Daily Archive for March 6th, 2007

Black Rhino Charge: Video

Published
by
Wildcaster
on March 6, 2007
in videopost
. 26 Comments

I’m back in the saddle and finished off the day with a charge from one of my favourite animals.
I was out the car taking photos of this “mass grave” of armoured crickets when not even 20 meters I suddenly heard some black rhino wallowing in the pan, hidden by the long grass. They hadn’t heard me because of the din being caused by all the Quelea roosting in surrounding trees.

Mass grave
Eventually the rhino got my scent and I saw 3 of them taking off into the thick undergrowth.
I got in the vehicle to drive on to the next pan when another black rhino appeared. She wasn’t running away, but came charging straight for me. In a flash I was up behind the camera, but missed the first charge only to get her standing in her own cloud of dust.
Then she ran off a short distance and circled back for another charge. Then another and another. What was her problem? Was she having a bad day and just wanted to sort me out?

Charge!
She had no reason to keep coming back, but in typical black rhino fashion they must repeatedly charge anything they’re not sure of. Most animals would run away, but not a black rhino. They are pumped with aggression! So cool!
Having just got back from my time off in South Africa where at times my adrenalin ran high being stuck in traffic jams and surrounded by so many people, it was a relief to be back in the bush. I was back in surroundings that I feel so comfortable in that a black rhino charge doesn’t even get the adrenalin going.

It really is just a fear of the unknown. Most people would be terrified of a black rhino charge, just as I’m terrified when stuck in a big city.

Young blood
Earlier in the day I went to check on the lions. 10 members of the Nduna pride were lying up south of the airstrip and all looking in good shape.

Pretty boy
And just when I thought I knew lions, of course expecting them to stay resting until after sunset, they were suddenly on the move a couple of hours before sunset. They headed south to drink and then for over an hour they kept moving until I had to leave them in dense bush.

Heading out
After sunset I found them again much further south and still on the move. Where are they heading? To look for the missing pride members?
I’ll be checking up on them tomorrow.

Traffic

Mabhakweni No.10

Published
by
Wildcaster
on March 6, 2007
in bushmen
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bushmanlogo.jpg

Mabhakweni 1A

This whole scene is comprised of wild animals and people, except for these 2 images almost in the centre of all the drawings.

Surely this is a domestic cow, although it could possibly be a wildebeest. But the image below this is open to much speculation. Is it a domestic pig? But it has a long tail with a tuft on the end like a lion. But maybe it looks more like a dog or jackal. Whatever it may be, it seems to have been painted at the same time as the cow.

IMG_7257

Tjololo 5th March 2000

Published
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Wildcaster
on March 6, 2007
in tjdiaries
. 1 Comment

The Tjololo Diaries

5th March 2000
A happy day. Not only is it my mother’s birthday but we found Tjellers. She’s looking very well and was marking territory. Were hoping she would have had cubs by now but she’s not showing any signs. We last had her mating over 3 months ago (that’s the gestation period), but alas she is now probably getting too old to have another litter. We soon lost Tjellers as she headed off into the wetlands. Now our common dilemma.


The evening didn’t provide much else and still the search for Tjololo goes on.
On the way back to camp while following some impala in the road a leopard, possibly the Newington female, darted out the bushes in front of us, but the impala were too quick and got away.