20 November 2018

Moving Day today! We were up by 5 and on the road by 6:25. The Mools made stops at all the waterholes while The Earl and I went on as quickly as possible with the caravan. As most of the waterholes don’t require negotiating, we managed to get some good sightings along the way. There were three lions at the waterhole on Kaspersdraai. There were quite a few cars so we pulled in and quickly took photos before moving on so as not to block the view for everyone else.

Kasper Sanderson had a residence here during the tsamma melon season. He also dug a well here. Kaspersdraai means Kasper’s Turn.

An hour later we had another lion sighting of 2 males and a female at Kameelsleep waterhole. A sad meaning to this name – kameel(perd) is a giraffe sleep means drag. It was here that the last migrating giraffe was shot by the Sandersons and dragged by donkeys to neighbouring Bechuanaland. Giraffe have now been reintroduced to The Kgalagadi.

We had a brief pit stop at Dikbaardkolk picnic site. Dikbaard means bushy beard and kolk means pool. Dikbaard is a colloquial term for lion. So it means Lion Pool.

Our next stop was for for breakfast at Melkvlei which is a big un-fenced site with tables and benches on both sides of the road. “Which spot do you want?” asked the Earl – I picked one on the opposite side of the road to the toilets. “Are you sure?” He asked. “Yes!” I said and when he pulled in what should I see in the tree but a Spotted Eagle-Owl! “This is definitely the right spot,” I said! A little later I noticed there was a juvenile on a branch and the mom was keeping a careful eye on it.

Melk means milk vlei means small depression which collects water in the rainy season. It is so named because of the white chalk banks of the river. We have indeed seen this picnic site flooded after heavy rains.

We arrived at Twee Rivieren at half past 11 and set up quickly. The Mools arrived two hours later. We went out again at 4 o’clock and had another lion sighting at leeudril. Leeu means lion dril means shiver. So it means here a man’s legs shook with fear when he encountered a lion on the other side of the dune!