Camping at Mountain Zebra

 Wednesday 10/11/21

The sentry on our early morning hike

Yesterday, with the promise of better weather, we vacated our cosy chalet with it's fireplace and headed to the campsite.  After much deliberation, we picked what we hoped was the best spot and pitched out tent.  Now that we have had some practice, we managed to get it erected with the minimum of fuss, in fact I think we pitched it in less time than we took to pick the site!

We took a drive around the Kranskop loop and, although there was very little game on view, the spectacular scenery more than made up for it.  The road winds along the valley before rising steeply up the mountainside, offering the most incredible vistas along the way. Unfortunately the camera doesn't do it justice, in reality it takes the breath away.

It was rather chilly overnight and the tent was covered with dew this morning - luckily it all stayed outside.  To warm up, we went for a hike along the Black Eagle trail which starts at the camp swimming pool and rises quickly onto the steep rock cliffs above the camp. We interrupted a troop of baboons' early morning grooming session but they seemed more intent on warming up in the sun so weren't really bothered with us walking close to them.

Early morning grooming session to welcome the new day

Stunning Pale Chanting Goshawk

Ground squirrel warming up his significant 'package'

It was fascinating to watch this bat-eared fox zoning in on it's prey with it's enormous ears, then
pouncing, digging and eating some hidden treasure. 

A lovely drive later in the day yielded some special sightings of ground squirrels and two bat-eared foxes going about their daily hunt which was fun to watch. By the time we got back to the camp the expected heat had arrived and we spent the afternoon relaxing in the shade watching camp life.

Bonus pic:

Nature calls, even in nature...