Definitely not one of my best days in the office.
Actually it started off with a horrific bang. All the dogs were off the property having again somehow found a hole in the fence and ducked through. When I found them they were running to and fro along the fence seeming to want to get back, but all the old holes they knew had now been blocked. They then moved north into the Chipimbi River.
Since their last escape the fence has been well repaired and the only place they could have got through is along the river where fencing always becomes risky.
I was totally stumped and not being able to do anything left them hoping they would find the same way back as they came in.
Malilangwe is translocating about 50 elephants as the reserve is currently over-stocked. This is a problem that is becoming more and more common across southern Africa as elephant protection is now so successful that the areas set aside for their growing numbers are now too small. One day no doubt those areas will have to again resort to culling, but thankfully there are still areas that can accommodate elephants in Zimbabwe and our elephants are going to a huge reserve of about a million acres. Far larger than Malilangwe. No doubt they will be happy there.
I went to watch the whole capture operation, which has to be the slickest I’ve seen in game capture. It’s all run with such military precision and care for the animals. And so successful it is that when I bumped into a herd of elephants about 100m from the capture site they were totally unperturbed feeding as normal and quite happy to have me park amongst them. That really was amazing.
This technique of lifting the elephants onto the truck looks rather rough but it’s the safest and most secure way to move them with no side effects or damage to them.
But the sad news for me is One-tusk and her family were the first to go. I’ll miss that big girl but will remember the great times I had with her and how she taught Lindy to lose her fear for elephants. But the good news is she’s going to a great place and will be very happy there.
While watching the loading of the elephants I noticed vultures descending about half a kilometre away. They were on the remains of a wildebeest carcass killed by lions. The vultures sure had cleaned every scrap of meat from the carcass.
Malilangwe dam always lifts my soul but venturing down there today it was pretty quiet in the cool weather. The hippo too seemed rather lethargic not moving off when I approached by vehicle.
But the impala and zebra panicked when they realised they’d been caught between me and the water!
Early afternoon I headed back to check on the dogs. I had planned to open every hole in the fence to give them every chance possible of getting back. And so it was with huge relief that I found them back on Malilangwe. They had crossed back along the river.
They were all totally chilled out and had no plans on moving till about 5pm. It was still cool and so they were active earlier than usual. And hungry too.
Just as the got onto the open area of Khayeni, Puzzles disappeared around the corner, presumably chasing impala. Dad arrived a little later and seeing impala took off after them. The pups in the meantime were so engrossed in their own adventures they hadn’t noticed either moving off.
I followed after dad, losing him in the first 20secs. In the chick bush and rough terrain, using the radio transmitter I only found him about 15mins later. He was bloodstained and already heading back towards the pups. I searched briefly for his kill but couldn’t find it.
Catching up with him on Khayeni he was back in the area of the pups, but there was no sign of them. He called, but his called was soft. I think he has vocal problems and can’t call loudly.
He searched all over and by night fall he still hadn’t found them.
I suspect Puzzles had also killed and got back to pups before him and taken them to her kill. No doubt he’ll pick them some time in the night.
And for me…………………… Just frustration! I didn’t get to film anything today, not even the dogs. (The video clip is from a few days ago)
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