This is a short trip report from a recent visit to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa. This massive park covering sections of both South Africa and Botswana protects a massive section of the Kalahari biome. After the excellent rainfall this year there were a lot of grass and plenty of both predators and prey present. We did not have a lot of time in the park and only visited two camps on the South African side but still had fantastic game viewing.
There were good numbers of Giraffe, Red Hartebeest, Blue Wildebeest, Springbok, Steenbok, Greater Kudu and off course Oryx or Gemsbok which this park is well known for. We had the privilege of watching a Blue Wildebeest give birth and could watch until the calf was drinking and moving with the herd. He managed to do this within 22 minutes after being born which is incredible. We will be sharing a sequence of videos on this soon but it was amazing to watch the rest of the herd keep other youngsters away and trying to encourage the calf to get up and help him with this balance.
The Kgalagadi is famous for sightings of the large cats and it did not disappoint. We had 6 different Lion sightings including a mating pair that were looking to reunite with their pride and were next to the vehicle roaring away. Had a beautiful black-maned male which this part of the world is famous for, walking next to us as well as small cubs climbing all over their resting mother. The highlight was following a Lioness for many kilometres to fetch her older cubs and then return to the pride. On the way back she considered hunting a Oryx but two of the cubs decided to show her how it is done and came charging out of cover at full speed chasing the Oryx for a few hundred meters before returning to their mother who was not impressed.
We were lucky with 3 different Leopard sightings including a mating pair having to run for cover with heavy rain shower which is slightly unusual for this time of the year. The highlight was watching a young female stalk a Ground Squirrel and charging at full speed only to realise that the road was full of water and the sighting ended with a very wet Leopard and Ground Squirrel safely back in its burrow.
This must be one of the best parks to see Cheetah and again did not disappoint with several sightings including a pair of males trying to hunt Ostrich, another two males walking next to us in stunning later afternoon sunlight and the highlight a mother successfully catching a Springbok and call calling her 3 cubs to join for the meal.
We had great sightings of a Honey Badger Yellow Mongoose, Cape Fox, Black-backed Jackal, Slender Mongoose and no fewer than 8 sightings of African Wild Cat. Seeing Suricate or Market is always special and as always many South African Ground Squirrel present. The small rodents were doing well with sightings of Black-tailed Thallomys, Four-striped Grass Mouse and Paella Hairy-footed Gerbil present in good numbers. We did not spend a lot of time searching for other small rodents and if you stay in the eastern side of the park you have a excellent chance of seeing both Spotted and Brown Hyena.
Watching two different Cape Cobras hunting was another highlight.
The birding in this park is always great especially raptors and we saw Bateleur, Martial Eagle, Black-chested Snake-Eagle, Tawny Eagle, Booted Eagle, Pygmy Falcon, Rock Kestrel, Southern Pale-chanting Goshawk, Gabar Goshawk, Greater Kestrel, Black-winged Kite, Red-necked Falcon and many Secretarybird sightings. Other good birds seen include Kore Bustard, Common Ostrich including a group of more than 50 together, huge Sociable Weaver Nests, Kalahari Scrub-Robin, Northern Black Korhaan, Red-crested Korhaan, Burchell’s and Namaqua Sandgrouse and the stunning Crimson-breasted Shrikes.
