Central Kalahari

Botswana
March 7th & 8th

First on our list of must-sees was the Central Kalahari. After travelling on 40kms of sand roads we arrived at the office. Greeted by an empty office at the Matswere gate we signed ourselves in and were ready for adventure. The landscape was flat with sandy roads, green and yellow grass measuring ten to fifteen cm and small bluffs of trees. The birdlife was amazing and we had fantastic sightings of social quelea which moved from tree to tree by the hundreds, saw loads of guinea fowl who stubbornly refused to move from the road and one in particular who seemed to be training for a marathon of sorts, and loads of Kori Bustards. We also saw jackals on the trot looking for their next meal, gemsbok with babies, funny little ostrich babies which are basically fluffy ducks with poor balance (they run and keep falling over) and huge springbok herds.

We were also lucky enough to see some lions. Just beside one of the main roads a group of lions with two lioness and four cubs. They were sitting under the shade of a camel thorn tree enjoying their gemsbok kill. Quite relaxed we enjoyed their company several times. It was pretty amazing to see them eating, grooming and sleeping as their characteristics are so similar to house cats. We also spotted another group of lion with a male and two lioness.

With eagle-eye Stroebel we saw some cheetah at Piper Pan. There was a mother with two older cubs in the distance. They weren’t too interested in our company so sadly we didn’t spend too much time with them. We also saw some cheetah at Tau Pan and were lucky enough to be a lot closer to them. After snapping a few photos from a fifteen meter distance they quicky moved on.

Our best sighting on the trip was a leopard. Amazingly we were at the right place at the right time. The leopard crossed the road right in front of us and then it sat next to us behind a bush for a few minutes making eye contact with Karel. It was so special to be right next to the elusive cat until his curiosity of us was satisfied.