Early this morning the game scouts reported seeing the wild dogs near Matsanga pan. I haven’t seen them for about a month now and so was keen to see how they were doing.
I headed out there to find them resting in a shady thicket and no doubt they were going to spend the day there.
I had to let them be, frustrated at not being able to do a head count in that thicket. So right now I still don’t know what the status of the pack is. The few individuals that came out to drink at the pan while I was there, looked to be in good shape and well fed.
Moving on right across the reserve to the east I found Mandlovu and her herd near Nyamsaan. They were feeding heading north and went to drink at Mapanzani weir.
It was quite funny to watch them leaving the weir and climbing over the short wall. They really didn’t have to climb over it but seemed to be enjoying themselves on this obstacle course. The simple pleasures of elephant life.
For the whole afternoon that I was with them there was still no sign of the bigger herd, although I did later find tracks further to the west.
I wasn’t even able to follow up on the lions. But for now I’ll be concentrating my efforts with the elephant herds.
It could be these hunters are running after the Gemsbok to the right of this big beast. (Which I’m presuming was painted at a later stage.)
This hunter is carrying his handfull of arrows. But also note the strange thing he has around his neck. What could that be?
Again the detail in this image is truly amazing. It’s not easy painting on rough surfaces!
7th March 2000
Gloria has arrived and definitely nothing glorious about her. The rains picked up soon after dark but were very erratic. One minute the stars are all out and the next it’s raining and then a while later the stars are out again. Clouds were moving very fast bringing squalls of rain with them. We crossed back west of the Sand river in case we got stranded. Then when it started raining heavily around 3.00 am we decided to race back to camp for fear of all the other little rivers cutting us off from base.
It was a long day with us out all day working on the repeater and only getting back to camp around 5.00 pm and then out again after a shower and food.
We were at least rewarded with finding 3 cheetah after dark near the Mala Mala airstrip. The rain soon had us moving off and leaving them.
Didn’t even get a chance to try and follow up on Tjololo.
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