Daily Archive for December 31st, 2008

Buffalo Paradise: Video

Time is positively steamrolling on to new years eve. All resolutions get placed on the table, most of which, fall to the ground with no more than a sigh of a relief. Out in the wild the only resolution is survival and reproduction. For us, maybe we should reproduce all the positive things we have developed in our lives in the next generation.

Banyini Pan Transformed

After the thought of the day, the early morning greeted me with bursts of short showers of rain. That, of course, was not a deterrent as I had my mind set on the wild dogs. Those dudes were too swift and I couldn’t even get a smidgen of signal on them. I continued to explore the Northern region of the reserve finding a breeding herd of Buffalo. The vegetation is so lush they looked like a herd of cows lying and rolling around in a meadow.

Peeping Elephant

I went a long way through the hills before I found any sign of life, it was a much cooler day so the need for animals to water was not so urgent. After being spied on by an elephant in the bushes as I was changing a flat, I moved on to see a few waterbuck heading down to Malilangwe dam and decided to complete my inspection of the dam level.

Waterbuck, Malilangwe Dam

Again, even the waterbuck seem to be a little more docile than usual. A herd of Impala were lying on the side of the road, they hardly moved and I was noticing how the little babies are not so little anymore - they are growing up fast.

Impala growing up

Bubbling Hippo Pod: Video


This morning I was interested in checking up on how the dams were filling up. I was also hoping to find some Elephants during the process, but instead we ran into two separate herds of Buffalo.

Buffalo Herd-Chikwe Dam

I’m convinced that most species of animals are a lot more relaxed after the rains. One can really get in there amongst the animals and this was also the case with these two Buffalo herds. The sun was beating down again through a few clouds and the Buffalo were enjoying the dams that are filling up. The grazing is flourishing so now is the time to fatten up.

Buffalo-Chikwe Dam

I found signal on Manyari, but she is still tucked away in the hills and I was unable to get to her. I carried on down to Malilangwe dam and almost drove past a huge pod of Hippos. They are quite inquisitive creatures and moved over to where we were parked; there was much activity with plenty of little guys ducking and diving as they were swimming through the water.

Open Wide

Once again, the cloud covered the sky a little later in the afternoon and rain was threatening, but I still dashed to find the wild dogs. I wasn’t able to get to them, but I managed to get a location for an early morning start - something to look forward to.

Mark
Caterpillar Stick