Meerkat… or Suricate, who knew that ?

A call from my son to let me know that three young meerkats had been spotted in a certain area had me dashing to get my camera and rush over there… and it was a rewarding dash.

The meerkat can become very tame and accepts human proximity fairly quickly… where these three came from no one seems to know, but they seem quite self sufficient as I witnessed them feeding…

they are veracious eaters and I witnessed many a beetle, centipede and even a frog being devoured.

They soon accepted my presence and even moved around with me when I moved. In fact I wish there had of been another photographer with me. One sat next to me on my camera bag and posed as though he wanted to take over the sentries duties. In the wild there can be up to 30 of these meerkats in a “mob” “gang” or “clan” and when feeding one will always be on sentry duty for about an hour before another takes over…

It is almost as though I became part of the clan and when seeking shade they did the same…

But this little guy was quite keen to perform the sentry duty…

Sorry folks I’m going to bombard you with photos of these little ones for a short while as I took nearly 900 photos and when deleting the “baddies” I expected it to come down to 200 odd photos, but the new camera is too good it only came down to 598 …. much better odds than my old camera… now I have to learn it is not necessary to take so many with the new camera…

but 900 photos in a two hour period is not too bad… an average of 1 every 8 seconds… what was I doing the other 7 seconds ??????

I got me an egg… tastes good…

Found these two enjoying an egg they had stolen from who knows where….

Some body or some thing is keeping their attention off me…

Yummy…..

Got me an itch….

Yellow mongoose.. Kalahari Gemsbok Park.

Yellow Mongoose (Cynictis penicillata)

It sometimes referred to as the red meerkat, it is a small mammal averaging about 1 lb. (1/2 kg) in weight and about 20 in (500 mm) in length. A member of the mongoose family, it lives in open country, from semi-desert scrubland to grasslands in South Africa.

The yellow mongoose is carnivorous, consuming mostly arthropods but also other small mammals, lizards, snakes and eggs of all kinds.

Predators of the yellow mongoose are birds of prey, snakes and jackals. When frightened, the yellow mongoose will growl and secrete from its anal glands. It can also scream, bark, and purr, though these are exceptions, as the yellow mongoose is usually silent, and communicates mood and status through tail movements.

These two little fellows paid us a visit at our tent, and entertained us with the antics… Son naturally had to feed them, so we had less to eat….

Visitors at the Tent..Kalahari,,

A few more photos of our visitors that entertained us till sun down….

The Braai fire lit.. ready for our meal..(thank the Lord there is something to braai… my son is such an animal lover if the Lion had come passed he might have fed them our steaks.)

AND AS THE SUN SETS ON A PERFECT DAY… I LEAVE YOU TILL TOMORROW…

Kalahari Tented Camp…

This is what Wikitravel has to say about the camp…

• Kalahari Tented Camp

Situated up on a sand dune, overlooking a waterhole in the dry bed of the ancient Auob River, the Kalahari Tent Camp is a unique and novel way of staying over in the Kalahari. This camp has 15 desert tents with rustic finishes using wood, sand and canvas exteriors. The tent camp is 3 km from the Mata-Mata Rest Camp where Kalahari Tent Camp residents can refuel and get basic supplies at the shop.

This tented camp cost R690/ night and sleeps 4… that is about $ 86/ night… all you need bring is your food, drink and clothes everything else is supplied… this is a bargain in anyone’s language (£ 53 approx.)

But let me add a few things… this camp is not fenced, so a close encounter with the animals is possible. Lion do walk through the camps occasionally but as yet have eaten no one… the lion had passed our tent the morning we arrived, not 5 metres away… how I wish we had been there then…. Your vehicle is behind a fence so the Hyena do not chew on your tyres, which they’re adverse to, so the camp Manager told us… but when you sit on the stoep you have a 3ft. wall between you and the animals, this makes these tents a marvellous adventure….. The smaller tent is your kitchen.. fully kitted, also a gas fridge and stove and the lights are a battery operated 12 v. system…

 

There is even a small swimming pool where one can cool off during the day… If I had of known they would swim I’d have taken my costume.. no way Linda would have allowed me to skinny dip there with people like that around….

But we did have some visitors come to see how we had settled in…..