15th November 2000
We were on the look out for Tjololo but were distracted by a seriously pungent smell. Judging by the intensity of it we were convinced it was some huge beast that had died. It didn’t take long to find it. But it only turned out to be a dead female impala that must have been dead a while looking at the rotten state of it. Even worse than all of that, Tjololo was actually feeding on the carcass and had made a complete glut of himself, while his female watched us nervously from a distance. There was little reason for us to hang around with them.
We picked up on an elephant in musth. He was busy destroying trees and I filmed him push over a huge Marula tree, nibble on a few branches before moving on. What a waste. He even pushed over several Acacia gerradii’s not feeding on them at all.
He moved on and joined up with a breeding herd of elephants who didn’t take kindly to our presence as we hastily got the hell out of there.
In the afternoon Tjololo and his girl were still lurking in the area of their now extremely tenderized meal. We ducked.
Dale was with a female impala with a broken back leg when a hyaena came charging in, but went after the youngster, which it didn’t catch. The mother got away without being noticed. If it had seen her condition the hyaena would most surely have set on her.
Wow! The sadness shown by so many as to Tjololo’s passing away is a true reflection of his fame. Thankfully because of technology Tjololo will live with us for many years to come.
Back in the bush and I’m a happy lad even though it meant working on my vehicle for most of the day. New tyres all round! Not a bad thing as the last ones were down to the canvas. The scouts would joke about the huge ‘snake’ tracks they were finding around the reserve, as my trail from the bald tyres was the same as that of a python.
But I was lucky to get out in the afternoon. The elephant were south of Nduna spread out all over the place feeding mainly on mopanie and the few tufts of grass that were making it through after the rains.
A young bull was splashing in a recently filled pan.
This tiny calf huddled under mom’s tummy while she laid into a Commifera tree.
On the way home the giraffe were on the airstrip. This bull trying his luck with a female.
These Lilly flowers also on the airstrip, only come out at night.
I’m not sure whether to continue posting Tjololo’s diaries from 2000 after his passing on yesterday. But then I’m sure many would like to remember him for what he was - The One Who Stands Alone!
14th November 2000
Rain 3mm.
Can you believe it? He’s at it again! Tjololo’s parading around with another female throwing herself at his feet. We don’t know her but they had only just met up when we found them on the eastern side of his territory. She has presumably come from Kruger and could be the same female that followed him and Tjellers when they were mating. Unfortunately she’s very nervous and will not come to Tjololo when we’re around. She’s extremely keen running in to Tjololo but then loses her nerve seeing us and moves off again. We let them be.
Back to Tjololo in the afternoon, from a distance we heard them mating and approached, but the female was still very nervous of us and Tjololo seemed puzzled as to why she’d run off when we approached. He was looking around for the danger. Rather than disturb them further we let them be.
The rest of the afternoon didn’t produce anything as more threatening clouds rolled in our way.
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