November 22, 2014, 1:35 PM

Some quiet moments in Nossob Camp in the center of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.  We drove up from Twee Rivieren Camp, which is at the entrance to KTP, yesterday.  It was a long and very hot day yesterday as we made our way up north across an increasingly harsh and dry landscape, traveling on a narrow path sculpted into the soft white sand of the Kalahari.  We had very nice sightings along the way – more than I’ll likely remember, but including Giant Eagle Owls, Spotted Eagle Owls, Pale Chanting Goshawks, Gabar Goshawks, Martial Eagles, Brown Chested Snake Eagles, Tawnie Eagles, just to mention birds of prey.  Mammals included Oryx, Meerkat, Springbok, Slender Mongoose, Yellow Mongoose, Whistling Rats, Red Hartebeest and a lioness sleeping at a waterhole very close to the road. I’m sure I’m forgetting others. We also saw a Mole Snake and a beautiful Cape Cobra that we almost drove over.  If you don’t know the Cape Cobra, you should look it up.  It’s just a gorgeous snake ranging in color from a very pale yellow to rich butterscotch.  This snake was a beautiful butterscotch color and she apparently did stand up and spread her hood at the car, though sitting in the back seat, I didn’t get to see that behavior.  We are certainly hoping to see more of those guys. 

Entry into the park….

Twee Rivieren Camp

We arrived at Nossob mid-day, rested briefly.  Gina decided to stay in camp and Albie and I went back out at 4:30 PM yesterday and camped on the waterhole with the lioness, figuring we’d let the action come to us as the light improved into the evening.  And the lioness slept as time crept on while we sat in a hot car that was thankfully parked under some shade alongside the waterhole.  She’d occasionally raise her head or roll over, but gave little sign of doing much as the afternoon wore on and the light got better and better.  Eventually a Red Hartebeest approached the waterhole but stopped short and stood around for a time, just out of reach.  The lioness seemed interested and watched the hartebeest carefully but the hartebeest must have caught scent of her, or maybe saw her and just wouldn’t approach.  Finally, she trotted and hopped away in a gait that told everyone she’d seen the lion and wasn’t about to be taken today.  We waited longer, messing about with some photos of birds and talking as the time ticked down and just as the best light left us and we were within 15 minutes of having to return to camp.  Then Albie tapped me and said that there was a Brown Hyena approaching the waterhole.  I’d never seen a brown hyena and neither had Albie, and it was high on both of our wish lists for this trip.  It came in on a straight line toward the waterhole, apparently completely oblivious to the lioness lying alongside a log off on the other side of the small pond.  The lioness watched intently as the brown hyena walked up and started drinking.  We were sure we were about to witness some real bush murder here because predators generally have little use for other predators and the lioness is a much more powerful predator than the brown.  She stood up, intensely focused on the brown hyena, and walked straight for it.  She walked right up the hyena who somehow was completely unaware and got to within 2 feet of it and then the hyena let out this bark/shriek and arched its back, head down in a submissive display and puffed up, almost exactly like a housecat would do if it was suddenly surprised and trapped by a large dog.  Unbelievably, the lioness just stood there as though curious and the hyena slowly turned away and began to move off, picking up speed as it gained a bit of distance.  The brown remained puffed up, looking like it had a long, unruly Mohawk as it realized that it was somehow going to live through this day because I’m sure that question was in great doubt in its mind for a moment.

You know, you live for those sightings.  We both would have been happy to have simply seen a brown hyena come to the waterhole and drink a bit of water and then trot off.  That would have been very satisfying.  We’d have never expected to see an interaction between a brown hyena and a lion, let alone one where the lioness just stood there and let they hyena escape with its life.  It was really a miracle.

Cape turtle doves frolic in the water while lioness sleeps

Brown hyena flees in abject terror after encounter with lioness.  Somehow this hyena escaped with its life….

Back in camp last night we had lovely grilled lamb and tried not to rub it in with Gina.

And, after a very hot night (no A/C at this camp…), we went out this morning and saw a juvenile pale chanting goshawk eating a mole snake on the ground, a huge pile of about 14 lionesses and young well off the road and then a beautiful pair of swallow-tail bee-eaters excavating a nest hole in the berm of the sandy road.  We also saw a pair of lanner falcons.  Not good light to photograph, but just beautiful birds.

This morning a layer of clouds rolled in.  It’s not nearly as hot as yesterday, but the light is not great either.  Seems thick and I’m not expecting this to burn off or move on by this evening’s drive. 

We’ve had breakfast and a bit of a nap, and we’re about an hour away from getting together to share images and talk about what next.

The experience of using the Nikon body has been mixed.  I had multiple issues with the D3S yesterday and was getting wildly variable exposures.  Albie swapped his D3 with me while he tried to work out what was going on with the D3S.  He eventually did a complete reset to initial factory settings and now it seems to be working fine.  I suspect that I did something as I was trying to figure out how to get it to back-button focusing where I locked some exposure value and it quit metering.  Something…. Anyway, I think we’ll switch back this afternoon and I’ll try and get a better feel for it.

Nossob Camp is really way out in the bush.  This is about as isolated as I’ve been in Africa.  Power on only part of the day.  No A/C.  No cell phone coverage.  It’s very quiet and remote and harsh and lovely here.

Morning at Nossob Camp

Room at Nossob Camp.  Can you tell which side is Gina's and which side is Dan's?