Elephant boys go mud!: Video

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)