I was out to catch the wild dogs on the hunt while Kim stayed at the den yesterday morning, they ended up just chilling at the den so I did a loop around the Manuchi area and past Sosigi. The weather forecast showed rain, but they always say that and it never reaches us, it is still cloudy though, which seems to keep the heat in at least. In the afternoon the dogs were out and about as I followed them past Manuchi Pan moving in a North Easterly direction. The funny thing was that if they continued in the direction they were moving, they’d cross straight over the hyena den! I made a break for the den just in case; the first dog had already reached the den by the time I arrived.
There was not a hyena in sight, they pulled their typical scatter and run maneuver with the cubs hiding in the den. It’s kind of what would happen if somebody through a hand grenade…except there were no grenades…and no people with any power struggles…so maybe not. The dogs sniffed around the den for two minutes and continued on their way. I continued tailing them, but eventually lost them just before it was getting dark. I back tracked past the hyena den to see if everything was back to normal and was greeted by the usual inquisitive cubs playing and suckling their mother. It was quite odd to see the hyena cub setting filled with wild dogs instead.
Tanga was also near base camp last night and drinking down at Malilangwe Dam. I tried to catch up with Alan and the leopard this morning but he was in the hills. The Dogs were already long gone so I continued a drive around the hills until I reached Lojaan Dam, where there was a large herd of buffalo in the water – they scattered on arrival, but relaxed after I sat snapping pictures.
I’ve been meaning to catch up with no ears for a while so it was down to Nduna Dam from there. No ears was near the dam, but he looked down and out, there was no snorting, no charging, hardly any movement from the poor guy. He had taken another beating from another rhino and was looking in bad shape. Bruce, the vet, will be looking into the extent of his injuries, lets hope we can give him a top up so he can recover.
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