Things can get a bit surreal in the desert where heat does strange things to the horizon. As the road snaked along into the distance the shimmer of water appeared and objects elongated and floated weirdly into the sky. A band of small people appeared to be scurrying along, stopping to check the surroundings and then bounding off. Imagine our surprise as we got closer to discover a clan of suricates (Suricata suricatta) or meerkat instead of the illusion of giants striding across the sands. Living in burrows they are well adapted to coping with the desert heat and a network of underground living quarters has many different entrances. Pouff! And they vanished just as strangely as they had materialised out of the mirage. As we travelled the land caught us in it’s spell of wonder. Next up is Sossusvlei and those awesome orange sand dunes.
Nature on the Edge 
They’re such hilarious creatures! I really enjoyed your photos of seeing them in the wild – how wonderful!
They’re wonderfully characterful, but also so watchful and alert to predators lurking.
This must be a magical trip! How wonderful to see the meerkats in their own habitat. And I love your description of them materializing out of nowhere – first thinking they were little people.
This landscape is full of weird and wonderful formations and unexpected surprises
They do look like little alien people… maybe they are? 😉
Right the mirages are full of mystery – who knows?!
Surreal.
What a fabulous experience, and you really captured that alert meerkat presence. I watched a group of them in an open compound in a zoo in Australia once. I noticed that they were all running around playing except one – it was so clear that that one was on lookout duty, no doubt to warn of any approaching danger. When a plane went by everyone of then stopped and looked up. It was quite comical.
Alison
That sentry duty is so all-important and guessing that raptors would prey on them, but amusing that planes could be perceived as a possible air threat.
It is surreal indeed
Delightedly 🙂