Wildcast

Floppy continued to rule the roost today and seemed very happy with himself too. Although I wasn’t that happy as I didn’t get to shoot much at the den.

All the wild dogs were well fed, even the pups, although they just had to keep begging for more to see how far they could stretch those tummies before they burst!

It’s also interesting now to watch the alpha pups. Being so full at times they look like they might regurgitate for BB’s pups. BB’s pups often seem to push them to do it but the alpha pups might be too young to be able to physically do this.

Bandama pan was fairly quiet this morning with a few zebra and impala making their way down to drink in the mid-morning.On the way down there a herd of about 200 Cape Buffalo crossed our path. They didn’t seem too impressed and gave us that look!

By midday Chekwa was the place I wanted to be. Several elephant bulls had pulled in for a drink and to cool off in the mud. They obviously had time on their hands and while some just stood around quietly with their trunks dangling listlessly in the dirt, others were sparring.

I haven’t got to recognise these individual animals, but I always find elephants fascinating to watch. Even the big bulls are always up to something and the subtleties in their body language sorting themselves out in the ranks are interesting to watch. There is always one who dominates all and he just has to sidle over to another bull and it moves out the way to avoid confrontation. It’s just the younger guys who are always testing their strength in a playful manner sparring with each other.

With all the mud bathing, drinking and sparring there’s always lots going on and I tend to get carried away shooting and shooting all the time. I always have this urge to document everything I see in whatever format I can be it a photograph or video footage. Unfortunately my writing about it just wouldn’t do it justice. The pictures tell the real story and I try and fill in the gaps.

At the moment to make my days more productive I’m working with the wild dogs in the morning and evening and the rest of the day I try and spend with the elephants. They will be the project I move on to when the wild dogs have finished denning and move on travelling far and wide.

But I don’t expect to get much else than waterhole stuff with the elephants at the moment as the time of day that I’m working with them is when they’re congregating at waterholes.

Albizia versicolor - Poison-pod Albizia heavy in seed. The pods and to a lesser extent the seeds of this tree are toxic to cattle and sheep, and they die rapidly.