbled around, digging out my camera. trying to take a couple of pics but utterly failed. I heard my OH cracking away on his dslr. okay, calm down already, I told myself. I pressed REC and these were the results..

the wind was in our favour and with the car engine turned off, it did not notice us. we were very silent. it came very close, so much so that we thought it could just climb into the vehicle. it sniffed the air at one point and we thought we were had. but it was only when it went behind us and Kosie wanted to reverse for us to see better that the start of the engine awoke the aardvark and it fled swiftly into the dark. 

awesome. awesome. awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2017 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

so there you are. my return to Tswalu and finally I got to see the magical, mystical, mysterious aardvark. it's not that it is a rare species, it's just that it is so shy, so timid, that it is rare to see one! But I'll have to return to Tswalu one day. I have an appointment to keep with the elusive brown hyena...

 

thanks so much, everyone, for your likes and comments and compliments. 

 

 

[TonyQ]

Thank you for a wonderful report. You give a great view of the landscapes as well as the wildlife. I have really enjoyed your photos and those of your husband!

 

you saw a great selection of animals, I particularly liked the Bat eared fox, and of course the meerkats are lovely. But also a great sighting of that wonderful creature the Ardvaark. 

 

It it looks like you had a great trip. ?

[marg]

@Kitsafari....thanks!  Great report and great sightings and photos.  And, your companion must have been very happy to have your company in Africa!!!