The Nduna pride have been at it again. They must have killed big last night as they waddled around with veins stretched across taught bellies.
I found them in the Brachystegia woodlands and followed them up into the hills.
Oh yes, they were covered in flies as usual. Golly they must really stink!
I searched for Mandlovu in the area but no sign. Now I’m not sure where they could have moved to.
On to Lojaan dam a small group of elephant were leaving just as I arrived. They’d obviously had some serious fun at the mud wallow judging by the chaotic mess of mud in the area. I left the area as they moved on up into the hills.
After sunset we were up at Khayeni open area where we’d put out a bait to attract hyaenas. The mission was to try and dart a couple of hyaenas I’d seen with wire snares around their necks. 5 Hyaena arrived on the scene but were nervous to help themselves to the bait. We drove around them but luckily none of them had snares. We waited on hoping the rest of the clan would arrive, but we really needed these guys to feed and squabble/giggle over the bait. This would surely bring in the rest of the pack. Alas no such luck and we left empty handed with the hyaenas lying around staring at the bait.
20th August 2000
We had an interesting night but I’m sure Tjololo didn’t think much of it.
At dusk he went hunting in a burnt area but there was no game there as the grass hasn’t flushed green yet and there’s nothing for them to feed. It should flush in the next couple of days.
Resting up again in an unburned area he was soon harassed by 5 hyaenas and had to take refuge in a tree. Not even 5 minutes later the hyaenas were mobbing a lone lioness that had been attracted to the disturbance. She didn’t think much of them and lay up near Tjololo’s tree without knowing him to be there. Some 20 minutes later when he moved, having been motionless all the time trying to conceal himself, she noticed him and moved up to the tree sniffed around and lay up about 20m off.
Leopard and lion slept for a couple of hours. Tjololo was hungry and keen to get on hunting. He gingerly left the tree and on hitting the ground sprinted away in the opposite direction to the lioness. She just lay there and watched him disappear.
Tjololo moved on quickly north probably thinking the lioness to be following. A hunting attempt on some impala was unsuccessful. But about 3 kms from where he’d left the lioness he surprised a young kudu and killed it, wasting no time to feed as it was too big for him to tree.
About half an hour later the lioness arrived, Tjololo moving off on hearing her approach. She fed and rested up with the carcass. Tjololo hung around the area. We got some good rest too.
Just before daybreak the hyaenas arrived. Only 2 of them at first and they’d met a tougher adversary than Tjololo. The lioness kept them at bay while they began their war cry. With the intensity of whooping and laughing hyaenas growing they hoped to intimidate the lioness to back off. She hung in there and next the 2 hyaenas were feeding on the one end of the carcass and the lioness on the other. But when the rest of the gang arrived the lioness had to back off and left. It wasn’t long before the 5 thugs had polished off the carcass.
Tjololo left the area when the hyaenas arrived. We found him having moved all the way back west into the Sand river. His ordeal wasn’t over yet. Next his neighbour from the west was calling on the opposite bank. They called back and forth at each as they drifted apart, one upstream and the other downstream.
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