When I’ve been away a while I like to travel around the reserve checking on the different pans, waterholes and changing vegetation just to get myself back in the swing of things.
Hwata pan was quiet at dawn and later this herd of buffalo came to drink at Banyini before stampeding back into the mopanie.
Midday heat and several elephant herds were in full swing wallowing at Lojaan dam.
Mandlovu was there too with the family. And Chipfongwe was beside himself in the mud just being a real boy with no worries in the world and not stuck to mom’s apron strings. He was doing his own thing rubbing on tree stumps, ploughing his head into the sand and falling all over himself in the mud wallow.
Only once most of the herds had moved off, One-tusk arrived with her family. Having finished her wallow she came to give me her usual greeting leaving a huge muddy trunk stain on the bonnet of my vehicle, just because she can.
Reserve management started their controlled annual burns today. They burn about 25% of the property each year, mainly to control bush encroachment.
I was hoping to film animal’s reactions to the fire but didn’t find any in the area.
But it was interesting to watch the trees with all their old quelea nests as they spontaneously burst into flames. Not good for the trees. Although it doesn’t kill them it does set them back.
5th September 2000
Tjololo’s showdown lasted all night, but at least ours only lasted about 10minutes. Tjololo was still lying up in the reeds and while trying to get a better visual of him we got hooked up and lodged on a reedbank. The only way off was to jack up the vehicle and while doing so a herd of elephants making their way along the river decided we were in the way. Quickly back in the vehicle we had no option but to sit tight. The matriarch seemed a little aggressive but after a while seeming to understand the situation she calmed down and the herd dusted themselves in front of us, before later moving off. Dale was then able to help pull us out of our predicament.
Tjololo headed east along the river and then towards the Kruger boundary where he killed an adult female impala. He treed it immediately but then wasn’t able to hold onto it in the higher branches. He’d moved it in such a way that he didn’t have the branches supporting the carcass and now had the dead weight of the impala dangling from his jaws. It was too much and he dropped it. He fed on the ground and only about half an hour later a hyaena arrived which had Tjololo treeing the carcass in a hurry again.
Shortly afterwards his rest was disturbed by a deep growling close by. His male neighbour to the southeast had arrived. They circled each other at a distance and the other male then fed on Tjololo’s carcass. I was sure Tjololo would not allow this, but he lay off about 50m and watched, the whole time emitting a deep hollow growl.
Having both fed, the night of growling and parallel marching started as the two sized each other up not resting for more than 10 minutes. Moving to and fro, east and west, along an invisible boundary. In this case the boundary being the Ridge Rocks donga, which Tjololo soon moved the other male back to.
Leopards will usually use some sort of physical line to demarcate their boundaries, a river, donga, game path or vehicle track.
Soon after dawn they both must have tired of what to us appeared to be silly games but was obviously a matter of survival for them as they both salivated heavily with the tension. Tjololo went back to feed on his carcass and the other male moved off.
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