For the next week we’re needing to pick up additional material for the Series on the girls. As the first day out on this mission we were with little success.
We did find a number of elephant herds together around Makeche and were treated to them arriving at a small pan in the mopanie veld where the little calves were beside themselves. They just wanted to spend the whole day there but their mom’s were having none of it.
The especially small guys were still learning the rules and procedures around a waterhole and always just that one step away from being trampled or rolled onto. But the older elephant seem to be constantly aware of the little guy’s presence and they just don’t get trampled. Also mom knows not to keep them there too long and after a drink and little mud bath mom moves off with the little guys.
By 10h00 it was already very hot, too hot to walk barefoot on the open sand. It was too much for the girls and I took them back to camp for a swim.
As it cooled in the afternoon I checked out Malilangwe dam. There wasn’t much access down there with the water having risen so much, so I ventured on down to Banyini.
On the way there I encountered this little jackal. His bottom jaw was broken and just hanging there. He also had a few body scars, so presumably he’d been fighting. Or had he pushed his luck and tried to take on a zebra or wildebeest? Whatever happened the poor little fellow’s in a bad way and it’s unlikely he’ll make it. The harsh reality of nature!
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