Monthly Archive for August, 2009

Splash Master: Video

Published

on August 31, 2009

. 7 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blod, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, bushveld, cites, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, elephants, endangered-species, experience, film, filmmaker, flickr, fun, game, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hunting, IUCN-Red-List, malilangwe, mashable, mud, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photo, photos, poacher, podcasting, predators, snare, teach, trunk, video, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

The wild dog puppies are now 9weeks old!

All the dogs are still going strong. 8 adults and 11 puppies.

They’ve moved den twice in the last week and will probably be moving more often now as the pups become more adventurous and are moving further and further a field. They’re still too young to follow the adults on the hunt but in a few weeks they’ll probably be out there.

Puzzles is still suckling her pups but only a couple of times a day as her milk is now drying up.

The puppies are now true meat eaters and continue to walk around with oversized tummies from the successful hunting adventures of the rest of the pack.

It’s only about 1 in 10 days that puppies don’t get fed, but they sure make up for it on the other 9 days as their tummies are permanently swollen.

I can’t wait for the dogs to leave the hills and start their nomadic lives again. I feel I’ve been couped in up their for too long now.

The pups colours are now really beginning to change with the browns coming out of the blacks. And then it’s time to try and find ID features so I can name them all. Already we have a Domino, Dice and Delta. I’m still not sure of sexes of all the pups.

Thankfully the lions have stayed away from the dens although I have seen their tracks again on the track near the den.

All is well in the wild dog world and Puzzles continues to be single. Neither Chevvy nor Kodak are showing any signs of flirting with their mother. No doubt when she comes into oestrus next year things will change.

Cheers

Kim

Buffalo Attraction: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on August 27, 2009

in videopost

. 27 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blogumentary, buffalo, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, den, documentary, ecotraining, education, endangered-species, experience, film, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hunting, hyena, Hyena cubs, IUCN-Red-List, kill, lions, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photos, podcasting, polls, predators, teach, video, waterhole, wild, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

I’ve been out and about this last week moving around the property, it’s been another pick-up shoot scramble trying to finish the last of what is needed for the movies in post production. I managed to find Chawhiwhi moping around on Banyini all on his own, he was there for three days while the rest of the pride have been moving around Malilangwe Dam. I’m hoping not to run into one of them as that is the route of my little midday run and I’ve seen a few tracks of late. This is an odd pride as they always seem to be going their own way.

Anyway, with most of my elephant shoot out of the way I’ve been trying to spend as much time with the hyena cubs as possible. I have a strong bond with two of the cubs in particular; they really get excited when they see my vehicle pulling up to the den.

The one little guy guns it straight for the spot on the floor next to the door. If I stick my feet out the door, he will have his little nibble at my toes then continue rolling around in the dry leaves on the ground – these guys are such value!

I’ve seen one of the male adults on his patrol and he has a snare around his neck, this just seems to be a continual battle, humans dream up such cruel ways of trapping animals. I’m hoping to get that snare off, but it is not easy to stay on his tail, I’ve tried twice already and failed. Another highlight in the week was my visit to the roan antelope paddock; these creatures are as majestic as the sable.

They receive a feed to help them perform at their peak, so I was asked to help out for a day when everyone was busy – it turned out to be a real treat. They are very rare antelopes that don’t seem to do well in the wild anymore. I was also treated to a large herd of buffalo pulling in at Nyari Pan the other day; it can be quite a spectacular sight as hundreds of buffalo wade into the water. So another week is on its back and I can’t wait to see what the next week has to offer!

Growing Lion Cubs: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on August 20, 2009

in videopost

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

We have been filling our time this side with various shoots to complete the pick-up lists on Kim’s movies. Time flies when you’re having fun, but the days are jam packed and we only barely find time to get back to our animals. I have been spending most of my time trying to get the hyenas to warm to me again. It has been exciting to see them growing up and now exploring away from the den. Two days ago I spotted something else exciting, there are now two new additions to the clan!

Hopefully this means that I will have access to their sports for an extra few months. There is no tracking device on any of these guys so when they disappear I’ll have trouble finding them again. The lions were around Banyini Pan this morning followed by a large herd of buffalo – this all seemed to be the wrong way around. And to top it all, this amounted to no action and me not even being able to find the lions.

I managed to catch up with Magwaza and her three cubs the other day. There is that phrase that all parents eventually end up uttering, “Oh, they grow up so quickly.” I think that applies for both the lion cubs and the hyena cubs, also, if animals could talk they would also be saying it.

This was the first real bonding session with the lion cubs and it was good to see them all inquisitive and playing around. Magwaza had killed a buffalo and the cubs were beside themselves at first, even burrowing their bodies right inside the carcass. Two young hyenas were on their way to pick up the remains the following morning and even a leopard had a go at any easy meal. That was until the lions returned and chased the rather chilled cat off their kill.

Peering into trouble: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on August 17, 2009

in videopost

. 15 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blog, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, bushveld, cites, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, endangered-species, experience, film, filmmaker, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hunting, IUCN-Red-List, kill, lions, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, puppy, teach, video, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

It’s been an interesting week for the dogs and thankfully they’re all still going strong.
Zip and Kodak both have foot injuries but both recovering just fine.

The day after the lions killed the dogs, the rest of the pack were too nervous to go to the den. So for over 24hrs they didn’t feed the pups. It was only the next morning after a successful hunt that they slowly approached the den and called the pups out.

As was to be expected Puzzles wanted to move the pups to a new den. They often do this when hassled by lions. Several times she called the pups and they would follow her until the yearlings stepped in to feed them. They stopped the whole move. Eventually Puzzles gave up.

The next day Puzzles was on her own at the den and had already moved some of the pups to a new den close by when I got there at dawn. She then tried to move the rest but they wouldn’t jump down a ledge. She picked up the one and carried it off leaving the others milling around me. Eventually they moved back to the den. Puzzles then gave up calling them and carried them one at a time to the den. Now back at the 2nd den.

Puzzles is now out hunting with her yearlings, and nobody is left behind to look after the pups. But the den they’re in is really secure from lions and other predators, so long as the pups don’t go a wandering.
Lions were again at the den the one night and again the pack were nervous all day only getting to feed the pups late in the evening.
Puzzles now seems to have resigned herself to the fact that the pups are in a safe den, so why move them?

Hyaenas also came to within about 50m of the den. The dogs watched, ready to send them packing, but no need. They hyaenas seemed to know they better move off. They had come to check out the dead dogs of which there was hardly anything remaining.
We were also successful in implanting Chevvy with a transmitter. This goes in the stomach cavity and the animal doesn’t even know it’s there. So at least now I can again keep track of the dogs movements.

The dogs are all doing well and the yearlings hunting very successfully. There’s been no change in the status of the pack without Jiggy being there, but no doubt things will change when Puzzles comes into oestrus next year.

Sharing Lions: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on August 13, 2009

in videopost

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

It’s been a while since I’ve had to upload on the blog and I wanted to come back with a bang. I couldn’t wait to return to the driving seat and find those hyena cubs I left behind. However, they were nowhere to be found, but after persisting with the little critters they eventually emerged near the second den site. I think they remembered me and I was able to spend some time bonding.

Three lionesses had been spotted two days ago on the Chiredzi river fighting the crocodiles off a giraffe kill. What a luck, this is not the kind of action you find every day. It was unclear who actually took the young giraffe down, it could have been a crocodile and the lions just saw the opportunity to scavenge.

Either way, the giraffe was lying half in the water and the crocs were savagely tearing the insides out of the animal. It would not be long before the whole carcass landed up in the water. The lions didn’t seem to want to take any chances with the crocodiles and rested up on the bank of the river.

To get anywhere close to the scene I had to drive up on the opposite side of the river, I was happy on the sand away from the massive crocodiles. I came back to the scene first thing the next morning and all evidence had dissolved in the Chiredzi.

The days are beginning to warm up again with temperatures hitting the thirty degree mark, even the fish are hanging around where the sun is warming up the water – this is every fisherman’s dream, perfect time to break out the rod.

Art of drinking and ducking: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on August 10, 2009

in videopost

. 34 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blog, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, bushveld, cites, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, endangered-species, experience, film, filmmaker, flickr, giraffe, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hunting, IUCN-Red-List, kill, lion, lions, malilangwe, mashable, murder, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

Murderous again! Those wonderful animals we call the king of beasts. Why???
Last night lions killed Jiggy and Atom, and just left them.

On the way to the den this morning I noticed fresh lion tracks on the road. I’ve seen them along here several times before and they head over the mountain. But today they turned off on my small track that heads up to the den and then left the track.
On approaching the den just as it was getting light the pack were heading off on the hunt.

The den was quiet except for the odd whines and squeals as the pups muscle each other around inside. But something told me to scan around and I went walking all around the area of the den, up and down the mountain. After about half an hour I saw her lying in a patch of flattened grass. Atom. Her neck had been broken and there were lion tracks all around.

Searching the area I found more blood stains on the grass and following those brought me to Jiggy’s carcass. The lions had mangled him even more and broken his back. This must all have happened a few hours before I got there.

While still walking around and trying to gather myself Puzzles appeared high up on the rocks near the den and she was looking down towards where the dead dogs lay. She was nervous and restless. She kept moving around and interestingly she was extremely accommodating of me. So much so she repeatedly came to lie down no more than 6ft away from me. She really seemed to show no fear for me.
And so this went on all day, Puzzles would get up and look in the direction of her mate, hear her pups in the den, but never went there and would lie down next to me again.

She didn’t feed her pups all day. She seemed too scared to go to the den, possibly thinking the lions might be there.
Eventually as it was getting dark I left. There was nothing I could do and still the rest of the pack, now only sub-adults, hadn’t returned from their hunt. I’m sure they’ll be back tonight and hopefully give Puzzles the confidence to feed her pups.
I was expecting Puzzles to move the den today because of this disturbance, but still she hasn’t. My concern is she’ll move the pups tonight and without Jiggy’s collar I’m going to battle to find the pack.

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Monthly Archive for August, 2009

Splash Master: Video

Buffalo Attraction: Video

Growing Lion Cubs: Video

Peering into trouble: Video

Sharing Lions: Video

Art of drinking and ducking: Video

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