This scene with the lioness tormenting the wildebeest was the same day the rest of the pride were still busy feeding on the buffalo kill and making sure not a single tiny titbit was lost to the vultures.
So yes I didn’t film anything today. Camera didn’t even come out the box, that is my video camera. But I did manage to snap away a few photos on my travels.
There were still a few vultures hanging around Banyini in the area of the buffalo kill even though there really was nothing to peck at.
I was looking for Mandlovu who still seems to be stuck up there in the north east. I wish they would learn that if they want to be movie stars they have to move out of that terrible country.
And I’m sure the lions are still sleeping off their buffalo kill. So no action there.
There were a couple of elephant bulls near Nyari pan who I followed for a while but thankfully for a change they didn’t smash over any trees, although that is what I was wanting to film.
19th August 2000
It was one of those days when I just wished Tjololo would have an off night and sleep all the way. But there was to be none of that.
Having driven some 700kms back from Johannesburg and on to the base computer to redirect the signal there I only got to camp just after sunset. A quick supper and out on the trail of Tjololo.
He was already on the move when we found him. He headed south through a burnt area and continued south west hunting. After a couple of attempts on kudu and impala he eventually rested up around 4h00. At last time to nap, but it was short lived when 2 hyaenas chased him off. We soldiered on after him as I kept nodding off behind the wheel and crashing over small trees. At one stage Richard shouted at me to stop as I was about to drive over Tjololo. I’d fallen asleep again. Tjololo would have moved out the way anyway.
Tjololo lay up again around 5h00 for a short while but when he moved on again my eyelids just weren’t going to open, let alone any co-ordination from the rest of the body, and we scored about an hours rest.
About 30% of Tjololo’s territory has been burnt under a controlled burning programme. Fire has always been a part of the African bush and with areas now being managed, man tries to copy the fire burning frequency of the past. It is very seldom in these fires that many of the larger animals get burnt. Of the smaller animals some have even adapted to fire knowing how and where to take refuge from it.
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