Botswana Meerkats
Good Morning Meerkats!
Meerkats are part of the mongoose family
Meerkat cuteness overload
It's 430 am, when the alarm clock rings. The last 35 to 40 hours of traveling have been arduous but worth the journey.
Although I did not sleep well, I know we are all excited for the day ahead. Today we meet with my kindred spirited sun worshipers, the meerkat.
The meerkats near our Boabab huts in Botswana are early risers. They crawl out of their protective burrows to warm up in the sun by standing up tall facing it. Once they have warmed up, they spend the day sunbathing and digging for food.
There is a family of them about an hour and a half drive away, so we have to rise early, have breakfast and head out to get to them when the sun rises.
As long as someone is there when the come out they have become accepting of people.
On our way we saw a lot of interesting birds, cattle, donkeys, some horses and very tall ostriches, along with elephant poop, but no elephants.
As soon as we arrived I knew we were all going to smile, laugh a lot and learn about these most adorable members if the mongoose family.
They are so social, adorable and quite entertaining. We were surrounded by active adults and hungry pups as young as 7 weeks old.
While some adults forge for food, young ones follow constantly calling out to be fed. Meanwhile, other adults stand tall, keeping watch for predators.
We were not allowed to reach out and touch them, but if we sat by a borrow, we could let them come to us.
And come they did! They liked to crawl up and sit on your shoulder or head as this gave them a higher view of what's out there. Sometimes there would be an entire family crawling around someone.
They were constantly on the move. Checking out an area in search of food and moving on to the next location. I watched one dig out a grub and feed it to a very happy pup, which is something all adults share the responsibly of doing.
They are smart, social and very family oriented. Seeing a family of meerkat hugging seemed so precious, and watching them crawl on and around us will be for ever treasured.
