Kalahari Meerkat

The first time I ever “met” a Meerkat was in Kenya in ‘79, while I was standing on a rocky bluff observing a huge crocodile basking in the sun on the bank of jungle tributary of some size. The Meerkat appeared seemingly out of nowhere and quietly joined me in my vigil. I made the mistake of offering him a cracker, which he politely took from my hand. Within about three minutes I had about 200 Meerkats that surfaced from their crevice abodes to gather around me, silently waiting for crackers. What an experience. If I had had enough crackers, I could have been elected as Mayor of ‘Kattown.

Fast forward to 2017, I ran across a much smaller and shyer colony of Meerkats on the northern fringe of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. This time I had to sit down and patiently wait for the Papa Meerkat to size me up and gather enough trust to come out of his burrow. It took patience and no quick movements on my part, but he eventually posed for some camera shots, upon which I based this 2022 painting.