The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is among the hottest game-watching spots in South Africa. The arid landscapes and enormous variety of mammals make it notably enticing within the dry season, when many species can present up at waterholes. I’ve solely been to the park as soon as, on the way in which to Namibia, once I stayed on the Mata-Mata campsite for a couple of nights.
The Mata-Mata campsite was nice for birding, with a number of glorious sightings together with a breeding pair of Crimson-breasted Shrikes, their dramatic pink underparts glowing from the thorny acacia bushes as they have been collected caterpillars for his or her offspring (featured picture). A lifer got here within the type of a Southern White-faced Scops-Owl that awoke me with its odd calls throughout the night time, prompting me to hurry out of the tent with a flashlight and my digicam. A Barred Wren-Warbler was additionally pretty to look at, gleaning bugs from the bottom with out being bothered by my presence. At first this chook appeared quite uninteresting, however the longer I watched it, the extra intricate plumage particulars I seen.
Regardless of the brief time we had within the park, our recreation drives have been fairly productive. We noticed an enormous Cape Cobra, cheetahs, and a big pleasure of lions instantly by the street. The latter was most likely the perfect lion viewing I ever had, because the pleasure included a big male and several other very younger cups. Though they have been straightforward to see as they have been only a few metres from the automobile, it was surprising to see how simply even such giant predators can disappear in longer grass, as we solely seen some immobile people instantly in entrance of us after 20 minutes of watching the opposite people. This served as a great reminder of how restricted my senses are within the outside (not that I meant to walk across the nationwide park, however simply normally…)
Again to the birds although, because the park additionally delivered in that respect. A quite widespread species, however nonetheless considered one of my favourites, was the Swallow-tailed Bee-eater. I discover this to be one of many prettiest bee-eaters in South Africa, and on the identical time a species I noticed very occasionally as we primarily visited the jap areas of the nation on holidays, the place this species typically doesn’t happen. It was so scorching that the birds have been visibly panting on a regular basis, however nonetheless appeared to choose perching within the solar, probably as there was a higher provide of bugs in such areas.
On comparable perches, the hardly bigger Pygmy Falcon was commonly seen. This was the primary time I noticed this chook, having appeared ahead to this second for ages. A falcon of such tiny dimension appeared very contradictory to me again then. This was earlier than I moved to South Asia and first heard of the tiny falconets which might be round in that a part of the world, and finally seeing them in Thailand and Borneo. This small chook of prey was very enjoyable to look at, though it was much less energetic than the bee-eaters and we sadly didn’t see it hunt.
White-browed Sparrow-Weavers have been most likely the commonest chook round, particularly at picnic websites and within the shade of bigger camelthorn bushes. Regardless of being so widespread, these birds have been enjoyable to look at as a consequence of their social behaviours and likewise their plumage of assorted tones of browns regularly merging into one another.
Earlier than we cleared the small border put up in Mata-Mata and entered Namibia, we additionally watched a small group of Scaly-feathered Finches (or Scaly Weavers) gathering nesting materials. They proceeded to detach small blades of grass from the roots, which evidently was a massively strenuous process for these birds, quite unsurprising contemplating their tiny dimension.
Though this keep was technique to transient to make justice of this park, I used to be very glad to have spent a while within the Kgalagadi ecosystem and to see most of the typical birds. I wish to spend extra time right here within the winter months particularly, when the waterholes particularly appeal to giant numbers of animals and pictures alternatives are additionally glorious.
