The fun and games let up today. Boring!
I couldn’t find the lions at dawn but did find the pair of Secretary birds preening and starting their day foraging.
Elephant were just as scarce with just a single bull at Hwata pan.
My travels proved rather bleak except for giraffe. There were many on Banyini most of the day.
Still in the heat of the day around 3pm, Manyari and another lioness were hunting near the pan, interested in a herd of giraffe. But they didn’t really go for it as both lions were pretty well fed resting up for the rest of the day.
Just before leaving them at dusk a Spotted Eagle Owl landed next to us in the dead tree.
So a really quiet day but then I can’t complain after all the action over the last week. And anyway I still get a huge kick out of just being in the field all day. Life IS good!
Just when you thought my fun was over.
I was on Manyari’s trail to the west of Banyini when I came across not one, not two, but three Black Rhino in the open area.
And this in the daytime.
3 black rhino!
in the daytime!
in the open area!
You can’t ask for it better. Black Rhino are usually solitary, predominantly nocturnal and shy (hanging out in thick bush).
So there I was following the rhino in the open savannah. Moving ahead of them I stopped waiting for them to come towards me. They came and only at about 50m did they notice something different and in their aggressive inquisitive way they kept coming.
Black rhino are known for their aggressive temperaments and are known to charge at just about anything they’re not sure off. They’re definitely not short on aggression or character.
The cow took the lead and kept coming followed by her subadult calf, the bull hanging back, thankfully. Only 10 meters away and she charged but stopped just short, spun around and took off.
I followed and again they came towards me. And so the morning went on. In the 4 hours I was with them (a record in its own. The longest I’d been with a black rhino before was about 10 minutes), I was charged about 10 times, mainly by the cow. The bull did charge a couple of times which was rather scary as he never seemed like he would stop.
Eventually the rhino rested in some shade and I chose a tree close by and rested with them like I do with elephant. I couldn’t believe this, resting with 3 Black rhino! So so so awesome.
They are such cool animals and to see them right up close they almost look cuddly. Their eyes look so gentle. It’s just that horn that always looks rather threatening the way they hold it like a warrior holding his spear as heads to war.
That was my morning taken up and I didn’t get to look for Manyari. She can wait, black rhino will always put her in second place. I love these animals.
When the rhino moved into the mopanie woodland it was too difficult to follow them and I picked up on several herds of elephant to the west of Banyini.
By sunset they had moved on to Banyini and were drinking at the pan.
Once they came out the woodland, they just kept coming and coming. There must have been about 80 elephant at Banyini.
One-Tusk was there. She walked up to the car and past. Mandlovu was there with her family.
And the big tusker who charged me yesterday. But he was totally fine.
So today on Banyini I had all the dudes who have charged me in the last few days.
Not surprisingly dawn found me with the mating couple again.
Manyari and her man were on Banyini with his brother, but no sign of the young female.
Although the boys still have slightly sagging tummy’s, Manyari is looking lean and rather exhausted. Of course not surprisingly.
Lots of evidence of elephant around the place and I eventually picked up a number of bulls south of Banyini. At midday they were all resting in the mopanie woodland and I left them to go check out Banyini.
On the open area was this bull with fairly big ivory. He was walking towards me from a ways off, so I cut the engine and got ready to take photographs.
He kept coming, I snapped away and he moved on past. But then he suddenly turned and came head on. What I hadn’t noticed was he was in musth.
He kept coming and I was convinced he was going to stop short. But not this guy. He hit the bull bar full on and didn’t stop there. He kept pushing.
Suddenly I realised this dude meant business. I slammed the car in reverse, turned the ignition key on and using him pushing me backwards I jump started the car. He kept pushing and now my senses kicked in to over drive and adrenalin took over.
I floored the accelerator and at high revs was careering away from the elephant in reverse. Well so I hoped but glancing to the front, the bull was still running at full speed pushing on the bulbar. How long could he keep this up? How fast could he go?
He must have pushed me at least a hundred meters and then I seemed to be getting away, but still he chased another hundred meters before giving up.
By now I was a little shaken, but didn’t want him to think he had got away with it and that he might in future again charge vehicles. So I drove towards him slowly. He backed up to a tree and I stopped about 15m away. We watched each other for ages and eventually he sauntered off.
I moved on to Banyini pan and took a breather in the shade. About half an hour later the guy was there wallowing. I approached him again and this time he backed off. Thankfully.
I’ve seen this bull before but don’t really know him and it must just be that he’s in musth that’s making so agro. Those hormones sure mess with the dudes.
I’m just hugely thankful to my faithful Toyota to stand up to the lad and to perform when I really really needed it!
All I can say is I’m so so grateful to still be in one peace and I don’t take these sort of experiences lightly. They’re a huge part of the learning curve and one must always see them as that. Also it serves as a reminder to me what damage these huge beasts could do and helps keep me from becoming too blasé in their presence.
Oh! And I definitely wasn’t hanging around to film this whole incident.
At Simbiri dam I was happy to find this herd of cows coming in to drink. I thought I’d be nervous of elephants, but being with the cows I felt so content and all was just great.
And there they were, out on Banyini and still at it.
It was cool overcast day and the mating couple stayed in the open grassland.
Some time in the morning they were alerted by the wildebeest stampeding and shortly afterwards the brother came strolling through the dust followed by another lioness. She’s young and I presume her to be one of Manyari’s daughter’s.
The male stayed away from the mating couple but just had to watch their goings on and then each time they moved off, he’d go and sniff the area they’d been lying in.
The young lioness moved off to lie up in a grove of trees all by herself.
Later in the morning the 2 males had their little confrontation, which ended up with both of them rolling around on their backs in submission. But the main dude still didn’t relinquish his position with Manyari and kept up his performance always trying new tricks to get her to concede.
Just before leaving them, Manyari went to drink at Banyini pan, but even then she wasn’t left alone and the male had to lick her private parts while she tried desperately to drink.
I left them lying up in the cool of the overcast grassland.
Back in the area at sunset, there was no sign of them, but I’d been involved in interviews and so had run out of time to follow up.
I was with the vultures at dawn, all still perched in their trees.
I sat around a while but they weren’t budging, obviously waiting for the morning thermals to get going.
Then I heard a growl to the south of me. Following up I didn’t find any lions but I did find the carcass. An already well cleaned carcass of a buffalo cow. The vultures had already made short work of it.
It was then I heard impala alarm calls further south on the airstrip. Still nothing, until I moved further south down the track and picked up lion tracks. Not much further Manyari and the 2 males were resting.
I didn’t have to wait long to find out what was happening. Manyari was mating again or was it STILL mating.
It was only 2 weeks ago I had her mating for 6 days, then 2 days later mating again although not with much enthusiasm. And now a week later she’s full on mating again. This has to be too much for any girl. Let alone the dude!
The lions stayed just south of the airstrip for the day with the brother occasionally trying to sneak in only to be sorted by the mating dude.
The Marabou Storks were back on Banyini pan taking advantage of the drying up pan with it’s aquatic life now concentrated in little pools and an easy catch for the predatory birds.
A lone Spurwing goose also made an appearance at the pan. I’ve seen them here before but only on one or two occasions.
No doubt with full bellies and still mating the lions will still be in the area tomorrow.
There were lion tracks all around Banyini and the airstrip at dawn, but I had no joy in finding them.
So no wonder I got all excited when I saw all these vultures in trees at dusk just north of the airstrip. Sadly I wasn’t able to find anything and presume they had just come in to roost. But I will check them out in the morning.
I’m also at a serious disadvantage in looking for a rotting carcass as I can hardly smell. A sense I find I miss quite often in the bush. One day I’ll get it sorted out.
There was lot of elephant activity just south of the hills near Simbiri dam and following up I only encountered a single bull at Ganyani pan.
Moving on to Bandama pan a big herd of buffalo were already all over it. They moved right through the middle of the pan into all the mud and water searching for the cleaner water, but at the same time taking their calves through the potentially treacherous mud. Luckily today they all made it.
I waited some time at the pan hoping the elephant might come. Zebra and giraffe and a lone Sable bull made their appearances but no elephant.
While waiting, I was kept entertained by the Common Sandpipers constantly fighting it out over their territories. They would rise up together each trying to kick the other. Sometimes landing on top of the opponent and trying to drown him, other times grabbing the opponent’s leg in their beaks and again trying to pull them under.
They’re constantly at it and pretty aggressive little dudes.
Returning to Banyini at dusk, a flock of a dozen Marabou storks were feeding in the shallows. The light was beautiful giving some pleasantness to the otherwise really ugly birds. But then they can’t help it.
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