Daily Archive for May 16th, 2009

Egyptian Dance: Video

Sometimes I wake up in the morning not knowing where I’m actually going to go. I have to ask myself, “should I head all the way past Nduna to the east of the reserve in the freezing icy cold wind for the chance of rhino spot?” This morning was one of those mornings, I opted out and headed for Sosigi Dam. There was a chance of me passing Kim along the way, because the dogs are once again back on this side of the property near the Khayeni area! I will leave it to Kim to fill you in on his happenings tomorrow.

Six Chicks

It was at Sosigi that I spent a little time watching a family of Egyptian Geese with their hatchlings. The bird life has done its turn around again, with the Woodland Kingfishers moving on to warmer parts of the planet, and the same with the Red-billed Quelea moving further north. With the turning of the season, there are so many different sounds we hear every day and trees turning different colours.

Autumn Sunrise

A familiar sound though was the roar of the lions, they sounded quite far south. I drove past Nyari and missed Alan collaring a new leopard, talking to him about it he said, “it is a big male and is fierce.” This is nothing like Tanga, who was relaxed form the start.

Camouflage

I reached Banyini area hoping to find our lions spread out in the golden grass. I seemed to miss them, but a guide vehicle spotted them so I will be sure to head back there this afternoon and try pick them up. It feels like a long time since we spent some time with those lazy guys (I really do like them). I counted over sixty zebra in the area, with plenty of wildebeest and giraffe making use of the open expanse of grassland – they obviously didn’t know that there were lions in the vicinity.

Pied Kingfisher

Buffalo Waders: Video


Winding my way up through the hills, I heard the screeching cry of an elephant. I wondered if it was our friend George giving someone a rev early in the morning. I pulled up to Nyari Pan thinking I could be lucky enough to have the adrenaline pumping again; instead, I watched the sun rise until it reflected off the pan - hardly a compromise I would say.

Ear injury

I then heard Alan coming along from a distance, turns out he was the one who bumped into the elephant – I think he was due for a change of underwear.
I took the route down to Chikwete Cliffs on the Chiredzi River and didn’t expect to see a whole lot going on, but normally I pick up on a little white rhino action. I ended up having tea overlooking the river; subconsciously I think this was my plan.

Autumn forest

I heard a report of a zebra with a young foal not more than a few hours old; I headed for Banyini, but didn’t find it there. Later in the day I positioned myself at Mapanzani Weir in the east of the reserve. I had chosen a terrible spot, because when a large herd of giraffe came along my line of sight was obscured, then I heard a rustling in the bush behind me and huge herd of buffalo were moving around the weir.

Mapanzani Herd

They came out on the other side and I had two large bushes in front of me! I had to get these guys wading in the water so I ended up leopard crawling to a spot to get some footage. Buffalo can be pretty stupid at times, but they are always alert. I managed not to disturb them and I enjoyed my afternoon at the weir. I headed for home past some rock paintings near a cave where a rhino was reported to be sleeping.

Rock Painting