21st to 24th May 2022

Eventually the time came for all of us to head homewards. We left Polentswa heading south via Nossob to the Two Rivers camp (Botswana side) at the entrance to the Kgalagadi.

We arrived at the Two Rivers campsite on a cold and windy afternoon. There was no water anywhere including in the ablutions and the campsite allocated to us No. 2 was probably the worst of an uncomfortable bunch.

Sally and I decided to go to Twee Rivieren instead where we had decent ablutions and hot water for showers. The others opted to stay in Two Rivers. The two camps are a short 2 or 3 kms apart.

On an early morning drive heading towards Mata Mata we had more success seeing animals than birds. We attributed this to the weather conditions.

On one occasion we encountered a rather twisted Ostrich.

We spent a lot of time birding inside the campgrounds with pleasant surprises- Black-faced Waxbills, Groundscraper Thrush, friendly Brown-throated Martins, Black-winged Kites, White-backed Mousebird and a Marico Flycatcher to name a few.

Also, in the camp we had a singing display by a Chat Flycatcher which then boasted its fly catching prowess.

Chat Flycatcher singing and feeding.

And so ended our visit to the Kgalagadi. We spent the next few days heading back to Howick, KZN via a stopover in Mokala.

Our bird lists for each of the places we stayed and in total can be seen in the following download. It does include our time in Augrabies – on our way to Kgalagadi as well as Mokala on our way home.

Augrabies and Mokala reports have previously been posted on the website.

Hope you have enjoyed our feedback and photos.

Cheers

Paul and Sally Bartho