I was hardly out of the starting blocks from camp when I came around the corner and found a python dead in the road. Apparently someone had seen a leopard kill it last night. It had been slightly fed on but the leopard had obviously given up.
I’ve seen a leopard with a python kill before. She really battled to break the skin and then it was a lot of effort for very little return, picking meat out between the myriad of rib bones, the bones being too small and dangerous to swallow. I then watched her tree the dead python when a hyaena came along but now she was in a real predicament trying to get the snake to stay put in the branches. It just kept slipping. Eventually she managed to almost tie a knot in it. But having treed the carcass she left and never came back.
The elephant were in the sandy Albizia woodland south of the hills moving to and fro.
I bumped into Mandlovu and her family on the road. I approached slowly and when about 20m away they moved as one beaming straight down on me. I stopped and switched off. They kept coming until about 5m away and Mandlovu left the road. It was almost like another ‘hello, we haven’t seen you for ages’. That’s what I like to think anyway.
I spent all morning with them feeding and heading west. As the day heated up they took time out at Ganyani pan. It’s the first time I’ve seen elephant in this pan. But then it doesn’t always fill up in the rainy season.
They were having one hugely fun time and I was just as tempted to join in. But of course that will likely never happen.
I left them at midday to check on a report of 3 Wild Dogs at Khayeni. Unfortunately I didn’t find them but had their tracks heading east. I checked all the pans in the area as dogs love to lie up next to water when it’s so hot. But no joy.
Late afternoon I was back at the pan north east of Chivi where Spud was again hanging out. He’s still fully in musth and decided to try his showdown trick on me. Luckily he never pushed through with it and moved on.
Shortly afterwards a White Rhino cow and calf came to drink. But they were disturbed when a buffalo bull on the opposite bank started rubbing his horns on a bush.
The rhino with their bad eyesight couldn’t make it out, but the noise was too much for them and they took off.
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