Usually when the elephant herds come to drink or wallow they take it in turns, but not yesterday in the red soils around Tsuvuka pan. All the herds climbed in at once. As the kids went wild, the mom’s soon joined in in all the fun.
It’s always so refreshing to see animals having such fun with the simplest of commodities. We’ve moved on so far and almost lost the simple things in life, which so often are the best.
This post is coming to you extra early this morning as I head to Harare to see how cholera is affecting the people of Zimbabwe.
Sadly seeing the elephants loving the wet muddy conditions that are upon us right now is not the case in our cities where so many people are suffering with disease because of the very same conditions.
Penny and I snuck out the house early to see if we could pick up Manyari. No joy there and things were quiet on Banyini.
What Penny was really gunning for was a flip in the microlight. But first we had to carry out a 50hr service. All pretty simple stuff and soon we were airborne over Africa once again. She had flown with me once before and enjoyed it, but was sitting strapped in with her sister. Now she was on her own and loving it. Especially the tummy jerks.
The buffalo herds were still scattered all over the clays but we were really in search of the elephant herds and the wild dogs.
We found a few bulls scattered across the reserve and eventually found the breeding herds to the north of the hills at Tsuvuka pan. This pan in the red soils soon transformed our ellies into red statues. They looked pretty stunning standing out against the fresh green flush.
Flying on down the Nyamasikana river we flushed a group of about 20 Marabou storks, all guilty! The river had flooded into the dam recently but having now receded left these small pools scattered in the sand. These bream found themselves caught in one such pool and the Marabou had themselves a feast killing every fish in the pool and eating those they could but leaving the bigger ones to rot on the dry sand. Dead fish lay scattered around these pools leaving not much to the imagination of the massacre that had taken place.
Down near the Chiredzi River I picked up the signal of the wild dogs. For me it’s always good news to know they’re still on the reserve.
By now Penny was getting a little green from airsickness and we landed.
It was then straight out to the elephants. I really miss these huge dudes and more so the little guys having fun in water and mud wallows. They’re always such good value.
It was a treat to be with them again as I haven’t spent time with the pachyderms for a while now.
On the ground I went to check on the dead fish. They still lay scattered about the sand and the Marabous Storks have moved off.
It was now late afternoon and menacing dark clouds threatened from the north. Definitely time to head home. But I hadn’t finished yet and kayaked my way around the dam in the storm. For some reason I find exercising in the rain is always so invigorating.
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