Well we slept until 0630 - had a great nights sleep but missed the meteor shower. After the long walk walk to the very outside loo I made a coffee, albeit the cafetière under plunger pressure shot a lot of it out all over me and the nice Tswalu white dressing gown! Liam arrived at 8 am with some much welcome porridge which we ate before setting off for the pans in the extreme west. A cold front is definitely approaching the cape because it was a cooler day and the winds were very strong - whipping up the sand into dust storms - particularly by the second pan we went to which prevented us setting up for lunch instead we found a warm sheltered spot in the bushes.
Plenty of birds and antelope this morning - new birds included the red headed finch, burchells sandgrouse, red billed quelia, unusually we saw 8 kori bustards flying, an early barn swallow returning from Europe and the red crested khoraan calling in response to the black khoraan who was doing his aerial display in the hope of attracting a mate.
We returned to camp around 1330 for a much needed relax and shower - washing away the sand/suncream exfoliator we had on our skin thanks to the wind!
At 4pm we headed out again not knowing we would have an extravaganza of rare glimpses - first was a wild cat - which we tracked to find bushes but as it bounded past us photos were impossible, after a long search by all the guides and trackers we finally walked with a very obliging pangolin - we passed an aardvark feeding enroute - but as the sun was setting we only had time for one and the pangolin won! It was great to see a pangolin in 'full flight' feeding and undeterred by humans - I even saw it catching a termite with its long pink tongue extended ( today's photo) - watching it walking was an education - encased in its armour shell it hunches up and walks on its two back legs, it is bipedal, while carrying its smaller front legs with long claws close to its body - no doubt this approach protects the claws which it needs for digging. As it was almost dark we didn't bother with sundowners but had a night drive back - we saw bat eared foxes and the final part of the extravaganza ran in front of the jeep - an aardwolf - although it looks hyena shaped its distinctive stripes quickly identified it!
What a day - we went immediately to the boma for a lovely dinner kept warm by braziers which surrounded us.