"Kirsty" had a fabulous birthday!

Me at sundowners on Tau Pan

Kristy is not a common name in Southern Africa so much of the time I’m in this region of the world, I’m “Kirsty” not “Kristy”. I used to try to correct the error but have pretty much given up and now I just embrace the variation of my name as symbolic of the different life I live while I’m here. 

For my birthday this year we celebrated by going to Tau Pan Lodge. Tau Pan is one of our favorite places in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). A decade ago we camped there, when there used to be a campsite before there was a lodge, and I fell in love with the place.

The lodge is beautifully situated on the rise of a wooded dune overlooking the pan. We were put in the “family suite” so a couple of you could have joined us for the outing (wouldn’t that have been fun?). Since we have our own vehicle each day started with a quick breakfast before we departed for the day with our packed lunch. We’d venture out in varying directions, one day out to Passarge Pan, another to Letiahau watering hole.

The guest room, want to join?

View of the pan from our front porch

The CKGR is full of interesting sites. One can see gemsbok, secretary birds, bat-eared fox, and even red hartebeest. One afternoon as we’re searching for a place to have lunch we drive down a dirt path to a vacant camp site. It’s late morning and while we initially think it might be nice to be under the big tree in the campsite, when we get out of the car, it’s a bit cool and we reconsider. Perhaps we’ll go out in a sunny spot on the edge of a pan to have lunch. 

Gemsbok (with a young, light brown, one)

Secretary bird (named for the feathers on its head that look like pencils)

Bat-eared Fox

Bat-eared Fox looking for bugs for dinner

Red Hartebeests

Coming back down the dirt path, just ten feet or so off in the bush, there are a pair of mating lions. We completely missed them on the way in! We stay and watch them for a while. Lions mate for about four or five days. They go without food or water and engage in the activity every ten minutes or so. The male looks quite satisfied with his conquest and even propped his head on a branch to rest between interludes. Hopefully this video works so you can hear as well as see.

Paul enjoying sundowners

These weren’t the only lions we saw on the trip. On my birthday, coming back after enjoying our sundowners on the pan, we try to track down the lions we’ve been hearing each night. The first day we arrive after sundowners, we go looking for the lions the camp staff tell us our in the area. When we return to camp, having not seen them, we are told by the staff that they have just come right through camp. When we go to our chalet we see a path coming and going of fresh lion foot prints about a yard from the stairs leading up to our porch. Ugh! Just missed them. 

On my birthday, just about the time we give up on finding them, right in the road, we see a large male with his belly full from a recent kill. He looks at us nonchalantly, gives me a birthday wink, and slowly gets up to cross in front of us and head down to the watering hole. I say to Paul, “Wouldn’t it be nice if he roared for my birthday?” And he does. Stunning. 

Male lion in the road with a full belly

Birthday wink

 When we return to the lodge we join the other guests and are entertained by singing and dancing. We enjoy a tasty buffet and when we finish eating, the singing and dancing begins again but this time in honor of my birthday, or should I say “Kirsty’s” birthday. We danced, we ate cake, we were serenaded by lions all night. In short, Kirsty had a fabulous birthday!

My birthday cake (note the spelling)