Marvellous meerkats of Mata-Mata

Brace yourself to be welcomed suricate-style the next time you pitch camp at this ever-popular spot in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

- Ann and Steve Toon

You can’t visit the kitchen or the ablutions without tripping over them. They’ll scamper over your groundsheet, shade beneath your braai, dig manically for insects in the sand you’ve swept around your pitch, clamber about your furniture and feet, and forensically investigate your whole camping area like a team of over-zealous hotel inspectors. Say hello to your new neighbours, some of the most captivating camp residents you’re likely to meet in the whole of the SANParks network.

We first crossed paths with this marvellous mob around two years ago and were instantly smitten. Often unnoticed in those days, they would sneak between the riverbed where they spent their days and their occasional den in the camp, in an old ground squirrel burrow in a quiet corner near the Namibian border. Sometimes, perhaps to explore fresh feeding grounds for a change, they would disappear under the fence into the farmlands over the international border. No passports required.

Forever on the move, they foraged in the Auob riverbed beyond the camp fence in a loose group, keeping in contact with each other through constant vocalisations, the suricate version of social media. They were a much more cautious mob back then. It was noticeable how they would bunch up in a tight huddle when returning to overnight within the camp’s confines, checking carefully before crossing open spaces and then making a quick dash for it.

Chill factor