With only a few impala on the airstrip sparring and the jackal having moved south I decided to spend the day traversing the reserve north to south checking out areas I haven’t been able to access since the rains.
Khayeni open area was full of impala, zebra and wildebeest and a few giraffe. The cover there is thick and the Abutilon is standing 12ft high in places. This forbe needs some treatment, but it’s not unusual for these forbes to take hold in disturbed areas. I know management are planning to burn this area later in the year, which should remove most of the Abutilon.
The Chiredzi River has maintained a steady strong flow now for nearly 2 months. Of course the grass along the river is standing 6ft high and more in places. So spotting any animals was nigh impossible unless it was giraffe or elephant, but we didn’t see any of those either.
The Runde River was flowing across about half its width, the river being nearly a kilometre wide.
From the southern tip of the reserve we headed west to Chiloveka dam. That too was full. I remember not so long ago it had been reduced to a small mud puddle with hundreds of barbel choking in the thick mud.
Then the nightmare of a drive north through the clays. But not a nightmare ‘cos they were wet. On the contrary, they were very dry but the elephant had walked on the road when it was wet. Their huge footprints were now embedded in the hard clay. This was like driving from pot hole to pot hole. I would hardly get one wheel out a footprint and another wheel would be in one. Soon I realised it was slightly smoother driving off road, as the elephant preferred to stay on the road. But although this was better we were still only moving at about a walking pace.
So it was with much happiness that we reached Hwata pan and a smoother surface now that we were out the clays.
We continued east hoping to pick up on the elephant. There was evidence of them around Chivi but we had no joy and ended up at Nduna dam. Sitting on the rocks watching and filming the hippo was so tranquil and a great relief from the heat and bashing around all day on those ‘roads’. This hippo calf stuck to its mom’s side often resting on her back as she lay half submerged.
We spent an hour or more here before heading back west.
The airstrip was quiet at sunset and I needed to get back to camp to blow out the grass seeds clogging my radiator as this was causing my car to overheat.
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