This is the resurfacing of the Mark attack… it’s been ages I know. Enjoy the elephant down at Malilangwe Dam, we could see them from our porch, a breeding herd numbering thirty five.

They’ve been quite destructive, pushing over an old Baobab tree on top of the hill and then tearing their way through to get to the water.

And that little speck on the lower left is me.

The funny thing is, the wild dogs must be feeling this way, because they put the “pedal to the metal” until they hit the western most edge of Hippo Valley and there they were stumped. This is the area that has recently been fenced and there is no way out. This might seem unfair, but Kim and I felt quite relieved they they could go no further. Not only are we traveling 45 minutes to get there each day, but any further and you’re in the sugar plantations – this would not be good for the dogs. Anyway, the dogs have been sniffing at this fence for four days now. They want out and they can’t understand why there’s no give in the fence line.

Each day they test the electric strands and get shocked into a frenzy, but keep coming back to test the limits. No harm done though, and life carries on for the dogs, but I just don’t think they’ve learned any lessons – poor dudes.

Life along the banks of the Chiredzi River is vibrant, animals make a break for the water before sunset and it’s great to see the diversity of species. When we’re filming an animal we stick on their trail for months and we don’t see much else except what they come into contact with, not that this is boring, but an afternoon drive along the river refreshes the soul.

There was another hard shower of rain this week, which left us unable to negotiate the black clay soil on the Hippo Valley side of the reserve, and this left us with another opportunity to perambulate the rest of the property. Although, I had to eventually end up at the hyena, I hadn’t seen them for two weeks and I was getting withdrawal symptoms. I must say, it was as if I hadn’t been away, we all lay around Manyuchi Pan enjoying the sunset.

Funny thing is, I’ve enjoyed getting out there and doing something different.
A little variation in life can only be good. And it really was new moon… three days ago now.
Kim and I are putting a promo video together for the second wild dog film and I’ve been struggling to get on to the blog. I see the comments building up, thank you for all the responses.

Those dogs are a hoot, but they take us through the toughest terrain. This can only mean one thing for me – punctures!
I feel like I’m working in a tyre shop, anyway, it comes as part of the package I guess.

The dogs were thriving down in the South of the reserve, killing between three and six Impala a day.
They have even ventured out the fence to hunt a few extra impala on the hunting concession south west of Malilangwe -
little poachers they are.

Once the hunting was done for the morning and the dogs decide they’d tortured us enough through the mopane woodland, they then rested up at Chavagwisa Pan, this routine went on for a good week. This is the only water in this part of the reserve with the rains still holding out. The dogs take over the pan leaving the antelope snorting and grunting from the sidelines as they remain thirsty through the extra hot summer days. It’s a hard life near the bottom of the food chain.

Thankfully today the heat was squelched with a few light showers, but the dogs moved North and then across the Chiredzi River again, now the roads are too wet to get there. Let’s wait and see what happens, in the mean time I’ve been to checkup on the hyenas.

It seems quite unnecessary for humans to have so many distractions in life, some which are pleasant and others that just waste our time.

I hope this year will be one with less of the latter and more of the useful ones, but more importantly just less distractions.

I think most people are back to the grindstone and gearing themselves for the long haul. I took the long road to find the dogs the other day while Kim was on holiday. We like to keep tabs on them to make sure they are still doing well. It took me two days to find them, but when I did they were up to their old sports and all eighteen dogs were doing well.

For the wild animals everyday involves one thing – survival. The hyena cubs are growing up now and are beginning to stretch their legs, widening their territory as they explore the lie of the land.

This last year, I’ve had the privilege of being with the cubs as they’ve grown up, as each one developed their own personality and this year I continue crossing the divide between man and wild animal.

Join us on the adventure, make your life an adventure and invite others to come along for the ride.

I’ll catch you on the flip side.

In case you’re wondering, there was no Chanel No. 5 to celebrate our anniversary, but a little form was shown with a sunset cruise on Malilangwe Dam where we spotted an Osprey having an argument with a Marabou Stork, the Marabou ended up with the fish, but the Osprey looked pretty determined to teach the Marabou some table manners.

Banyini Pan has been drying up with the intense heat, but half a kilometer to the south is natural pan teaming with life. This is where I found a secretary bird for the first time in our stay at Malilangwe – graceful birds, always a great sighting.

I also managed to catch up with the lions on Banyini one evening. Magwaza’s three cubs are out and about, they are joining the hunt now and outdoing the adults at times – when they can stop playing about and focus on the task at hand of course. One of the cubs pulled down an Impala calf, interestingly enough, the lionesses left the cubs to fight over the small impala on their own without interfering. There are so many young impala around it’s difficult not to run into them around every corner.

Holiday season will soon fade away, but for the baboons every day is a swing in the trees.

Happy New Year, rich blessings, stay safe!

I arrived back only to head straight to my hyenas to spend the morning chilling taking photos around a natural pan they’ve discovered. The light was amazing and it gave me a chance to try out the new lens I purchased (one of the benefits of the concrete jungle).

The mopane worms have come up out of the ground to feast on the healthy looking mopane leaves.

You can always tell which trees have them in by the collection of droppings on the ground around the tree. It’s like guano, I wander it has any value as a fertilizer? Maybe one could make guano bowls out of it at least – then collect the whole set!

The bush is looking like a pasture, green and colourful. While the grass is still short it makes it easy to spot animals against the green background, like the two black rhinos we saw as we did the loop around the khayeni area, which I’ve been neglecting for a long time.

Christmas is around the bend and I did a little shop myself, but I can’t disclose whether I have actually come away with a gift yet. My wife and I will have been married three whole years on the 17 December, which I can thankfully say have been three great years!

Maybe I’ll collect some wild flowers as a unique gift, which is also within the budget… or maybe I did manage to find a romantic streak and choose a Chanelle no.5 to complement the fresh smell of the falling rain.

I spent a few late nights at the den, but the hyenas were pretty unproductive. The one morning they carried a baboon carcass back to the den there was a tug of war over who was going to get to rip the limbs off it, but the mothers are very protective over their carrion and only let their own cubs nibble on the carcass.

I did manage to catch up with two playful males at Manuchi Pan though.

I must say, the water sports got a little rough with the one trying to dunk the other – all in the name of a little fun though.

All sorts of creatures emerge after a little wet weather, I’ve seen plenty of toads just plodding around the den area, along with five water monitors in the Manuchi/Sosigi area.

In between the light showers during the last few days we get to see the wild flowers emerging, not to mention the grass shooting to provide the grazing for the next season.

After a little wet weather the bugs are starting to make their appearance along with the flying ants. I shudder at the thought of the mosquitoes coming out in full force!

Animals know when the rain is coming; the hyenas prudently took shelter in the hills in expectation of the wet weather, but they still come down to the communal den during the evenings to socialize.

The elephant bulls are out and about looking for the high protein browse in the south of the reserve.

Just before the rains came I paid a visit to Nduna Dam and ran into a Kori Bustard walking the edge of the dam. They are huge birds and this one was not in a hurry to fly away as I was shadowing it.

Another great thing about summer is the summer visitor birds taking up residence on the reserve including the woodlands kingfisher with its expressive call.

I’m sitting listening to the sound of thunder and the rain pelleting the corrugated roof. Early rains help squelch the penetrating heat and this is always a blessing when people are screaming El Nino from all corners of the globe. The direct sunlight can really tire you out when you’re working in it everyday, it feels as if someone opened the fridge door to bring relief to the scorching heat. I attempted to track down the lions, but was unsuccessful; however, Kim caught them at Nduna Dam on a kill. What a surprise to find Manyari with cubs! She has been AWOL for months now, this would explain her keeping a low profile, and the cubs are already around four months old.

I managed to run into a nice herd of Buffalo at what is left of Bandama Pan. Again this heat dries up the pans very quickly, but the Buffalo don’t seem to mind doing the mud wading thing to lap up what little water remains. The only problem is that invariably one of the youngsters get themselves stuck in the mud.

This time the little guy was rescued out of the brown glue by Chitimela the research technician, but not all are as lucky. On the way back to base camp I came across a crash of eight white rhino, they were looking like they’d also braved the muddy Bandama waters.

Two hyenas were lying around on the edge of Manyuchi at first light catching the cool morning breeze. It was not long before they returned to the communal den and collected all the little guys except the youngest and marched single file back past Manyuchi and into the hills. These guys are moving around now, I wonder what they’re up to. The ellies had trampled their way past the den a few nights back according to the tracks I found, maybe this spooked them. I was pleased to find all six of the older cubs as I was beginning to think that Chops was missing. So all is well in hyena land, while the wild dogs are showing signs of itchy feat and are exploring a little more East of Nyamasikana Pan, if they end up at Nduna looking for the lion’s share of the Impala, they could be in for a surprise. However, for now they seem to be returning to the fence line where they funnel the impala in between the fences and make light work of what would normally be a strenuous hunt.

Back at Manyuchi pan I caught the sunset with a few cubs in the water and as I was sitting on the ground reviewing my photos, I heard some breathing other side the vehicle. When I looked up I noticed a young black rhino challenging “Dozer”. What an awesome time, the young rhino spent fifteen minutes playing around the vehicle, charging and exploring the metal lump! One older hyena cub was still around and tentatively came to test the prehistoric looking creature. Black rhinos have so much character, I had to wait till dark to see if he would drink. After he crept up to the water I let him drink and then flooded the pan with light to catch him on camera, he was spooked and ran off.

I’ve been getting some daily exercise walking up and down the hyena hill to check on the new den.

I eventually found the two older mothers using a den right on the top of the hill in a different den than I thought previously. When I first spotted one of the older cubs roaming the hill I used my “special call” to attract their attention so they wouldn’t freak out by my presence. They came straight away to inspect and then strolled over to a crack in the rocks.

I followed and took up a position on a nearby rock. One big mother then came out the den to see what new clan member had arrived; surprisingly, she was completely relaxed with me being there. I stayed for the morning to observed and take photos and get them used to me being around the new den.

The hyenas and wild dogs had a huge confrontation South of Manyuchi two mornings ago, but nothing serious enough for them to eat each other.

I received an update on Magwaza the lioness and her three cubs. They were hanging around Chitindigova Hill just North of Bandama Pan, always in the hills these lions, the cubs are growing strong and the ex-Nduna lioness is still mixed up with the pride with one other lioness. This unknown lioness seems to be lactating, which means there might be some more little ones on the way. It may be too soon to jump to conclusions, there is really no way to tell for sure, unless some mad person climbs into the hill to take a look. I think I might camp out in my vehicle over next few days to see what I can spot.