Khutse GR - Thunderstorms in the desert Day 1

Ominous signs with rain on the cards as we left. 

We'd planned to go the previous weekend but the rain forecast had us postponing the trip. In the end it didn't rain much and with more rain forecast for this weekend and the next we decided it was now or never. So with thunderstorms predicted on both Saturday and Sunday we packed the car on Thursday, took the Friday off and headed to Khutse, hoping we wouldn't get too wet on our long weekend.

A blue sky with wispy white clouds greeted us when we left just after 6am from Gabs, but by the time we reached the Khutse gate 4 hours later the sky was dark and full of rain clouds. We just hoped that the rain would hold off for as long as possible. 

Red-billed francolin. 

Payment made to the campsite guys and the wildlife ranger for park fees and we drove into a very green Kalahari park. The top waterhole had the usual game of ostriches, springbok and a big herd of gemsbok but we didn't want to hang around as wed been there the following day so after a quick tour through the campsites looking for tracks we carried on down the cutline and onto the road to Molose. 

The two small waterholes have turned in to one large waterhole. 

About an hour and a half later of uneventful driving we got to Molose and were excited to see about 40 white-backed vultures around the waterhole but it turned out that they were only there to drink and not because there was a kill. We saw a nice herd of gemsbok and good numbers of ostriches, with the resident herd of springbok at the now very full Molose waterhole. 

White-backed Vultures chilling at the water hole. 

Surprisingly there were only 3 elephants at the water when we arrived and even more surprising was that they ran off as soon as we got there - not the usual behavior we'd seen of the Khutse elephants. The last people to go into Khutse was 3 days ago, so for now we had the park to ourselves. 

Therefore it was a bit of a surprise when we arrived at Molose to see a police vehicle arrive moments later. We've never seen police out here and since it was not anti-poaching we were very curious to know what it was about. 

The 2 officers were friendly enough and after a quick chat and a vague answer about them patrolling they were off and we headed to our campsite for lunch.  Could there be a connection between the skittish elephants and the arrival of police vehicles? Very curious... 

Molose campsite #3, don't think the tree will last much longer. 

We had our lunch of sausage rolls and apple pies under the shade of the campsite tree before relaxing a bit in the heat of the day. The entertainment factor in the campsite were the caterpillars- thousands of them on the tree either busy eating the leaves or dropping onto the ground and then finding anything to climb for food, including us and our chairs. 

Caterpillars, the time of plenty in the Kalahari. 

But by 2 o'clock we could see the clouds starting to gather and we wanted to at least get some game drive time in before the storms arrived, so we headed to the waterhole. Most of the vultures had left by now but there were 4 Lappet-faced vultures still there, always a pleasure to see these endangered birds. Which clouds gathering all around we were happy to see the resident herd of springbok with their 2 new offspring as well as a couple of gemsbok around. 

Always good to see a Lappet Faced Vulture.

And then a nice herd of kudu arrived. They all seemed to be youngsters with no big males with them. They headed straight foe the salt lick and then slowly made their way to the water to drink, of course drinking in the worst spot for taking photos - typical. 

Kudu gather in surprisingly large herds in the Kalahari. 

But we did get a gemsbok come to drink in the perfect spot giving a nice reflection with the storm light showing him off beautifully. Even 3 elephants came to drink, possibly the ones that had run off earlier. But unlike we've seen before they just drank and then headed off, there was no loitering around the waterhole as we're used to them doing which was quite puzzling to us. 

Gemsbok with his waterhole buddy, a heron creating perfect reflections. 

A storm was brewing and it seemed inevitable it was going to hit us. Just as a herd of giraffe arrived and 1 of them came to drink, in the same poor position as the kudu so we couldn't really shoot him. He just finished and the heavens opened up so it was quickly get the cameras in and the windows up and ride out the storm. 

I

t lasted about half an hour before we could open the windows again but we could already see the next storm cloud approaching and it hit us soon after. With all the rain the animals had largely disappeared but we did see over a dozen lesser kestrels flying over the grasses looking for insects taking flight after the rains. 

A nasty storm clouds approaching the water hole. 

The storm passed but the clouds were still heavy and black and we decided while there was a break to head back to camp as the light was too poor to shoot anyway to get things sorted before the rains started again. Priorities were to get the tent up, showers done and the fire going and we did all of it pretty quickly without any rain. 

We even put up our temporary shelter but the rain held off until our cooking of the steaks and chicken wings were done. It started drizzling just as we were about to eat so Cheryl sat in the car and Dru stood under the shelter. 

Luckily the rain wasn't too hard and we were even able to do the dishes and pack up most of the camping gear, before getting into the tent. Only then did the rain get a bit heavier but by that time we were under the blankets and asleep.