Monthly Archive for July, 2009

Yesterday afternoon Kylie and I took a drive in the Bandama direction, we saw the remaining lichtenstein’s hartebeest close to that area after one of their herd got chomped by that lioness . They can be very brave and/or curious at times, in fact, this is precisely the reason that it is so easy for lions to take them out. I had a look to see what was left of the carcass, I couldn’t find anything except the tail! Anyway, the real reason for Bandama was a sun downer for the Pamushana Lodge ladies, Shelley and Kath – that’s right, it’s not always work, work, work here on the reserve.

However, I was hoping to spot something on the night drive back home, I’d say we did more than spot, I almost drove straight into a hippo! The huge beast of a thing was chilling in the road as I took a corner, it got a huge fright and didn’t know if it wanted to charge or run away. It moved over peacefully after spinning on the spot and offering a challenge.

This morning was another wild dog morning. I didn’t get any signal, good thing Kim was on the hill at the den already and was reveiving a faint signal to the North. Only when I reached the northern boundary, did I get the faintest signal, I did a loop around and then the signal was coming and going. I pictured the dogs having a tough time in that area where there are no roads. There are power lines that run down through the property and when you move along this section it really interferes with the tracking equipment.

This is where the dogs were moving and after backtracking many times over I eventually found the dogs munching on an impala. They were pulling on the ribcage already, but the only marinade was the saliva dripping from their jaws as they used each others weight to tear a section for themselves. Later, they trotted back to the den, where I visited for the first time. The dogs were absolutely exhausted and slept up on the hill out of sight.