A fantastic day at tswalu. Where to start.! At 8.15 am the meerkats wake up. They started popping up all over the place. So many little ones as well. The little creatures are adorable. The little ones were playing and we were able to stand a few feet from them. Totally habituated to humans they come right to your feet. The conservation team spends eight hours a day with them. If they stop within two weeks they are aftaid of humans again. Having an opportunity like this to walk with the meerkats and watch them dig and find insects was amazing.
Today we so many different species. Amazing sable, oryx everywhere and very calm, roan antelope, ostrich, about four other species of antelopes we have never seen before, giraffe everywhere including many babies the youngest being just a few months old. Yesterday I thought there was less game but today I was proven wrong. Then yet another pangolin. This was one the entire body was visible and he was on the rocks and again very relaxed. Much smaller than the one yesterday they are such unique animals.
In the afternoon the highlight was the cheetah. Two BIG cheetah males. We spent about two hours with them. Sleeping, grooming each other, stalking antelope but they gave up. Wildebeest came and the cheetah got spooked. Although cheetah kill wildebeest a mob of wildebeest charging cheetah is very dangerous for cheetah. So we followed then as they moved away.
They were famous for their dogs. They had two packs but disease took out both packs. Perfect terrain to keep up with wild dogs. They are reintroducing wild dog in the next month.
Leopard was sighted today but we did not see the leopard. They are here but not in the numbers they have in Sabi Sands.
This property has divided the areas. Lions, rhinos and antelope in one area. Then cheetah, leopard and antelope, giraffe in another. The cheetah and leopard are thriving without the lions. Smart idea. They only have species that are natural to the Kalahari and everything is doing well and really big here. The thing we missed was the ardvark but we did not want to leave the cheetahs. We only had time for three game drives. There are no elephants, very few Impala very few buffalo, no hippo these and many other animals are missing.
This is the perfect lodge for seasoned safari guests. Not big five territory but amazing in a different way,
Food was terrific. Service wonderful and very friendly staff. Self service for drinks. A big wine cellar just go in and pick your wine.
We leave tomorrow to meet up with other giraffe guests in JNB. Then off to Kwandwe.
Hope ken gets some pictures posted he has taken so many shots and we stayed out so long today had no time.
