Tag Archive for 'giraffe'

Wildebeest Crossing: Video


Ever had a situation where you feel life has thrown you a serious curve ball? Well, I should say when doesn’t life throw you a curve ball! (Feel free to post your problems, Doctor Markus is Listening)

Gummy Dogs

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.

Wild Boundary

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.

River Giraffe

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.

Hyaena Chew Stick

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.

Growing Elephant Dung

Girohide: Video


I continued with the white rhinos at chinzwine pan, I was attempting to get some sunset rhino pictures, but it was not that easy. I’m thinking that I will give them another shot this evening.

Pastel White Rhino

So it was from the rhinos in the South to the wild dogs in the West. Something similar to that song where they sing “from the east side to the west side”, well I think all rap songs have that line in them, but you get the picture.

Rock Fig

The dogs were back at Chidumu rocks, which is quite a picturesque setting with its rock figs and its huge bolders. They had a festive session, where the adults regurgitated and the pups all tried to climb into the same piece of meat. Kim has returned so I will let him continue on all wild dog happenings.

Mine mine mine

I headed for Manuchi hide after “Dozer” suffered from a high temperature when the waterpump seized – I am again limited as to where I can venture. Anyway, it turned out to be an incredible time in the pit. I waited a little while as the Giraffe began to filter in along with the Impala. It was a fairly hot day at around 36 degrees, so they get fairly desperate to drink.
But, it was not long before the hyenas move in to claim their spot.

Girohide

The giraffe were not that easily intimidated this time and they all seemed to move around the pan following a peace agreement. The hyenas were on to me in the hide fairly quickly, which in turn left the giraffe wondering what was burrowing in the ant mound. The sun went down and with the last remaining light the hyenas left along with me as I had to walk back to the car. The giraffe was left in peace to drink his fill.

The Challenge

Bon ‘up-a-Tree’: Video


The wild dogs are still at the same den, which continues to frustrate me as the area is covered in long grass and the entrance to the den is obscured by bush. AND of course there’s hardly any sun reaching the area either.

Chilled
And to add to that I can’t drive to the den. Which of course makes things not so easy for me as I have to carry everything up there, but I also really need the pups to get used to the vehicle.

At the bar
The pups are now 10 weeks old and the brown/yellow colours are really coming out on them. One pup seems to have the beauty of her mother. She’s the one I named Domino.

10 weeks old
The adults/yearlings are still hunting like demons and more than coping with feeding the pack. And Puzzles is enjoying the easy life staying at home most of the time. She very seldom goes hunting. But then I suppose somebody has to babysit.

Discipline
Yesterday the pups followed the adults hunting for the first time. They ventured a good half a kilometre from the den with the adults repeatedly trying to send them back home, but they were all psyched up for an adventure. Eventually Puzzles came trotting past me to the pups, gave a whine and then trotted back past me to the den with all 11 little ones following hot on her heals.

Puppy control
It wasn’t 5mins and the little guys were back down the hill, this time on their own. Half way down they seemed a little, sort of ‘lost’, I suppose. For 15mins they milled around and then thought better of it and ran back home.
Even with all going on the frustrations grow, as I haven’t had the camera out the box all week! Bleak!
The only predictable shooting we’ve been doing is me in front of the camera for a change. Mark has been shooting me for material needed for the wild dog film. The beauty of this is, I’m getting around the reserve again. And always happy to bump into a bunch of elephant bulls!

Trendy bulls

Sharing Lions: Video


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.

Lion's Sharing Stare
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.

Giraffe for all

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.

Crocodile action

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.

Crocodiles Share

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.

Sun basking fish

Art of drinking and ducking: Video


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

Puzzles puppies
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.

Just fun
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.

Puppy chow
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.

End of Jiggy
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.

Single file
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.

Regal Sable: Video


The new den is not making things easy for me. This den too has a huge cavity but the entrance is strewn with large boulders that the pups really battle to climb around. Inside the large cavity are many little caves that the pups take refuge in.
But the main problem now is the dogs are feeding the pups in the cave where I don’t have a visual cos of a huge boulder at the entrance. And then Puzzles too is suckling them in there, and the pups are now big enough that she suckles them while standing up. I sooo want that footage but just can’t get in there.

Desperate
With the moon already past half way the pack are hunting mostly at night at the moment and Allan told me that last night they treed his leopard, Tanga, around midnight.

Snakey drink
Of course with the dogs then returning to the den in the dark, I’m missing out on all the action when they come running in to feed the pups and Puzzles.

Compromising pose!
Puzzles is still spending her days lazying around the den and surprisingly she hasn’t gone out on a hunt yet. Not for the last 5 weeks.
She’s quite happy to let the rest of the pack into the cave to play with the puppies while she rests up outside and at times is not even there.
So my days at the den haven’t changed much, except that Puzzles becomes more and more accepting of me. Maybe one day she’ll come to have back scratched. Actually that’s quite a long shot.

Magestic herd
I did venture out today down to Banyini to find this herd of Sable antelope chilling in the shade near the pan before heading back east to their grazing pastures.