Hunger seems to be getting the better of the Nduna pride as they moved off hunting at dusk.
They were in stalk mode from their resting position. They had something in their sites but I couldn’t see it. Then I heard the branches breaking and saw the elephant bull. Surely they weren’t that desperately hungry?
But they moved past the huge beast and were moving in on a waterbuck bull in thick bush. The whole pride had the bull surrounded. Then a young male lion, still a ways off and with lots of cover, couldn’t hold back any more and charged in. It was far too early and the waterbuck bolted.
The pride moved on north and in the Hartebeest hills again circled some zebra and again they charged in far too early.
Is their hunger really get to them that they get desperate and can’t wait for the right time?
Time out for the lions as a storm approached. The lightening was awesome, flashing constantly. It was a big storm and we were now in heavy black clay soils. Any rain here and we’d be stuck for days. We took off north and the rains came before we even made it to a road. It rained hard for 5 minutes and then slowly let up. But the further north we moved the harder the rain.
Making it back to camp soon after midnight it was evident that a lot of rain had fallen in the area.
We took to the road at dawn heading south to look for the lions, but not sure how those soils were holding out.
They were just fine. It seemed like the only rain that had fallen in the area was that which we had encountered and then no more.
The Nduna pride were some ways north of Hartebeest hills resting in mopanie scrub and still looking ultra lean. At least we found them and will be back on their trail again this evening.
As usual when I encountered this White Rhino cow and calf I wanted to get up close in the thick bush. They were aware of the vehicle and when I approached to about 15m on foot they took off. The other way!
Not much further north on the recently burnt area, the green flush had taken hold, and a herd of some 800 buffalo were making the most of it. They were rather nervous of my vehicle standing staring at us, but then something spooked them and the whole herd stampeded in a cloud of dust.
In some areas of Mopanie woodland the Cicadas are out in force. The din being something else. It seems to burrow into your brain and drive one demented. I’m they could be made to good use of it in torture chambers.
As I filmed these guys I noticed them peeing every 10 to 15 seconds. Then I saw they were actually sucking sap from the mopanie trees. I was just amazed that they could firstly get so much sap out the tree in so little time and amazing how quickly they can pass it through their system. (Imagine if we could do that with beer!)
A few questions for you today Kim. How long can the lions go without eating? You havent said, do you still plan on releasing a film about the wild dogs? I just watch the Wild Chronicles podcast from Nov 2. It had a clip of the show when you were filming Tjololo. The clip was all of 4 minutes or so. Is there anyway you could put the entire 13 minutes up on iTunes? The program is not aired where I am and I love to see the whole clip. I figure you dont have control over such matters but I can ask. It was so strange that it aired so close to his passing.
Thanks
LOL @ the beer comment, Kim. If you ever figure out how to do that, please be sure to let us know!!
Paige: Lions can go 2 weeks and probably more without eating. But they got lucky last night thanks to Manyari’s skills. Yes Wild Dog film still coming out. Probably only end of next year. Hoping Whisky will find a mate and come and den next year.
No i don’t have any control o f Wild Chronicles. Sorry.
Hi Kim,
Regarding your message above, you have found Whisky, then?
Ivanova
I want to show this to students
for children
Sure thing. Go for it! Kim
A subject near to my heart thanks, do you have a RSS feed ?
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