African wildlife adventures live from the bush
It was not exactly clear what these two young Elephants were up to but it did seem like this bull was trying to get that “First Time Kiss” from this cow.
Not sure If “Puppy-Love” would be the appropriate term but it surely seems like it. It reminds of a scene from a popular cartoon where two dogs nibble on a piece of pasta and their lips meet…Same in this instance. I’ m convinced the bull had it all planned…
Another night of heated passion with Tjololo and Tjellers making up for lost time. The rate they we mating at must be one of the fastest we have ever witnessed, even at Her age. They were mating at least every minute and sometimes twice a minute, so much so that Tjololo often even didn’t bother to dismount.
The irritation of the cam being down was always in my mind, but nothing I could do. It did at least mean we were able to have the lights off in my vehicle that light me up so you can see me on the cam. I could sleep in the dark for a change. (Something I haven’t done for months as the other time I sleep is in the day). Also we were able to appreciate the peace and quiet of the bush with no fans running in the vehicle. These fans are continuously running to keep the radio cool that transmits the internet images. All of that aside it is still a challenge to get the very best images out on the net and always a frustration when technology gets the better of us.
Luckily we had a fairly tame night, definitely nothing as wild as the night Tjololo and Tjellers had.
Richard was still being attacked by his bug, so I took the reins myself shooting for the internet, shooting film and taking photographs. No wonder the night went so fast.
Usually courting leopards will keep on the move as they mate. But luckily last night with them having a kill they stayed pretty much in the same place, which made it a lot easier for me to operate.
The hyaenas continued to pester them through the night as they went through their bouts of mating. They would mate as often as every 5minutes for about an hour and then having about an hours break before getting down to it again. Exhausting stuff and they’ve still got a couple more days at it.
Due to the temperature fluctuations we had lately, we’ve been treated with spectacular scenes of mist drifting through the hills of Malilangwe Game Reserve.
Even the animals were stunned by the beauty of the scene.
After the Mala Mala rangers left Tjololo he carried on hunting heading north of the Kapen river, but then suddenly headed south with purpose, still hunting if he found opportunity but without success.
His move south again, after only having left there last night, was possibly his hormones working overtime. As the eastern horizon started to glow Tjololo found himself in luck. Licking on some buffalo dung a leopard called to his west. Hardly spending a moment to listen Tjololo was up and running in that direction. When we located him after riding many rough dongas, we found him with Tjellers. He was apprehensive at her approaches and moved away each time. This went on for about an hour until he’d built up his confidence and they mated. Our thoughts of him having found a female in oestrus last night were confirmed. (They will mate now for anything up to 6 days).
It was another hard night as we battled with the eyelids. Tjololo rested only a couple of times and only for about half an hour. Two nights in a row like this is testing our systems, but hopefully tonight will be a little easier with them mating. Some extra sleep would be hugely appreciated.
The Majority of the pack fed very well which we were very gratefull to see. This though, is not a clear sign that the Rabies Virus is a thing of the past.
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