Wildcast

When I got out there in the afternoon, Manyari wasn’t where I’d left her.
At sunset the brother of the lucky male was calling on Banyini. He’d come back to where he’d left the mating couple the night before but they’d both moved off.
I went in search of Manyari with no joy at all. I kept picking up tracks of the other male. He’d travelled a long way east, past Chivi, and then hearing his brother calling headed back west and joined him. Both brothers were resting up near to where I’d left Manyari in the morning and kept calling. But there was no response from Manyari.

We left the boys to look for Manyari without joy.
I was at Hwata pan at first light filming these Cattle Egrets as they woke and preened themselves. Their morning was being disturbed by a Gabar Goshawk, much smaller than them, hassling and bombing them each time he went on the attack after quelea drinking at the pan.

Moving up the road from Hwata I picked up Manyari. She was hunting a Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest. But the hartebeest kept moving away from her and she gave up. As one of Africa’s fastest antelope she would need to be really close before launching an attack.
Manyari headed south and drank at Hwata pan. The water was at least something to fill an empty tummy after not having eaten for a week now.

She continued south of Hwata and almost walked into a herd of giraffe. They saw her first and stood like sentinels watching her every move. On seeing them Manyari ducked into a thicket and stayed put. I left her resting there as the day warmed up, hoping she’ll stay until late this afternoon.