Yesterday I had reports of lions at Nduna and although I found a few tracks, the lions remained elusive. So first thing this morning I headed out that way. I picked up lion tracks near Bandama heading north and eventually found 7 members of the Nduna pride back up near Nduna dam resting.
Something disturbed their rest and nervously they tried to slink away.
Following after them they encountered an impala herd but soon their cover was blown and the pride moved on.
Manyari was the only one who seemed keen to keep going while the youngsters kept lying up in any shade they could find hoping Manyari would get the message.
Eventually they all rested up in the shade of an Ilala palm.
I’ll be back on their trail this evening as we go into night shift mode.
7th September 2000
Expecting Tjololo to still be in Kruger we headed north onto the burns to pick up footage of impala at dusk. We were fortunate to find some and also a troop of baboons having a major squabble on the burn.
At sunset we headed south to look for Tjololo and heard him and the other male calling to the east, in Kruger.
Leaving the area we headed north again and were lucky to film a male lion roaring. A truly awesome sound, especially when close up, our vehicles even rattle. Not far from him a cheetah and her 2 cubs were resting up too.
Later back south Tjololo had moved further north, presumably now having sorted out his rights with the other male, and must have been resting here, ‘cos he only ventured onto Mala Mala around 3h00. He continued north along his eastern boundary and then west into the Sand river before heading south and resting up in the reeds.
With all the smoke around from wild bush fires and controlled ones, the sun rose as a dull orange ball over the dam. And then hoping for that stunning early morning light, it just didn’t happen as the smoke was so thick that we seemed to be surrounded by cloud.
I drove on up through the hills and up Devil’s Jungle before heading on to Banyini.
With very little grazing left in the area this zebra had taken to the swamp to feed on the only green grass for miles around.
When I got round to Nduna dam in the early afternoon some elephants had already moved on, some were still coming and some were swimming. I’ve been waiting for months for them to drink and swim here in the day and Voila! it happened today.
But it was only the calves that swam. Although they were thoroughly enjoying it they didn’t venture into the deeper water and really get swimming. And for a change their moms waited around while they rolled around dunking each other and not wanting to leave.
6th September 2000
Arriving back to where Tjololo had his kill this morning we found no kill but Tjololo in the area and to my amazement he was still growling. His contender doing the same a short distance away. From their behaviour it appeared they had just resumed their showdown. We think the other male might have returned to feed on the carcass.
So the night went on as a very frustrated film crew followed after 2 male leopards lying up growling at each other continuously. It is hard to imagine this is all they did all night, for a second night running, only moving occasionally to parallel walk some 20m before lying up again. We had to hang in there as at any time they could fight, or so we hoped. Even the constant harassment of 5 excited hyaenas couldn’t break up the party.
Around dawn while on one of their little walks, the other male came rocketing out the bush and in a brief skirmish some distance ahead of us they both disappeared into Kruger.
We can only hope their ordeal will be over this evening.
Tjololo’s total trust in us, or maybe his totally ignoring us, became very apparent last night. At a time when he would have been under a lot of stress with the showdown, we parked a way off from him. He later got up moved towards the vehicle, sniffed around, marked the ground and promptly lay down right there, only a meter from us, and then proceeded to fall asleep or appeared to. He had no reason to have to lie right next to us. It just seemed that that was where he was going to lie and that was it. Were we just another rock/log to him?
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