We tried but without success.
The lions were moving in the Makeche area, which is on the heavy black clay soils. These soils after all the rain we’ve had are just not passable. I even nearly got stuck on the road.
Also any off-road driving in these conditions would leave terrible scars in the veld.
So we had to leave the lions.
With all the rain of course come all the bugs and driving at night becomes a little nightmare as the bugs are attracted to our lights. And especially last night when clouds of flying ants came straight into our spotlights and then down our shirts! The only evidence of the millions of flying ants at dawn were the little piles of their wings where they congregated in certain ‘hot spots’.
All the pans were alive with frogs and toads and much noise. But as usual whenever we put light on these amphibians they either move off or go quiet. Except for some of these toads I filmed. After that I just couldn’t get ‘Arthur’ out of my mind! I definitely wasn’t going to rest near one of those pans. Instead we packed it in and headed back to camp.
I was out at dawn to witness another awesome African sunrise.
Then it was on to the trail of the impala herds. I spent until around 10am with a large herd with many ‘popping soon’ mommies. It could be any day now that they give birth. I’ll just keep at it and hope to get lucky.
All over Banyini the herds of plains game were around grazing.
And amazingly I saw a group of 8 jackals moving together in what looked like a pack. But being jackals and constantly on the move I wasn’t able to make out if it was one or two families. It looked like 3 adults and 5 pups. The pups would now be about 3 months old. The pack were just trotting around foraging for insects.
27th November 2000
Amazingly they were still at it all night. Having picked up Tjololo and the Newington female at sunset they slowly headed east mating at a serious tempo. Not far off every 5 minutes, and at times Tjololo not even dismounting to get down to it again.
About half way across his territory Tjololo was very much into hunting mode. His first attempt was very close as the impala leapt high in the air and Tjololo only just managed to tap it’s back leg but it got away. Hopefully I got the whole shot and there was enough light, but the 2 animals jumping was dramatic in itself.
His next attempt was another close miss, but hopefully also on film. Just as we thought he’d missed and the impala thought they were safe Tjololo rushed in and caught an adult male impala. While strangling it the female joined him and started feeding. Both leopards fed a while before a hyaena chased them off. It was later joined by another 5 hyaenas and they soon consumed the carcass. With the commotion of the hyaenas laughing Shololtoo arrived in the area hoping to pick up scraps but without any joy and moved off. Again Tjololo paid him little attention.
Tjololo spent the rest of the night in the area mating. At dawn they slowly moved north. He seemed to be looking for something. He kept looking into trees. Then we smelt it and heard a leopard puffing in a tree. Shololtoo had a baboon kill in a tree. Tjololo rushed into the tree and fed as Shololtoo gave way for him and soon left the tree when the Newington female climbed in after Tjololo.
Only once Tjololo had fed and left the tree did Shololtoo return to feed on the carcass.
Great rains fell all day, some 36mm. And the drizzle continued overnight. It wasn’t worth us braving it and with the Nduna pride still well fed, we stayed in the night.
The video clip for today is that of the lions killing the buffalo cow a couple of nights ago. It sure is tough stuff to watch and many might think it needs to be PG rated. But it’s reality and I don’t think we should hide this from our kids.
This is an unedited clip and went on in this way for some 20 minutes before the buffalo cow died. Not unusual for the King of Beasts to kill, or rather ‘take their time to kill’, in this manner. The young lioness left with the task of delivering the killing bite just couldn’t get her mouth over the buffalo’s mouth to suffocate her. Presumably the lioness couldn’t get through the buffalo’s thick hide to strangle her throat. Eventually the buffalo actually succumbed with the others feeding on her alive.
26th November 2000
A rather different night. Having found Tjololo still with his mistress early in the evening, they moved around in a large circle with no obvious purpose, mating periodically. Then later in the evening settled in a spot of no real consequence, where we’d found them earlier, and spent the rest of the night there mating on and off. We had never had them stay so stationary for so long before, except when they had a kill.
Having been inactive for so long through the night my car battery had gone flat running all the internet equipment, but Dale was at hand to give us a push.
This prompted the leopards to get on the move and slowly they headed west and then south around sunrise. Once on the southward stretch they followed the road and I was able to keep leap-frogging ahead of them to get them walking towards the camera.
Suddenly they were alerted by an impala calling her youngster just off the road. They moved in to investigate. The mother saw them and blew her trumpet. Frantically snorting she ran to and fro watching the leopards. Then as if by mistake Tjololo suddenly lunged into the grass, not even 2 meters from where he was standing and pulled out an impala lamb. The Newington female wrestled briefly with him for the kill but he shook her off.
The alarm snorts of the impala had attracted a third leopard, Shololtoo. He was reluctant to tackle Tjololo who ignored his presence, and settled in the grass watching Tjololo feed while the Newington female stressed herself at his presence.
Just as all the action struck my vehicle cut out. A fuel problem. Trying to get it going again flattened my already sick battery and we could only watch the events from a distance. Luckily having rested the vehicle for a while it started and we were able to limp back to camp.
The elephant performed but the lions remained elusive.
Manyari and the youngsters spent the whole night holed up in the hills near Lesililije spring sleeping off their over laden bellies.
We also searched for Nduna and the lactating lioness but no joy. The young male that was with them at dawn headed south from the hills off on his own mission.
In the early evening the elephants came to drink at Nduna dam and of course the males just had to take themselves swimming in the moonlight. To see this at night is a whole new experience and stunningly evocative with our filming lights. I think I’m actually going to have to spend some time with the elephant at night as images of them in the dark at a wonderful dimension to their lives and they do become such well sculptured beasts in that light.
That was our action for the night as the clouds swept in at dawn.
We spent some time on Banyini following this impala herd. The females are now heavily pregnant and will be dropping in the next few days. Unfortunately the rain drove us home, although none of the impala looked like they would drop today.
The youngsters were having fun chasing after each other and doing their anti-predator stott. All in the name of fun.
I’ve managed to film 3 impala births over the years but now need to shoot one with my new HD (High Definition) equipment. So will spend the next few mornings working at that.
25th November 2000
With Tjololo still busy with his lady we got down to doing as many of the interviews as possible. The days are ticking by fast now with Dale and Richard off in less than a week.
Having had enough of the camera thrust into my face we headed off to the hyaena den and spent most of the night there.
Several hyaenas did come in after midnight and the cubs came out but only briefly as the adults cut their visit short and soon left.
We left the den in the early hours and found 2 young male lions hunting in the area. They were homing in on 2 unsuspecting impala lambs and then rushed them. Amazingly the little guys gave them a really good run for their money. One got away and the other was only caught about 300m away. This was only a snack for these large beasts.
After sunrise Tjololo was back in the north with his girl, possibly escorting her home.
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