The next two days were spent at Tweerivieren camp exploring in the early mornings and late afternoons. In summer one really needs to be at the gate and ready to go at 05h30. By 08h00 it is already getting very hot and the animals become more elusive by the minute, although we remained out until 11h30-12 most days.
Exploring the routes around Tweerivieren we again experienced some spectacular sightings. One in particular, on the road towards Mata-Mata along the Aoub river valley, was finding a pair of adult lionesses resting literally right next to the road, within a meter or two of the car. They are so spectacular and beautiful.
Seemingly irritated by all the cars and attention they got up and walked across the road, past our Landy, and for a few seconds were within touching distance. It was fantastic to be so close to them, albeit briefly.
Further along that same road we came across a bat-eared fox den with several young pups - the cutest little things in the world! The adult female was keeping a close eye on her brood from a short distance and was quick to signal any impending danger, which had the pups scampering back into their den.
A glimpse of an African wildcat at one of the viewpoints, as well as more Black-backed jackal, Caracal, Yellow mongoose, Steenbok, ostrich, Red hartebees, Springbok, Gemsbok, as well as Tawny eagle, Northern black Korhaan, Martial eagle, Cattle egret, Swallow-tailed bee-eaters, Fork-tailed drongo’s, Goshawks etc to name just a few, made our second day of game viewing fantastic.
On the morning of Christmas Eve we packed up our camp at Tweerivieren and headed towards Mata-Mata, a campsite in the park situated on the South African/Namibia border. En route we envountered the usual suspects, including a male lion sleeping under a tree. Some new sightings included Kudu, Giraffe, Lanner falcon, red-breasted shrike, Lilac breasted roller and Yellow billed hornbill… to name just a few of the animals.
Arriving just before lunch, we set up camp at Mata-Mata and were soon relaxing in the pool escaping the worst of the midday heat. We spent much of the afternoon floating in the pool before heading out for our afternoon drive. The afternoon drive yielded about the same sightings as that of the morning. We got back to camp at 19:30 to find our neighbours getting ready for a big Christmas Eve party. We had planned to have a special meal too, with champagne, and all, but it was so very hot, we ended up having a couple of cold beers and making a quick braai instead. We were rewarded with a spectacular Christmas sunset though.The perfect gift if there ever was one!
On Christmas Day we were up early as usual and drove the route towards Tweerivieren in both the morning and the afternoon. The morning trip yielded less than we would have liked, but new sightings did include Duiker, Ground Agama, Ludwigs bustard, Namaqua sand grouse, Bateleur eagle, and Gabar goshawk.
We also spotted the same male lion from the previous day sleeping in the shade of a tree right next to the road. He was dead to the world, but woke up a few times and looked at us as if to say: “Sigh….are you still here?”
The highlight of our final mornings drive from Mata-Mata was our first cheetah sighting. In the early morning light we saw a female with two largish cubs walking down the Auob River valley towards a water hole.
Back at Mata-Mata by lunch time, we were just about getting ready to sit out the afternoon heat, when pandemonium struck in the camp opposite to ours. Shouts of “*^&% dis ‘n slang!!” and “…slaan dit dood!!” rang out from under the trees. Realising that the poor snake’s life was in peril; Arne and I grabbed the camera tripod and our empty cooler box and headed over to remove the snake. The gathering crowd had no idea what to do. Arne calmly walked up to the tent under which the poor snake was hiding and, after a few pushes and pulls, manoeuvred the little puffadder into our cooler box. We took the little puffy to a tree right outside the gate to Mata-Mata and released it, much to the bemusement of the Park rangers who had caught up to us by this time (for the record it is illegal to catch or kill any animal in the camps, please call the duty ranger immediately and they will come and remove whatever it is to safety).
It was our final evening at Mata-Mata camp and once again we were treated to an epic Kalahari sunset.
Text and images by Arne and Cecile
