Tjololo 01st June 2000
Published by Wildcaster 1 year, 6 months ago Tags: adventure, africa, animal kingdom, conservation, documentary, education, experience, flickr, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, hunting, hyaenas, impala, kill, leopard, mala mala, narrowcasting, Open Content Alliance, peace parks, photos, predators, teach, wildcasting, wildlife, wildlife documentary.
1st June 2000
The boys are back on the block!
The afternoon started off interestingly with a showdown. An elephant in musth decided he had right of way in the road, and the thick bush prevented either of us from moving aside. Either he reversed or we did. With the engine off and filming he approached, a slow shuffle purposefully kicking up dust as he came. He picked up sand in his trunk and sprayed himself. I had thought of giving in, but thought the engine starting might alarm him. We sat tight. He kept coming with urine dripping continuously, emitting an overpowering smell. Next his trunk was sniffing the bull bar. He drew it in (I mean his trunk, luckily not the bull bar) and advanced still closer. Now his tusks were over the bonnet. (I had heard of someone having an elephant charge their vehicle and not being able to start it, used the elephant’s push to start and drove off. I had similar plans.) He stood there motionless for some time. We followed suit. Then he decided enough and backed off and started feeding not paying any attention to us as we started up and drove on by.
Back in the saddle with Tjololo is always a good thing and soon after dark we found him on patrol hurriedly marking as he went. Once he headed south away from the Kapen he slowed down. (presume he might have found evidence of another male in the area that was causing him to mark profusely).
Tjololo is looking really well and stomach as usual with a slight bulge. His fast gait and confident marking reinforced his proud ownership of this estate, which was of more interest to him than our return.
Seeing a genet in the road he gave chase but soon lost it. Now locked in to hunting mode he stalked some impala. But lost them too.
While casually continuing on through the bush he dashed ahead of us, leaving us to listen to the death cries of a Duiker he had surprised. A hyaena heard the cries too and Tjololo had to quickly tree the male duiker.
That kept him occupied for the rest of the night and we left him at dawn with a little carcass remaining and the hyaena still waiting.
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Beautiful Tjololo!
Kim, I want to bounce an idea by you. Bear with me.
My fiance has used programs like Aperture and Mpix to create exceptional promotional books for his conference appearances (he provides counter-sniper training to US troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan). You’re probably already familiar with programs like Mpix (and many more besides) but he gives high praise to its more versatile platform.
So I was wondering, and maybe some of your other visitors will chime in on this too, would it be possible (using a program like Mpix) for us to buy a book or blank note cards of these stunning photos?
You could create books of straight photography, or you could add your field notes and reflections. I think both would do really well. And it would give those of us that are thousands of miles away a chance to contribute something more than moral support to conservation efforts. At the very least we could help pay down the cost of storing video and image files.
It’s just a thought I had.
Yes I have been toying with these and other ideas. And thanks for keeping them current in my mind.
At the moment though I just don’t have the time for it. Already I have some 15,000 images since November last year that I need to sort through. And that’s besides making my films. I suppose the good thing is, at least I have the images. I can sort them when I have time.
Keep the ideas rolling. Thanks
Hi Kim, wow he still is looking beautiful and healthy as ever. It is hard to believe that he has continued on as if he will live for ever. All these years I have been following like a magnent hoping that he will never disapear. I wish I could come back and see him.
You are doing a great job of keeping us informed of his wearabouts. I too would like to see something like Kimberley has suggested. What a way in which we could help you keep your conservation work on going.
Keep the beautiful pictures and do think about that idea. I do understand sometimes there is just not enough hours in the day.
Keep doing the good work