So near but so far. And so it goes with the lions.
I had very fresh tracks soon after dark covering the elephants tracks I had been following. A male lion heading north. He then left the road and suddenly my luck came to an end.
That was the only evidence I had of lions all night.
Spud joined me at Bandama pan at sunset. He didn’t hang around long.
We picked up Mandlovu and her family after dark feeding north of Chivi. At first the youngsters weren’t too happy with us being there, as they aren’t used to being followed after dark with our lights. Then Mandlovu put her stamp on the whole thing. She walked up to the front of the car and pushed down hard on the bull-bar bouncing the car. I had to bang on the door to get her to stop. She backed off slowly and the herd resumed feeding. This was so unusual for Mandlovu to do this. In the 18 months that I’ve been following her she’s never done this, never even touched the car.
We followed the herd for a few hours and they were just fine. Then Darryl went down with 2 punctures. While he headed back to camp to repair them I caught some shut eye with the herds feeding all around me.
With Darryl back we followed the herd until they moved off into the hills to drink at Chimbiya spring. Obviously a no go area for us.
So it was back searching for lions. This time we moved further west to Banyini and Hwata. But out attempts were cut short when the rains came in the early hours of the morning. It wasn’t big rain, but the drizzle kept coming and going.
Again I caught some shut eye with my covers up.
The rain eased at dawn and on my way home I encountered these White rhino’s just south of Banyini.
sorry this comment has nothing to do with this video but have you got any news on whiskey?
No sign for a while but i trust the dude’s well. very well!!!!
Elephants’eyes are beautiful and tender. To me, they reflect their own nature.
I don’t see Mandolov’s actions as unusual. She is THE MOM. The kids were troubled and she needed to go over and show them that these little “squirts” were not to be worried about! What wonderful animals are elephants. We would be better off learning from them than culling them.
Culling. We are exceedingly much more destructive to “the habitat” than elephants will ever be. Never hear of any culling for us.
Before the painful thoughts of culling, wanted to say how marvelous elle eyelashes are. Definitive…until you see a giraffe’s!!
b.
Kim –
Is that true that elephants sleep mostly standing up? I know that Joyce Poole has documented elephants lying down to sleep for as much as 6 hours.
I thought they get better sleep lying down.
Just wondering.
Wild elephants very seldom lie down. Only the little guys will lie down to sleep. Adults very seldom lie down to sleep.
i did once come across a bull fast asleep and he didn’t even wake when i shouted at him.
I’m wondering why they are so skittish during the day being out in the open. I thought predators tended to hunt at night. I seems to me that they would feel more vulnerable then. Can you explain why it’s during the day that they spook more?
nancy
I really don’t know what makes them so skittish in the open in the day. it might have something to do with man. They still have an instinctive fear for man.