THE WONDER THAT IS MASHATU GAME RESERVE

Mashatu forms part of the Tuli Block on the borders of South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and is located just over the border into Botswana.  Our first trip there was undertaken - again in October - at the end of what had been a particularly harsh dry season.  After the border formalities on the South Africa side we drove across the (dry) Limpopo river to repeat the process at the Botswana passport control.  Apparently when the river is in flood (hard to imagine when you have just driven across the river bed) the ranger showed us the "cable car" which goes from one side to the other - it was basically a cage on a wire which is pulled across manually.  Relief came when he told us the lodge actually have a boat - remind me to always go in the dry season!

Once inside the reserve, it was a very bumpy 45 minute drive to our accommodation with not a blade of grass in sight, and very few leaves on the trees that still stood.   I was thinking to myself that this would be a rather quiet trip as surely nothing could survive in such harsh surroundings.

As soon as we arrived in our room we looked out onto the watering hole and saw a few eland grazing on goodness knows what vegetation.

And boy was I wrong about survival.  The cats in particular were having a field day as they could spot their prey from far away.  Obviously that means the prey can spot them too, but the cheetah with their amazing speed were being very successful.  On our first game drive we met up with a family of five cheetah cubs and their mother.  They seemed to be very lazy in the afternoon sun and we stayed a while to watch them greeting each other and playing around.

Suddenly they all became alert and we saw that they had spotted a herd of eland in the distance.  

The hunt began and our ranger followed and while we were all bouncing around on the back of the vehicle the adrenalin was pumping.  

They did manage to catch an eland calf and 'played' with it for a good 45 minutes before finally killing it.  Don't believe what you read about cats playing with prey and making 'friends' with it.  It's all part of the training.

The eland calf made several attempts to escape while the successful brother was waiting for his siblings to come join the feast.  It even seemed to know how to "play dead" and just when you thought it was over, it made another leap for freedom, but was doomed from the start.  On driving further around the reserve, we saw that this particular family had had lots of practice at hunting, and several carcasses (mostly young) lay around the reserve, hardly touched.  It does seem a waste, but everyone has to eat.

Mashatu is well know for its huge elephant herds, but because of the length and severity of the dry season, most of them had moved south to Mapungubwe (the South African portion of this extended reserve).  A few, however, had stayed and there was some debate about who chooses to go and who to stay.  The matriarch ultimately makes the decision and we surmised that these amazingly intelligent pachyderms weigh up the pros and cons of how the journey will take its toll on the youngsters, whether with only a few of them staying there will be more food for the ones left behind, and I am sure various other factors that we can only imagine.

Many had to dig for their food, whether carnivores… 

Herbivores…..

Or Pescatarians…...

The scavengers were also having a field day, but still found the need to fight over any scraps that they found.  

These guys were all having a stand off as the hyenas had discovered what looked like an old piece of skin and the jackal and vulture were keen to grab their share.  But in the end it was the hyenas who fought between themselves for the prize.

As with most bush holidays, your day is made up of getting up (very) early, coffee, game drive, huge brunch on return to the lodge, trying to rest in the afternoon before getting back on the vehicle for another game drive and sundowners in the middle of the open bushveld, back to lodge for dinner, good food, good wine, great company, meeting people from all over the world who simply love coming to Africa (who can blame them) and back to your comfortable bed for some peaceful, undisturbed sleep - and I NEVER tire of it.

There is much activity to be witnessed on most game drives in Mashatu, but some animals are more relaxed about life.

"What do you wanna do?" " Dunno, what do you wanna do?"  "Dunno, what do ……etc"

Some are just so ugly they are beautiful - and look at those ballerina toes:

Needless to say, we went back.  Mashatu trip number 2 to follow……

THE MAJESTIC KGALAGADI

October in the Kgalagadi is the last month of the "dry season" and is hot and, well, dry.  Just before the summer rains the man made watering holes of the Kgalagadi are a gathering place for game. 

Not being au fait with the enormous popularity of this park, we decided in July to go in October and I was a little surprised to find most of the camps full, but got a few days in Twee Rivieren, Urikaruus (everyone told me how lucky I was and when I got there I realised why) and Kalahari Tented Camp.  Looking at the map this is only a small part of the southern area of the park, but it was enough for us to go on, and after overnighting in Upington we entered the park at Twee Rivieren.  Having to reduce our tyre pressure drastically to cope with the sandy, often corrugated roads was a little scary for us as
we are not really adventurous by nature but we soon got used to it and luckily spent the whole week without getting a flat tyre - which I believe is a common occurrence.

The first thing we noticed on our drive out into the park itself (Twee Rivieren is the only fenced camp we stayed in) was the amount of ground squirrels darting around between den holes, and sometimes just having a snack sheltered from the sun by their bushy tails.  This one seemed to be doing a little dance for us

And these little guys were playing right outside our chalet

Twee Rivieren to Urikaruus is a relatively short distance so we went over to the other side via the Kieliekrankie road.  We didn't meet any other vehicles on this road but did come across an ostrich family...

who clearly found it easier to walk along the road than through the bush and who, of course, had right of way.

Every morning we would get on the road as soon as it was allowed, taking our coffee and rusks with us.  One particular morning we decided to stop and have coffee and a watering hole just off the main road and had barely poured the coffee when we noticed something walking towards us.  Imagine our delight when two Cheetah brothers came to drink at our pan - and we were the only ones there.  We had them all to ourselves for at least 15 minutes.

and they kept us completely enthralled and entertained.  It's a pity they were in the shade some of the time but we were too afraid to move a muscle, never mind the car for fear of making them run off.

Once we got to Urikaruus we realised why it is so difficult to get accommodation in this park.  The camp sleeps 8 people in double story chalets overlooking a large watering hole. 

Sitting on your own personal deck under the shade of the trees in the middle of the afternoon, there is very little motivation to get in the hot car and drive around as there is always some activity around the water.

From Urikaruus our next camp was Kalahari Tented Camp.  Warm, sunny, luxury tents high on a ridge overlooking a rather small watering hole.  The views from this vantage point are magnificent.

and there can be few better settings to light the braai fire and have a late afternoon gin and tonic.

We had two nights in Urikaruus so left very early in the morning on the second day with our prepared Caprese sandwiches and coffee and stopped at one of the picnic sites to have a late morning breakfast on the open fire.  They tasted especially delicious in the open air, despite the bees that were competing with us for space.

Yum

We visited Mata Mata just to get petrol.  This camp is right on the border of Namibia and South Africa and is one of the larger camps, fenced, which enabled some dedicated souls to jog around the boundary.  Our trip was a little more sedentary I'm afraid!

The bird life in the park is amazing.

And there is plenty of activity almost everywhere you look.  The wide open spaces make for great game viewing.

On the drive from Kalahari Tented back to Twee Rivieren, we noticed that about four vehicles had stopped by the side of the road and were obviously curious to know what they had spotted.  Four vehicles in one place is a lot in the Kgalagadi!  We saw a small head popping in and out of a den, which turned out to be a Cape Fox scouting the area to see if it was safe to bring out her two tiny cubs.  Eventually she decided there was no threat and we were so lucky to have them running and gambolling around for quite a few minutes, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.  They were so cute.

Mom was on guard the whole time and eventually decided they had been out long enough and ushered them back inside.  

Our last night was spent in Twee Rivieren again.  How funny that the people in the chalet next door, who came to visit us to ask us to move our car from their parking space, were the family of a close relative!  Small world. 

We are planning another trip next year, and I made sure I got up in the early hours of the first available date for booking, only to find that Grootkolk is full already.  This is a very special place and if anyone wants to visit, I suggest booking very early and then checking again throughout the year for cancellations to get the smaller camps.