Monthly Archive for January, 2008

It was elephants all day today.
There was a good cover of dew at dawn today, as this butterfly eagerly awaited the sun to dry him up so he could fly away before he became breakfast.

Mandlovu and her family were all together again after her little sojourn with the bulls. They were taking it easy for an hour early this morning doing their sand thing. Later they moved north into the hills following a seep, which totally snookered me and I couldn’t follow anymore.

One-tusk was also around with her family. They found this little wallow and got all spaced out in it. One-tusk, then standing there quite innocently, sucked up a load of mud and the deliberately flung it at me. Just in time I managed to get my hand in front of the lens to protect it. But the rest of my body got a good pasting. She carried on standing there as if nothing had happened. Like a naughty boy trying to cover up his bad deed.

Then they too moved into the hills.
But I got lucky again at Nduna dam where a bunch of bulls were having the most awesome swim. They were playing and climbing all over each other. The resident hippos weren’t too happy snorting their displeasure every now and then.

Having run of elephant shortly before sunset I sauntered down to Bandama pan. There was a white rhino cow and calf feeding close by but were unaware of my arrival. They had a flock of cattle egrets following them catching insects that are flushed by the rhino.
I was keen to get photos, so walked in after them knowing that the egrets would be the ones to blow my cover. And they did. The rhino’s spun around startled not knowing where the trouble was coming from. Now that’s a potential problem for me, ‘cos they might just charge unknowingly in my direction. Before they could even think of it, I coughed and they took off the other way.

A seriously hot day, great for drying up muddy areas and increasing my footprint over the reserve. But only till the next rains.
I picked up the 3 wild dogs again at dawn heading south on the Binya road. They soon did an about turn when they picked up the scent of the Nduna pride from last night. Unfortunately they didn’t stick to the road and headed into those stands of 6ft high grass. A no-brainer for me.

I ended up spending most of the morning searching for the elephants until I found them at the pan they were swimming in yesterday. I had checked the area earlier with no sign of them.

Being a really hot day the herds moved in to swim and wallow, then moved out again. It was only the bulls that stayed behind for about an hour enjoying the water. And so was I, as I again took to the waters naked for those low angle shots.

With little cotton-wool clouds in the sky I wanted a really wide shot of the elephants in the pan. But that meant I needed to be really close to them with my wide-angle lens, otherwise they’d be too small in frame.

So I stalked around the edge of the pan. (Thank goodness there was nobody around. It had to be quite the most hilarious sight, a white bottom trying to conceal itself in the midday heat around a dark grey pan.) I got to the perfect spot when one of the bulls saw me, stood up and came. Not a charge but a determined walk. I stayed to the last, having to remind myself that the wide-angle lens is deceptive and the huge beast was actually a lot closer than the lens was telling me. He stopped about 10m away in the water as I tried to sneak off with my beaming white rear.

I had to leave the herds to get back to camp for some interviews for our Series.
That done I was out again at dusk looking for wild dogs. They obviously weren’t looking for me.

Exciting day!
Luckily by midnight the rains had let up, although dawn was heavily overcast. But thankfully the rain stayed up there in its vaporised state for the rest of the day.

There was evidence of lots of elephant activity on the road and close to Chivi I found Mandlovu, but she only had Chipfongwe and her youngest daughter with her. And now she was being followed by 6 bulls. She is obviously in oestrus and the rest of the family have left her so they don’t get hassled by all the bulls. The little ones have to stay, as they’re still dependent on mom’s milk.

On several occasions the group would suddenly take off. I think this is all part of the mating ritual. But I would only catch up with them several minutes later and in the thick bush I couldn’t see anything.
After a few of these ‘catch me if you can’ runs they all settled down dusting themselves and digging tubers.
Mandlovu stuck to the side of the biggest bull there. Even if she didn’t like the dude, she had no option really. Without the big bull there to protect her the younger bulls would constantly harass her and even possibly injure her.

While having their midday siesta, Mandlovu suddenly gave a huge rumble. It was answered to the west. Half an hour later she was joined by the rest of her herd. And then more elephants arrived. Probably about 60 all gathering around my vehicle. They stood around dusting and as I dozed off I was rudely awoken when some sand landed on me. One-Tusk was almost touching my car and dusting herself.

The herds later moved south into the clays and I had to abandon them.
My next bit of excitement was photographing flowers. There were lions tracks in the road right there but probably from yesterday. I was out the vehicle photographing flowers when I heard the screaming, a warthog. At first I thought it was being disciplined but the screaming carried on and I could here the mother frantically snorting. It had to be lions but then I saw a leopard climbing a tree with a piglet screaming its last.
It all happened a fair distance from me but as I slowly drove closer the leopard bolted with its prize. Pity!
So it was back to the flowers but instead this little armoured cricket came into focus. These guys are popping up everywhere. They’re still small but in about a month’s time they’ll be some 3 inches long and pretty thickset. These guys are pretty mean. If they find a dead friend they’ll eat him and I’ve even seen them eating Quelea chicks that have fallen from the nest.

It was late in the afternoon that I hit the jackpot. There had been reports of 3 wild dogs on the Binya road. There they were, well fed and lying up.
I didn’t approach too close as they seemed a little nervous. But when some impala crossed the road behind me their interest was peaked and they came closer and closer.
The alpha male is a strong dark dog. His mate looks old with very tattered ears. And the other dog looks like a younger female.
They obviously came in from neighbouring areas where the dogs weren’t wiped out by rabies.

They’ve been seen on and off over the last month so I’m hugely hopeful they’ll stay and den on Malilangwe. And because they’re such a small pack it’s quite likely that both females will breed. Exciting times ahead. (Although it was in February last year that the Mupanigawa pack started dying from rabies.)