African wildlife adventures live from the bush
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.
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.
We’ve been cooped up taking shelter from the rain with no communications or internet for the last few days. It was quite pleasant waking up to the sound of rain pouring down and not having to be anywhere or do anything, but I was eventually itching to get out. So I eventually got to do a little photo commentary to pull us through - enjoy.
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.
When you hear the thunder of a few hundred hooves and the dust swirls into a whirlwind that chokes your nasal cavities and the first thing you see is a pair of horns parading in your direction, then you know… you’re in a buffalo stampede.
This is part of a buffalo capture, where we willfully place ourselves in the path of a herd of buffalo being herded by a chopper into a boma. When they run past, the curtains get closed and the buffalo are then ready to be selected and inoculated. It may sound simple, but it is not easy - it is very hard work! Temperatures have been hitting the 40 degree mark in the shade, this is how Africa treats its finest.
I have been at this buffalo capture for the past three days now and being out in the sun really knocks you out. I also managed to squeeze in an aerial shoot, so I might put a grand aerial clip together to end the week with a bang.
Besides doing the buffalo capture I managed to slip away to spend time with the hyenas and I caught up with them at Manuchi Pan where they had completely taken over. One of the cubs wanted to investigate a young giraffe waiting its turn to drink and the other five older cubs came in to enjoy some water sports. All in all there were thirteen hyenas at the pan wading in the water and just enjoying the cool water after a scorcher of a day.
I hope to catch up with the hyena on Sunday again after the buffalo capture is on its back. For now I need to get some shut eye so I don’t fade on the last day of the buffalo capture.
She put her head down and built up the courage to move over to the crouched figure on the ground. The sun had already set and the sky was a fiery red – the colour of blood. There’s something that switches over in the mind of a hyena when night falls and this hyena mum wanted desperately to give me the once over, or just a friendly sniff.
Whichever one it was, I wasn’t about to find out and blocked her determined approaches as the cubs came to lie on the ground completely chilled out. They are so relaxed that I think mum wants a little attention or lies down next to me to keep an eye on me. The saga at the den continues as I widen my terrain, finding males at Manuchi pan drinking at night and then I’m hoping to get them feeding on an old dagga boy that has died down at Malilangwe Dam.
This old buffalo survived a lion attack by the skin of its teeth as it tore down the park managers fence and in coming to see what all the commotion was about, scared off the lions. This whole event must have put too much stress on the poor animal and drove the last nail in his coffin as he lay at the dam to die.
I’ve also been going far and wide during the week to pick up a few extra shots. Nduna dam is still pumping with wild life. I spotted a leopard on the banks of the Chiredzi River and it looks like Sjambok is still with the Lioness from the Nduna pride. Cheetah have been spotted all over the Banyini area and one still with five cubs. Things are happening and the temperatures are rising well into the upper thirties. This is bringing in Elephant and Rhino to drink at mid-morning to suppress the heat – Come on summer, come on!
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