What began as an ordinary early start in search of the dogs ended up a little extraordinary. It is not surprising that those wild dogs have moved off and disappeared like transparent phantoms in the night - without a trace. However, that did not stop me having a go at finding them, but my enthusiasm soon petered out when Kylie spotted some Elephant tracks in the road. I could hear that low rumbling sound they make. Soon we could smell their fresh dung and we knew they were close, but that does not guarantee anything in this thick bush. Heading East toward Chibi pan, I thought we might have been too late, so we parked and enjoyed some bird watching, which included: a Red-crested Korhaan, Three-banded Plover, a Red-backed Shrike and White faced Ducks.
For me, a really good Elephant watch has been scarce at Malilangwe Reserve and I really wanted to capture some of those little guys in the breeding herd. Heading south is like driving into an ocean of clay, so it was back to the main road out of there. Just when I hit the intersection, a midsized bull Elephant peeked his head out the bush…followed by a King sized big tusker!
They were a little weary at first with a succession of trumpet blowing and ear flapping, but then they let us be. We were surrounded by thirty to forty elephant coming out of the woodwork. The little guys were suckling on their mothers, while the entire herd indulged in some real graze for a change.
They were finding little mud pools from the rain and throwing the mud all over themselves, even rolling in the little pools. During the dry season they resort to browsing, but when the opportunity arises they really tuck into that grazing.
When they eventually made their way back into the thickets, we took a drive past the hill where Manyari was last seen and she was still in the area, we are hearing her call almost everyday now. We continued to the top of a hill overlooking Malilangwe dam – talk about ending the morning on a high note!
We seemed to have brought the rain with us on our return from South Africa to pick up supplies. Yesterday we only had one shower, but it was enough to have Kim return early from the dogs, soaking wet. After attending to a few things on my vehicle, I set out later in the afternoon to catch up with the dogs, but Kim was tracking them and left them running west into sum slippery terrain. The sun set to the sound of one of our lionesses’ calls echoing through the hills – feels good to be back!
Early this morning the rain set in and now I’m back to “sticking” to the roads. Unable to track the dogs through muddy terrain, I always enjoy seeing flowing water, so I was keen to check out how the dams were filling up. At Nduna dam the river was flowing into the dam and the water level was rising. What an awesome morning listening to running water, bird-life in abundance and the hippo snorting in the background! Just as I got comfortable, an ominous looking cloud crept over the horizon, which was when I felt it a good idea to expedite my morning drive.
A quick spin past Banyini and Nyari pan revealed some big herds of Zebra and Impala, with a few interesting looking butterflies to photograph. The great success of today, though, was in the afternoon when we were introduce to a new character – a male leopard.
Alan and the Malilangwe team have managed to tag him, so we will have a lot more time to spend with him.
At last it rained! And I’m hoping it’s not just a tease, but the beginning of more to come.
The dogs were listening to strict instruction this morning. “Head south, then east all the way to Banyini open area.” When they got there it must have looked like on huge Christmas party for them. There were animals just everywhere, at least 400 head of different species. Impala, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, eland and hartebeest.
With such a choice the dogs were beside themselves and gave chase running in every which way you can imagine. But for the pups no way was the right way and soon they were all together standing around mesmerised probably wondering what had gone wrong and where were mum and dad?
Dad arrived from east about half an hour later and regurgitated for his kids. But he never took them to the carcass.
10minutes later mum arrived, but she came from the west. She regurgitated for the pups and then at a run took the pack back west. About 1.5kms away they got to her kill, an adult male impala. It was plenty to really feed the whole pack well.
Then out of nowhere the rain came. It looked like it’d just be a gentle drizzle but soon the heavens opened. I was soaked through but the warm temperatures didn’t make it unpleasant at all. I left the dogs to put up my cover but on my return they scattered when seeing the contraption. I was really bummed about that as I so wanted to film them in the rain all huddled up under a bush.
I left my friends and managed to film the giraffe, wildebeest and zebra on Banyini. It was surprising to see the zebra standing with their faces towards the rain, when at all times I’ve seen animals in rain, they face away from it. I do too! I wonder if horses do the same or was this just a strange bunch of zebra?
The rain only lasted about 20mins and not much later the sun was out. I took the opportunity to empty and dry out my vehicle back at base.
Spending time with the dogs again in the afternoon I soon had to abandon when they ran off west, as the ground out that way is really sticky.
The pack hadn’t moved from where I’d left them last night. So no moon hunting. Of course the cloudy skies might have had something to do with it, making it too dark for them to hunt.
My arrival woke them and soon they were heading south in the dark, but soon the blacks were turning to grey on the horizon.
They kept to the mopanie, which at times can be wonderful, pretty open country, but most of the time it’s choked with Grewia, bringing visibility down to a few meters.
So why do the dogs like to hunt in these conditions? There are plenty of open areas with huge herds of impala but for some reason they just don’t seem to hang out there much. I would have expected them to be more suited to hunting in the open, but they really don’t seem to favour it. And of course this hunting technique doesn’t favour me either, which is really what it’s all about.
I was still managing to keep up with them when I blew a tyre on a sharp tree stump! By the time I was on their trail again, probably only about 5mins later, they have moved a longs ways west and on finding them they were just moving off from a kill. They sure don’t waste time eating these days. But then it probably was only a baby impala.
They headed back north and again keeping to the mopanie. Again I lost them on the chase only to arrive when they’d almost finished their second kill.
I’m beginning to wonder if I’m ever going to get it right following these guys on the hunt. I can only hope that at times they’ll venture into the open and then I might just get lucky.
As has become customary the dogs spent their day at a pan in the mopanie. These little pans are drying up fast with still no rain. But they’re a great place for the dogs to spend the day as they lie up in the cool moist soil. And of course are always good for a swim.
Joining them back in the afternoon they were on the move a lot earlier than normal, heading south again. They’re like a yo-yo the way the move up and down like this.
The pups were running up front and soon the adults found themselves alone. Now it was their time to catch up to the pups. Frantically they took their trail eventually finding the little guys just doing their thing.
I left them in the dark milling around and probably about to rest for the night.
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