Tag Archive for 'Hyena cubs'

Earless Injury: Video

Published

on July 5, 2009

. 10 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, endangered-species, experience, film, flickr, game, game viewing, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hunting, Hyena cubs, hyena den, IUCN-Red-List, lions, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photos, podcasting, polls, predators, teach, video, waterhole, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, zimbabwe

Over the last few nights, the hills have been resonating with the roar of lions coming from all directions. Not only that, the cubs had been spotted daily near one of the camps. I decided to go find myself some lions; I climbed the highest point to get a direction, but got no help from my receiver. I might have had the faintest beep, but I thought I was hearing crickets in the grass. I headed in the direction anyway and out of some miraculous positioning found signal.

Simon and the crew had climbed aboard and we were hot on Manyari’s tail. In the tall grass she popped her head up not looking very surprised to see us and carried on sleeping. As it got dark the lioness began moving and then began roaring, this is the most awesome thing about lions, when you’re close and can literally feel the thunder of their call.

Today the dogs slept in at the den and I cruised around not finding much happing. Later at the hyena den we waited for the cubs to come out…something was wrong. I thought that when it got dark they’d pop their heads out so I went looking for the dogs again, but ended up back at the den.

Now I knew they were not there. A few hundred meters south the hyenas were calling so like homing pigeons returning home we made a way through the Mopane where there seemed to be no way. Like a secret weapon, a hyena den positioning system, I landed up straight on the doorstep of the other den. All six cubs and two adults greeted us, I was very relieved, they are such fun little guys! I’m glad we have the position on the new den now and can stay on the cubs as they grow up, they may still return to the other den though, they might have been spooked by something on the other side.

Wild Hyena Den: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on July 3, 2009

in videopost

. 8 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blogumentary, buffalo, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, elephants, endangered-species, experience, film, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hunting, Hyena cubs, hyena den, IUCN-Red-List, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, waterhole, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, zimbabwe

I was out to catch the wild dogs on the hunt while Kim stayed at the den yesterday morning, they ended up just chilling at the den so I did a loop around the Manuchi area and past Sosigi. The weather forecast showed rain, but they always say that and it never reaches us, it is still cloudy though, which seems to keep the heat in at least. In the afternoon the dogs were out and about as I followed them past Manuchi Pan moving in a North Easterly direction. The funny thing was that if they continued in the direction they were moving, they’d cross straight over the hyena den! I made a break for the den just in case; the first dog had already reached the den by the time I arrived.

There was not a hyena in sight, they pulled their typical scatter and run maneuver with the cubs hiding in the den. It’s kind of what would happen if somebody through a hand grenade…except there were no grenades…and no people with any power struggles…so maybe not. The dogs sniffed around the den for two minutes and continued on their way. I continued tailing them, but eventually lost them just before it was getting dark. I back tracked past the hyena den to see if everything was back to normal and was greeted by the usual inquisitive cubs playing and suckling their mother. It was quite odd to see the hyena cub setting filled with wild dogs instead.

Tanga was also near base camp last night and drinking down at Malilangwe Dam. I tried to catch up with Alan and the leopard this morning but he was in the hills. The Dogs were already long gone so I continued a drive around the hills until I reached Lojaan Dam, where there was a large herd of buffalo in the water – they scattered on arrival, but relaxed after I sat snapping pictures.

I’ve been meaning to catch up with no ears for a while so it was down to Nduna Dam from there. No ears was near the dam, but he looked down and out, there was no snorting, no charging, hardly any movement from the poor guy. He had taken another beating from another rhino and was looking in bad shape. Bruce, the vet, will be looking into the extent of his injuries, lets hope we can give him a top up so he can recover.

Elephant Descent: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on June 28, 2009

in videopost

. 3 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, birding-african-birds, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, elephants, endangered-species, experience, film, flickr, giraffe, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hyaena, Hyena cubs, IUCN-Red-List, lions, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, Parrot, peace-parks, photos, podcasting, polls, predators, teach, video, waterhole, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, zimbabwe

There are still times when you get more done in a day than you expect to, but those days are getting fewer and fewer as life goes on. Having said that, I did manage one of these extraordinary feats during the week and captured and edited some elephant and a few extras.

Today’s video was when a small breeding herd of elephant descended down the hills around Malilangwe Dam to drink. I was lucky enough to spot them on their way and headed straight for a large flat rock that I know is a good spot to sit and wait for animals to come down, while staying well hidden and inaccessible. It was a magic time watching them drinking and spraying mud.

Today I did another riverside drive ending at Chikwete Cliffs where I had that herd of buffalo earlier in the week. It was rather unsuccessful, but besides the freezing cold morning, was pleasant to get out. I ended up shooting some arbitrary stills to keep busy. The lions that were seen at Banyini yesterday were not the same pride as the one with the snared cub, I was thinking about that poor little guy and I heard they were spotted in the area and the little guy is still alive, now we just need the right time and place to get that snare off.

I headed straight for the hyena cubs this afternoon and again went wild with the stills, getting a little of the cubs playing and the mother hyena looking very suspicious of us. I needed to get home early, because we have a dinner date at the stables for a change – yes, we can still have a good time out in the bush.

Night Cubs: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on June 3, 2009

in videopost

. 1 Comment Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, endangered-species, experience, film, flickr, giraffe, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hyaenas, Hyena cubs, hyena den, IUCN-Red-List, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photos, podcasting, polls, predators, teach, waterhole, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, zimbabwe

I settled down last night to the sound of the lions roaring down in the south somewhere. This brought back memories of all those nights out with Manyari and the pride, following them through Mopane woodlands through to open grasslands.

I actually miss going out at night, it is a different world out there as something switches over in the mind of wild animals and the hunting instinct kicks into full swing. Although, it seems as though some other lion instincts have recently kicked into play, a report came in today of two groups of lions mating down at Hwata Pan. This has to be our lions; it also makes me wonder if the cubs are still alive, I hope I have a chance to check them out tomorrow.

I began my day with a few repairs to old Dozer. It was sunset at Bandama Pan and the scouts and I were checking for signs of black rhino, as I turned the my Hi-Lux’s key over I heard a hollow click and then I new that the starter motor had turned its last engine over. If I didn’t have the scouts with me last night, I would have been stranded. Anyway, I took advantage of my wings being clipped and fixed all the other little odds and ends that accumulate over the weeks. I was all ready to rock and roll by the afternoon and headed for the hyena cubs. They teased me with a few jack in the box movements at entrance to the den, they tentatively made their appearance in the beginning, but when darkness covered over, the party streamers hit the ceiling.

Before I new it all the adults had gathered round the den, life after dark is a totally different scene. And the cubs then also came to life, back to their playful selves they ventured round past the vehicle into the bushes doing their regular exploration. I will be back to some more exploration of my own as I go out with the scouts first thing in the morning and Kim will update you on the dogs.

After-dinner Titbits: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on May 31, 2009

in videopost

. 3 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, den, denning, documentary, ecotraining, education, elephants, endangered-species, experience, film, flickr, giraffe, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hunting, hyena, Hyena cubs, IUCN-Red-List, leopard, lions, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photos, podcasting, polls, predators, suckle, teach, video, waterhole, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, zimbabwe

Through the aftermath of George’s destructive temper I crawled to get to the hyena den. This elephant knows how to fell a tree and get it to lie across a road so it cannot be pushed out the way. The cubs were out and about late yesterday afternoon when I pulled up to the den. To these hyenas, it is all normal for me to float in and out of their precious area. They are just so intelligent it blows my mind. They realize early on whether or not you are a threat.

The cubs were the most active I’ve seen them so far, at one stage I had a cub on each tyre testing their puncture resistance - as you know, this could possibly not turn out well! I sat amongst the sporting play with the adults often joining in way after the sun had set. This has undoubtedly become my favourite thing to look forward to during my excursions.

We have a road that winds through the hills with nice open areas between two peaks (this is not twin peaks). In between these hill tops is where animals love roam, especially at night while coming down to drink during the day. I discovered a narrow corridor with rocky cliff faces on either side that made me think of the “hot gates” in the battle of the Thermopylae. Of course I had to explore, but not surprising there were at least 300 buffalo spread out in the open grassy area on the other side! So this is not how that battle went! I backed up and got out of there, only to be held up by more of Georges road blocks.

The elephant bull was at Nyari pan last night, but this time was completely relaxed. He must have held it in and then walked up into that part of the hills later and vented. I headed down the hill to Nyari to see if I could find him this morning, I found evidence of him being there, but no elephant.

Down on Banyini there were twenty or so giraffe drinking in the flowing water. They continued to do their usual necking late into the afternoon. It has been a really hot winter’s day and I spent part of it checking a few of the leopard baits. On the camera traps we once again captured a brown hyena and so far we have nine leopards in the northern most part of the reserve – they say there is always more leopard than what you think, I hope this is true.

What’s on Sable’s Mind?: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on May 30, 2009

in videopost

. 2 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blogumentary, bovid, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, eland, endangered-species, experience, film, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hyaena, hyena, Hyena cubs, IUCN-Red-List, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photos, podcasting, polls, predators, sable, sable antelope, sunrise, teach, video, waterhole, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zebra, zimbabwe

You might be thinking to yourself, ”who held a council meeting and decided that the bovids get all the attention of late?” Could it be that antelope everywhere complained for the lack of wildcasting and who’s sponsoring this campaign, if it can be called that? Or even more outrageous, ”was I held at horn point by a rebel bachelor herd to swing the camera in their direction? If by some small chance you were thinking along those lines, you’d be wrong!

The real reason is that they are actually doing something other than grazing for a change. I even caught a herd of Eland on the airstrip horning each other just for sport, they are normally such shy animals, but this herd has been around Banyini since the grass dried up and seem to be used to the vehicles.

This is what happens when my wife is away, I speak and write nonsense. So, moving swiftly on, I headed for Hlamba Mlonga to catch the sunrise with baboons on the hill, but no baboons, so I weaved my way through the Mopani woodlands on route to the Chiredzi instead.

I spotted some strange movement in the water, which were the spawn of some sort of fish I must still look into. Kim was over on the Hippo side, I took a drive through hoping to catch a glimpse of the dogs, but the signal was bouncing around off the sides of the cliff, as it turned out, they were all the way on the western side of the reserve again.

I ended up identifying trees, I’m trying to bring myself up to scratch on my tree knowledge, but it is so difficult when you’re out on your own each day. I normally take a clipping to my friend Bruce, who I call wikiB, then he raps off a name from memory each time – I’ll keep trying. I have to fill you in on how the hyena cubs are getting on, but I think I will save that for tomorrow.

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Tag Archive for 'Hyena cubs'

Earless Injury: Video

Wild Hyena Den: Video

Elephant Descent: Video

Night Cubs: Video

After-dinner Titbits: Video

What’s on Sable’s Mind?: Video

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