Margot and Zara writing March 11

Kgalagadi: Lion having a rest!

Margot’s writing March 2011

24/03 Lions at Kalagati

Yesterday was our lucky game viewing day. We did see jumpy springboks and beautiful elegant gemsboks but I think you have already guessed what the highlight was …Lions. Our first sighting of them were OK because they were lying under a big tree in the shade. But the second time there was a big pot bellied female lying half in the shade of a beautiful acacia. She didn’t even open an eye to peep at us as she was in an extremely deep sleep. We drove up next to her and I took some cool pic’s. Earlier on, we also saw a cheetah but from kind of far. The lion is my first favourite type of wild cat and for my next life, I think I will be one.

28/03 Sand dunes at Sossusvlei

Last Saturday, mum woke us up very early. She carried us carefully into the car. Then we drove away in a cloud of dust. When we were half way there, I asked dad where we were going. He said we were going to a place called Sossusvlei (Which means the pan of Sossus), where there are tons of huge sand dunes. We scrambled up one of them to see the sunrise and had breakfast at the top with Cherrios and Pronutro. We watched the Ghekos and Toktokies scurry away along the sand for a long time. They made funny little track that made groovy patterns on the sand. Back at camp, we went to the museum (or what seems like one). It said that the sand that forms the sand dunes comes all the way from the brutal strong Orange River, then thrown into the sea and then brought inland by the freezing Benguela current. It is then blown onto the land by strong sea winds. The sand from those sand dunes isn’t any type of sand you find at the beach, it varies from bright red to soft orange. The next day I was really happy to have a nice big sleep-in!

2/04 The Cheetah Chase

Yesterday, we were driving along in Ethosha Game Reserve when we saw some people had stopped. So we drove up next to them and we saw a cheetah in the long grass. The cheetah was walking away from us so we continued down the road until we found an off-road. We eventually found the cheetah again on a small ridge. The road went over the ridge and on the opposite side of the cheetah was a big herd of springboks. They hadn’t seen her yet and were lying down. The cheetah was stalking them and you could tell because she was crouching down behind a small shrub. Every now and then, she would move closer to the springboks. We all said that she was going to go for the little one lying down on our side of the little dry river bed. She kept crawling closer and closer, and when she reached the bottom of the ridge, she started jogging across the short grass. The little springbok only realized this only when the cheetah was half way across the road. Then, the cheetah bolted for the springbok. The frightened springbok got up and ran. He made a few sharp turns as if to get away from the cheetah but she kept right on his tail. Then the cheetah did a mighty pounce and jumped on the poor springbok. It took only 10 seconds for her to catch that springbok but if she had got her tactic wrong, she wouldn’t have had dinner for the whole day or even the whole week! We listened in silence to the gurgling noises of the dying springbok. All the others hadn’t a clue what had happened and moved closer for a better look. They got such a fright when they saw a cheetah suckling their best friend’s blood! We learnt a lot from that day: that the cheetah hunts with the wind in her face, the jacals are the first to the kill, the cheetah strangles its prey and lots of other things like that. I would love to have a pet cheetah to race my two cats Shaka and Hetfield.

Zara’s writing March-April

2011 20/03

Diamonds, diamonds in the earth, they are sold a thousand worth,

Some for rich men some for the stream,

Some for the queen who has a sparkle in her dream. Zara Inglis

24/03 Zara wrote this story in the Kgalagati Transfrontier Park (Kalahari)

Funny Mates!

We arrived at Nossob campsite on Wednesday. It was very late so we just had a pizza for dinner. The next morning we woke up and saw ten ground squirrels rushing to find food (Zara checked the spelling of squirrels in the dictionary by herself). When we saw nuts on the table, we rushed out of the tent and each grabbed a handfull of nuts and walked slowly towards them and threw a few nuts to them. They ate all the nuts and ran towards us. I had an idea: I put a nut on the ground. A squirrel ran to the nut and picked it up with his two paws and ate it. While he was eating, I put my hand on his back. He was so fritend (frightened). He ran away with his nut. His furr was very ruff and the tail was soft. When we had finished, we went for a game drive and saw lots of things.

28/03 We woke up at 5:30am to walk up a dune for sunrise. The dunes are very orange. We ran back to the car and went back to our tents. We went to the restarant (restaurant) and saw a piece of paper that said: “the sand of these sand dunes come from the rough and tough Orange River, then in the calm Atlantic and blown out with the stormy wind and shaped like they are”.

2/04 Cheetah Chase

We woke up as early as usual to go for a game drive. It wasn’t what we expected it to be. First we saw springboks and zebras. We drove on and saw a baby gnu. For the last ten minutes we saw nothing. We saw a car that had stopped. Then , we saw the fastest, spotyiest (spottiest) cheetah. We kept following it. We saw it going over a small ridge. We went around on a small road and over the ridge. Then, we saw it properly (properly). There was a herd of springboks so he stayd (stayed) right down. He went closer and closer to the road. Then he sprinted whith (with) all the springboks seeing him. It was spectacular! When he sprang up on the springbok and strangled it then the springbok gave up and died. We watched a bit and then we went back home. It is said that “the stronger you are and the faster you go, the more food you get”. Namibian dolls

School at Manutoni camp, Ethosha, Namibia