The shade was hardly the shade today. Well the term didn’t really mean that much as temperatures soared over 40 degrees Celcius in the shade. (104F)
Driving around in the midday heat in my open vehicle is hard to discribe. I don’t know of situation where the heat is so intense. It was like opening the oven door and being hit by that barrage of heat. Except this is continuous and sucks all the energy and moisture from ones body. Actually I just shouldn’t have been driving, as parked in the shade was a lot more comfortable.
Our little elephant herd was in very much the same place I’d left them last night. But they must have been to drink somewhere in this time as they couldn’t possibly survive without water in these temperatures. And again for most of the day they stayed in a small area feeding and resting all day.
The little calf just followed as he should. Life for him was no more than follow my leader. AND drink when he wants.
This little male calf is only about 2 weeks old and will probably become a key player in our elephant film. BUT HE NEEDS A NAME. So if you have any suggestions for names, please submit them under the “Recent Comments” tag.
While he was lying shaded up under his family I headed south to Hartebeest pan and sure enough some elephant bulls were making the most of the mud. They would leave the waterhole for about an hour, feed close by, then back for another cooling off session. Made sense to me but I just wasn’t prepared to go that far too keep cool.
Back with our elephant family at dusk and they headed east into the hills. I could only follow on foot, which I did at a distance as I wanted to see where they were headed. Sure enough they cooled off at the seep at Chimbiya (:map:). There wasn’t enough water for drinking and they continued east in the hills, leaving me to return to my vehicle and back to base.
We found the elephants early this morning, including the mother with her tiny calf. So we looked forward to a day with the herd.
By 8 am as temperatures again soared the herd had taken refuge in the shade of a huge Pod Mahogany. And the little guys took advantage of this to collapse and pass out.
Even a couple of subadults followed suit while the mothers stood around slowly waving their huge ears to keep cool and occasionally throwing cool dust over themselves. All of this they seemed to do in their sleep, sleeping standing up.
Midday came and went and they were still in the shade. Luckily I’d found myself some shade too. Eventually by 5pm I threw in the towel leaving the herd in the same place, and headed down to Banyini where this huge herd of buffalo were drinking.
Once they had left and with the sun almost on the horizon the Quelea flocks came pouring in for a last drink before moving off to roost in the reedbeds.
So what do I have to show for sitting it out in this summer heat all day? Well nothing from the elephants thank you.
But the golden sunset hour produced a great spectacle of buffalo and dust and the Quelea finished it off in a flurry of feathers. So in the end I was a happy camper.
Last night rains fell on the reserve but seem to have been rather scattered, and we’ll only see in a few days time if they will actually produce that much awaited green flush. But with temperatures soaring again tomorrow, this little moisture might just become atmospheric by day two.
No rain fell at Chiloveka dam which is now just a dried out pan guarding its small soft muddy centre where catfish/barbel struggle for an existance and have to contend with the resident fish eagle making its daily sorties threatening their survival even further.
But what a bargain to pick up on this small breeding herd of elephant. The little calf, only a couple of weeks old, was an absolute delight. The little fellow is so hairy too and has a small white moustache on the sides of his mouth. Oh so very cute! He kept me entertained for hours just being his tiny self.
And another tiny little fellow was this lion cub taking refuge in this thicket waiting patiently for mum to return.
The morning started excitedly with reports that our wild dogs were down at Nyari pan.
By the time I had got there they had moved off into the hills. But on chatting to the rangers, it appears it was the other pack of dogs. They also have 12 pups but these guys are all the same age.
Just down the way from Nyari pan piles of vultures were scrumming it over the remains of an impala carcass. A couple of Marabou Storks stood around like soldiers guarding the carcass, but they didn’t get anything for their services.
I was on a mission today to find the breeding herd of elephants. Sounds easy! Well they manage to hide day in and day out. I had those bulls at Hartebeest pan and then only late in the afternoon did I pick up a small breeding herd right up the top end of Malilangwe dam. By then it was too late to follow after them AND they were in Devils Jungle, which is just that!
This herd of Lichtensteins Hartebeest were down at Chiloveka dam drinking from a seep on the limestone. The country down there is so very dry and I often wonder how any animals manage to survive on that dead dry grass and trees with not even the slightest tinge of green.
I was so chuffed (happy) to see these Ground Hornbills again on Banyini. They seem to be hanging out here and are fairly relaxed. I’m sure these guys will soon be my stars for the Ground Hornbill film when I get working on that. I first need to habituate the birds that I can walk with them, which will allow me to get all those great camera angles. And the bargain with these birds is, they’re predatory and don’t fly off to kill something over there. They do it right infront of you on the ground!
Leaving the breeding herd of elephant near the dam, I saw this flock of Open-billed Storks all take off. I thought they were leaving to roost elsewhere. But they just seemed to be catching their sundowner thermal. Then suddenly some of them would twist and dive hundreds of feet before swooping up again. They really are incredible fliers and seemed to be having a real blast. And after about 10 minutes they all folded their wings into a dramatic dive, swooping from side to side and landed on the shores of Malilangwe dam.
Close to where the storks landed this buffalo bull was lying in the mud, probably having been there for several hours cooling off. These old bulls get their name from doing just that and always being covered in mud. Dagga Boys. (dagga means mud)
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