Daily Archive for July 21st, 2009

Cub Compare: Video

I arrived back on Malilangwe with an icy cold tail wind blowing me all the way from Mutare. My vehicle was still on the hill lighting up the wild dog den, so first things first, I caught a ride with Kim to the den. I ended up doing the lights while Kim was filming; I was quite excited as this was my first visual of the pups.

King of the hill

Strange little guys - as good looking as little bulldogs I would say. I spent most of the morning on the hill catching up with Kim and exchanging stories. I was dying to check up on the hyena cubs so that was the obvious next stop. I saw two of the little guys as I arrived at the den; actually, they are not that little anymore.

Squirrel Scurry

They didn’t hang around and I thought they had forgotten the sound of my vehicle – I was a little disappointed. I drove around later in the afternoon until the sun was setting, then went back to the wild dog den to deliver some light. The dogs had left late to hunt and we stayed waiting long after dark. They hadn’t returned and I was again keen to get back to the hyenas.

Poser

As I had hoped, they were all back at the old den and lively as ever! Six cubs headed straight for my vehicle and proceeded to bite anything they could get their teeth into. The video I’ve posted is from before I left, this will help us see their progress; that is, as soon as I produce a clip of the footage I got this evening. It’s good to be back!