The Mupanigawa pack shrinks.
In the afternoon the Alpha female was looking really weak. Skrik was frantically biting at branches and Hook was tormenting other pack members
We really didn’t have an option, and at sunset I made the very hard decision to put all 3 dogs down. It was hard and traumatic. The other pack members realised there was something wrong, but being their hunting time they headed off.
We had to burn the carcasses to prevent the disease spreading to other animals that might feed on them. It was all very grim indeed.
This morning picking up on the now 10 members left in the pack (we’ve already lost 10 dogs) they were well fed and resting up near Formadhunga.
The pack now only has 2 adults, the males Whisky and One-eye.
It looked like both might be showing symptoms of the disease. Whisky seemed very restless and One-eye was tormenting some of the pups.
Both these behaviours could be normal, but we’re so hyper sensitive to the rabies disease that we’re taking it to mean the worst. Not that we can do anything just yet.
Remembering Skrik:
Skrik was born on 19 May 2006, along with 5 brothers and sisters. She was no doubt the ugliest pup when I first saw her. All that white and her very podgy face.
But at 2 months old she already was the most pretty pup and full of character. Being so much more recognisable than the other pups ‘cos of her large white patches, I was able to follow her behaviours more closely than the others.
She was always ever so playful, often waking others for a game.
But it was her motherly instincts that were so cool. Whenever BB’s pups were left stranded out the den by the other pups, Skrik would diligently carry them, sometimes in very awkward positions, all the way back to the den.
It was obviously my hope that one day I could film her as the Alpha female of the Mupanigawa pack.
This picture has so much to say, but even without the bad weathering, I think there would need to be a lot of explaining.
That weird angular shape the elelphant is ontop of. All too strange for my mind to get around.
13th May 2000
A cold but very eventful and exciting night, ending in a showdown.
One that makes filmmaking such a thrill.
Early afternoon we braved Rocky crossing. First we had to remove a 6foot high wall of debris deposited by the floods. Then I took the plunge. The going was fine while on the rocks but as soon as I hit the sand I sunk in and that was it. The sand was very soft. With Dale on the firm rocks he managed to pull me out. Then taking a good run at it we were through. Once the initial pass through had been made it was easy.
This now means much shorter trips to get to Tjololo. The crossing had been inaccessible for 3 ½ months following the floods.
We thought Tjololo had headed in to Kruger last night but picked him up on his western boundary. Catching a brief glimpse of him in a donga, we then got stuck in the soft wet sand. The only way out was to deflate the tyres to half their pressure. That then meant driving around on flat tyres for the rest of the night, which doesn’t make it easy on the steering. Once out the donga we then got hitched up on a log. Again the jack came to the rescue. Did I say it was a good night? I suppose one has to have the bad to appreciate the good.
At last we were able to get to follow Tjololo. On the move, looking after his territory, he was beginning to look respectable again with a normal sized stomach.
Very much in tune with his environment he heard a movement. A snake. I thought they moved silently. Tjololo moved into some long grass and at first we just heard the deep hissing sound and then saw the 3m African Rock Python. Being cold it was fairly lethargic. Tjololo approached, he too hissing at the snake. Then he swatted the python, which lunged at him but he was quick to jump out of harms way. The confrontation went on for some 10 minutes with the python not appreciating a punch to the head. With neither opponent being harmed, Tjololo got bored with the game and moved on.
We lost him heading north in the Sand river and went ahead to intercept him. While waiting we heard him calling and another male leopard calling to the north.
The temperature had now dropped to 4 degrees celcius, adding a windchill factor on to this makes it about – 5 degrees. Somewhat chilly for Africa.
Several hours later Tjololo was on course arriving at our position. But he wasn’t on his own. The 2 male leopards were standing their ground growling at each other and scrape marking. Both moving parallel to each other along an invisible boundary, neither willing to challenge the other for extra territory, but just to hold on to what they already have. With heads arched and tense they drooled with tension. Trying to hold a pose they would roll around on the ground as if to say “you don’t scare me, look how relaxed I am”.
Having each asserted their dominance they slowly drifted apart back to home ground and time for us to move back to our territory.
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