Khayeni had obviously gone walk about last night after we had left her because this evening I found her resting way down to the south west of Khayeni.
With a new moon in the sky, she only got active after it had sunk below the horizon. I’m not sure if this was her intention so she could be sure to hunt at the darkest time of night.
She hunted north into the open and was successful in bringing down a young female impala. She fed, but not the little snack she usually has. This time she pigged out on the impala and almost had a stomach the size of a hyaena’s. Now that says something.
Initially she dragged the carcass about 50m and fed. But having finished she didn’t both to conceal it in any way and left it just where it was. She moved about 300m away to rest.
Just before dawn she fed again, still leaving the carcass in the same place and rested up in the thickets.
We left her and went towards Nhoro pan where hyaenas had been calling for a while, as I’m still hoping to find their den. We waited for the next call and homed in on it. No joy. Homed in on the next one, and next and next and the only hyaena we found was at the pan.
As daylight cast itself over us the hyaenas went quiet.
I took a casual drive down the Chiredzi River just hoping to find something different.
Then to Hwata and Banyini pans but still being relatively early, it was quiet except for the usual plains game on Banyini.
At dusk Khayeni was close to where she had her second-last kill, in the tree, but it wasn’t there. There were vultures in the trees around and several hyaenas were feeding on the remains of it. Yes you wonder how they fit it in and even fight over it, when only hours before they had finished a whole zebra stallion.
I don’t know how the hyaenas got the carcass. Did Khayeni drop it by mistake while feeding or did the vultures get to it and it drop while they were feeding?
With Khayeni well fed after 2 busy days we left her for the night to head south after other possible action.
Eventually we picked up the Nduna pride near Chipinyuluzi pan on the move north. They moved in their normal fits and starts. But then sleep overcame us and we lost them as they snuck away from one of their little resting periods.
In the cold we moved up to Bandama pan hoping they might come out there, and spent the rest of the night at the pan.
Dawn saw us in search again for the lions. They had moved a long way north and were still on the move when we got to them. But shortly afterwards they passed out.
While we waited with them a herd of zebra, moving in single file, were headed slap bang into the pride. The lions all froze in their ready to pounce positions. But then the stallion, who was leading, sensed something. He might have seen the lions but just wasn’t sure. Without an alarm snort, he slowly diverted this herd to the west and they moved on still not aware that they had averted danger.
And damn! No kill for me!
It’s not that I want to see the poor zebra die, but I’m always hungry for action! And if the zebra got away having given the lions a good few body blow kicks, then that would have been even better.
17th July 2000
Tjololo was in his rather nondiscript mode as he headed southeast again. Strangely he followed the same route as last night when Masuli sent him packing. Although he was confident in himself marking everywhere, he didn’t call while in the area.
Soon after midnight he disappeared into the Paradise Valley donga systems and only emerged when the sun was up to continue moving south.
It was comforting to leave Tjololo in good spirits and healthy until we return to follow him on his daily rounds again on the 4th of August.
Khayeni, the ultimate killing machine!
Khayeni was resting up near her kill in the tree at dusk. When it got dark she moved west without feeding. Were the hyaenas at the base of the tree a hassle for her?
She moved to Khayeni pan but more there were more hyaenas there. She detoured again but now she was on the trail of impala and in the thickest of thickets she killed a young male. As usual she fed from the backside first, then the stomach and went and lay up close by.
As usual the hyaenas arrived a short while later and that was the end of that impala.
Back at Khayeni pan we found a zebra stallion with a broken back foot just above the hoof. He also had scars all over his body. This was probably the result of fighting with another stallion.
He was still in good shape, but probably as it was a new injury. Being a survivor he kept feeding as he hobbled from grass tuft to grass tuft.
When we arrived, hyaenas were already on the scene just lying about waiting. A couple of times one would go up the zebra but back off pretty quickly whenever the stallion made the slightest advance. They know to keep clear of that jaw and those lethal back hooves.
It was only several hours later that the hyaenas got together as a team and advanced on the zebra. He lunged and kicked at them from all sides but it was too much and he hobbled off.
The hyaenas kept up their advance and being run down the zebra was soon exhausted. As a team they bit into his flank and he sank to the ground. But he wasn’t out.
The hyaenas fed from his flank and rump and then from somewhere the stallion gathered all his energy and fought back, biting and kicking and running off.
Again they pulled him down and again he got up. He managed this several times until the loss of blood and trauma were too much.
13 hyaenas feasted on his body for the rest of the night leaving little more than a bloodstain on the grass.
As brutal as it may look the hyaenas still killed quicker than lions strangling a zebra.
It’s hard to imagine the zebra would have survived with his injury and one can only think the hyaenas put him out of a long suffering.
At the kill was this hyaena with a really bad snare wound. Hyaenas are one of the only animals that can survive being caught in a poacher’s wire snare ‘cos they have such strong necks. The snare on this one has cut in deep and we hope to remove it soon. With the Chiredzi river being one of our boundaries, hyaenas can freely cross to the other side and this is where they are picking up these snares. The good news is that more control is currently being administered in that area.
16th July 2000
Back on line ofcourse means a happy me!
With snow having fallen all around the country the big freeze eventually hit us last night and by dawn Tjololo was sleeping all curled up in the frost covered grass on the banks of the Sand river.
He had been on the move all night. Another tiring one but good to have him on the move as then there’s always some potential for filming and taking photos.
Marking in the northern areas of his territory he then headed southeast. Just south of the Rockdrift donga he was resting after hunting a steenbok. Suddenly he took off south as we heard a male leopard calling to the north. Presumably this was Masuli. His call seemed to strike fear into Tjololo as he trotted south until he reached the Charleston/Flockfield boundary where he rested and started calling back. A while later he headed a little west and then north continuing all the way back north of the Kapen to where he started the evening. No more sign of Masuli.
Here he was hunting impala, but with the moon full his cover was soon blown. I then got a desperate call on the radio from Dale, “I’m diep in the k-k.” He sure was in trouble. We arrived on the scene and all we could see at first was a back wheel a couple of meters in the air. Slowly we could make out the rest of his vehicle. His one front wheel had fallen into a very deep gully tipping the whole vehicle on the verge of rolling. As I tied a chain to it it teetered on the edge of the gully. Dale was clinging onto his door trying to keep his weight on that side as a counter balance. Luckily with the chain it was an easy matter to sort out and he was soon back on level ground.
Khayeni started her evening off with hors-d’oeuvres killing and eating 6 mice in half an hour. At that rate she could subsist on mice alone! That’s if there were enough mice, which this year there seem to be.
Then I had some friends who joined me for the night hunting with Khayeni. She first took us through some of her hide-outs which I really don’t care much for. That thick bush not only takes its toll on the vehicles but on us too. Anyway we all survived, yet again. So actually it really can’t be that bad.
Khayeni homed in on a herd of impala and timed it perfectly. She saw the direction they were moving and quickly got in to place to intercept them. When they were just about all on top of her she sprang loose and caught a young female.
My friends had hit the jackpot to see this on their first night out. And of course Khayeni hit the jackpot too. But it was too much for her. After feeding she moved off, as the carcass was too large for her to move.
It was like clockwork. Not even half an hour later 2 young hyaenas arrived and took over the carcass, Khayeni not making an appearance, although she was lying up close by.
These little chaps were already well fed and really just pulled and played with the carcass.
Later in the evening Khayeni was able to steal her kill back and now much lighter was able to tree it.
The hyaena cubs returned and appeared baffled that their prize was now out of reach. Chewing on the tree bark in their frustration didn’t help either.
We left the area at dawn and I moved down to Banyini where a lioness was frantically searching for the rest of her pride moving to and fro trying to sniff out where they might have gone. Not having any joy she gave up her pride and resorted to calling. Another lion responded to the east but she wasn’t interested and walked away in the opposite direction. Then suddenly from behind, she was joined by another lioness. Both happy to be reunited they moved off west into the mopanie to rest up.
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