May 24 Sunset Drive

Before it got dark tonight, I caught sight of something crossing the road up ahead. Cheetah! Yay! It was a very pretty female and she seemed nervous at best and upset at worst.

After she disappeared, we found the source of her unease– a big male cheetah watching her on the opposite side of the road. So it seems she may have had boy problems…

The sightings:

Cheetah
Cape Fox
Bat Eared Fox
Jackal
African Wild Cat
Gemsbok
WIldebeest
Springbok
Scrub Hare
Springhare
Spotted Eagle Owl
Secretary Bird

May 24 Night Drive

My night drive guests had been coming to the Kalahari for 20 years and hadn’t seen it at night. I promised to show them a magical little creature called a ‘Springhare’.

But the highlight of the night was a polecat! We got to watch it burrowing and running around in gleeful little circles. He was totally in his own little world. The little dude completely owned the Kalahari tonight. Love.

The sightings:

Polecat
Cape Fox
Bat Eared Fox
African Wild Cat
Springbok
Springhare
Scrubhare
Spotted Eagle Owl

May 25 Morning Drive

Swallow-Tailed Bee Eaters! If only i’d had an actual camera with me and not a phone…

Bee Eaters really do eat bees. They use their long needle-ish bill to grab and stab the bees and because the bills are so long, the bee can’t sting to bee-eater in the face, which is good because it really sucks to be stung in the face. Then sometimes they’ll find something like a tree branch to rub it against to knock out the stinger before they eat the bee.

Sightings:

Gemsbok
Wildebeest
Springbok
Ground Squirrel
Secretary Bird
Kori Bustard
Black Headed Heron
Swallow Tailed Bee Eater
Greater Kestrel