Monthly Archive for May, 2009

Moonwalk on the Water: Video

Published

on May 7, 2009

. 2 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, birding-african-birds, birds, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, documentary, duck, ecotraining, education, elephants, endangered-species, experience, film, flickr, GLTP, Goliath Heron, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, IUCN-Red-List, malilangwe, narrowcasting, Nduna dam, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, waterhole, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, zimbabwe

I was on a mission plotting markers on my GPS today and as Shakespeare says, “This is the short and the long of it.” It took most of the day to work through a series of positions where five different Black Rhino were last seen. I also had to do a bit of bush clearing to make things easier for myself when I find one of these guys. I found plenty of evidence of Rhino movement, but wasn’t lucky enough to find any of them. I feel confident that I’m edging my way forward with these Black Rhino, but I hope to get on a trail soon.

I ended up on Banyini with two elephant bulls watering at the pan. They seemed to come from different directions and meet up there. They were quite relaxed and seemed quite happy to share the space.

In the afternoon, I did a practice run of the route between my various marker points, and invariable a little bush clearing on the side. Although it was more of a technical day, at least I feel a little more effective than just driving until I find something.

I ended up all the way at Nduna Dam and decided to pick up a little footage of a Goliath Heron wading in the water. As the sun went down I headed for a cave where one of the Rhino has been sleeping during the day, the bats were flying in and out like in a scary movie. I think I even saw a few dry old bones on the cave floor! Again, I found evidence of activity in the area, but no Rhino.

Misty Morning Reflection: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on May 6, 2009

in videopost

. 3 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, Dams, documentary, ecotraining, education, endangered-species, experience, film, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hunting, IUCN-Red-List, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photos, predators, teach, video, waterhole, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, zimbabwe

I found myself engulfed in a cloud of mist this morning, only being able to see five or ten meters in front of me. I wasn’t about to cross rivers or climb mountains in search of the dogs with no visibility - that would’ve been ludicrous. Instead I enjoyed the great footage I was getting with the sun trying to pierce the blanket of mist. ”It’s the serenity of it…” that’s for anyone who’s watched The Castle.

I was out looking for Rhinoceros movement again, but ended up face to face with an old dagga boy instead. The only question was who would blink first - ah, these old buffalo have nothing better to do than stare at you…so I humbly lost the owl eye challenge and continued on.

Over the last two weeks I’ve noticed the male Impalas really having it out with each other in what is called the rut. Well, it turns out it’s that time of the year again where the strongest ram gets all the action. The one who is able to defend his territory gets to mate with the entire female herd in that area! This is if they survive, they spend so much time snorting and grunting at each other that they don’t notice when predators are around.

Kim has returned from taking his girls back to South Africa and will be back on the dogs in the morning.

Dogs in Far Away Land: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on May 5, 2009

in videopost

. 0 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, elephants, endangered-species, experience, film, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hunting, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, waterhole, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, zimbabwe

I wasn’t sure what the weather was going to do today with the forecast showing heavy showers for Monday and Tuesday. In the end I probably felt three drops of rain, but this was too late, because I had decided not to cross the Chiredzi River to follow the wild dogs.

I pottered around the riverside checking for signal and hoping to pick up on some movement, but I ended up at Chikwete Cliffs sipping on a cup of tea and looking through my book on trees. I headed for Banyini and ran into my grumpy old elephant friend. He attempted a charge, but ended up using the nearest tree as a rubbing post.

Later in the afternoon I hit Hippo Valley with the thunder of my 2.4 Toyota Hilux. I ended up a little lost pulling into a scout picket for directions and found the dogs right up against the Western most boundary – this is a long way from home. I managed to stay with them while they tormented a herd of eland, but they ended up going through some thick bush. T

The sun was setting and I still had to make the great trek back to base camp. I ended up driving in circles at times and missing a few turns here and there, but otherwise a hop, skip and a jump and I was back across the Chiredzi.

Wild Dog Chunder Roll: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on May 4, 2009

in videopost

. 6 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, endangered-species, experience, film, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hunting, IUCN-Red-List, malilangwe, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photos, predators, teach, video, waterhole, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, zimbabwe

It’s Sunday, a good time to rest and catch up on a few smalls that we never seem to get to. Hopefully that doesn’t involve work! I took on the Chiredzi River this morning and came out on top. The water is still pretty high, but I had learned from Kim’s previous ordeal and let my tyres down a bar, which pulled me through with ease.

I didn’t pick up any signal at first; this because they were so far into Hippo Valley that they were almost at the end of the property. These dogs are adventurous, I think they would move even further if there weren’t a few stragglers in the pack.

We past an incredible looking pan and finally hit running water. One by one the dogs crossed over and I thought I was stumped, so I hung around until all the dogs had caught up to the pack. I then decided that I might as well give the water a bash and crossed over.

The rest of the dogs were waiting just on the other side and had exhausted themselves with nothing to show for it. It was time to do what everybody should be doing on a Sunday – chill out.

Elephant Splitting Trees: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on May 3, 2009

in videopost

. 2 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, Bateleur Eagle, birding-african-birds, birds, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, documentary, dove, ecotraining, education, elephants, endangered-species, experience, film, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, IUCN-Red-List, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photos, predators, teach, video, waterhole, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, zimbabwe

I was hoping to find “the earless one” last night, but ended up joining the Hippos for another snorting session at Nduna Dam. And no, not that kind of snorting. Kylie came out with me so we headed towards Bandama Pan to catch the sunset. We spotted two Woolly-necked Storks at the pan, which is quite rare. I really need to fix a few odds and ends on “Dozer”, little problems can catch up with you eventually and then it takes the entire day to sort out the vehicle - this is something I don’t look forward to.

This morning I headed towards Khayeni Pan. On the way we ran into our old Elephant friend with floppy trunk syndrome. He has caused plenty of soiled underwear in the last while, but good thing I didn’t realize it was him at first and edged my way up close. He was absolutely fine without showing even a hint of aggression. I think he knows my vehicle by now though. Anyway, there was another bull elephant with him and they were having a go at destroying what ever was in their path.

Kylie was just saying to me yesterday that we never see any Bateleur Eagles any more, and what do you know, we spotted four of them cleaning out a nest in a Baobab tree. In fact, we had one busy eagle day, with what looked like a Wahlberg’s Eagle at Khayeni as we arrived. Out of all the bird life, eagles can be so difficult to identify. We also had a Brown Snake Eagle perched nearby Khayeni Pan.

There were many other birds of prey and eagles flying around today. Kim followed the Dogs up and down the Chiredzi River until they eventually crossed over this morning. The signal bounces around the banks of the river until one is left quite confused sometimes. He got his microlight ready for a flight this afternoon to pinpoint their position. Tomorrow he drives his girls back to SA, so I will take over on following the dogs, if he can locate them.

Rhino Backdrop: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on May 2, 2009

in videopost

. 1 Comment Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, black-rhino, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, Diceros Bicornus, documentary, ecotraining, education, endangered-species, experience, film, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, Hornbill, IUCN-Red-List, malilangwe, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photos, predators, teach, video, waterhole, white-rhino, wild, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, zimbabwe

Last night I was out scouting for Rhino action, this time I hit the jackpot. From the size, I first thought that it was a Black Rhino, but turned out to be a young White Rhino. Either way, I was excited to be chilling with the dude. I must have spent and hour and a half observing his behaviour. This is the way to experience wildlife, by spending lots of time watching and learning. This is not a game of “I spy with my little eye”, it is quality time connecting with animals and sticking to them – where they go, you go.

So that was a brilliant way to end the day; nonetheless, in the morning I was enjoying a pod of thirteen Hippos playing around in Nduna Dam. I hadn’t been there in a while and knew there was a frequent Black Rhino visitor to the Dam. When I didn’t find any Rhino around I wanted to drive around the area to see what was what. Then, right behind me was a Black Rhino, he was probably trying to come past but didn’t know what this fat lump of steel was in his path.

So again, another fantastic two hours admiring the creature. The funny thing about this Black Rhino was that it didn’t have any ear lobes, only holes in the side of his head. From the first time he was spotted as a young calf, he was like that. Some think he was attacked and had them eaten off. However, others say that there is no indication of any scars and the skin is smooth over his ear holes like he was born like that - how interesting!

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Monthly Archive for May, 2009

Moonwalk on the Water: Video

Misty Morning Reflection: Video

Dogs in Far Away Land: Video

Wild Dog Chunder Roll: Video

Elephant Splitting Trees: Video

Rhino Backdrop: Video

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