Manyari had a lonely night.
The rest of the pride had abandoned her. They were at Nyamasikana pan at sunset staring at a herd of buffalo bulls. But didn’t have the courage to attack. These youngsters needed Manyari.
Manyari rested most of the night, calling softly all night. But nobody responded to her plight. Where had those youngsters disappeared to? Have they gone looking for the rest of the pride?
In the early hours Manyari knew she had to get moving. Very slowly and painfully she got to her feet and moved off in slow motion. But once she warmed up, her pace improved, so much so that I’m confident she’ll be able to keep up with the pride when she finds them. But her injuries are going to take months to heal.
She rested up in the hills north of Lojaan soon after sunrise.
I drove around through the areas that have recently been burnt and scattered around were all these big elephant bulls feeding in the burn. Did some of these plants taste better now that they’ve been ‘cooked’?
It must be very hard to watch.. especially if they are dying. Watching the dogs slowly die off was heart wrenching but it must have been even harder to be there filming. I’m sorry they left her behind and I do hope she makes it but it will be a long time before she can hunt again, won’t it?
Since she is such an important part of the pride in a successful hunt, can’t the rules be slackened to at least tranquilize her once so that the hanging flesh can be sutured and the other wound cleaned and sutured together? Even if she tears out some of the stitches, hopefully enough would stay in so that she would have a better chance to heal before major infection set in. I can’t see how she can avoid infection.
She’s keeping the wound really clean which is good news. She grooms it regularly and luckily there aren’t many bugs around at the moment.
I just want to hug her and tell her she’ll be ok. So hard to see a beautiful animal (or even a not so beautiful animal) suffer. I’m such a sap for animals. I had so many tears in my eyes, I could hardly see the video.