Tag Archives: hyena den

Hyena Dunkers: Video

The clan has moved to the very first den that we found them at nine months ago, I’ve been catching the sunsets at the den with the cubs emerging for their late afternoon suckle.

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.

Burning Rhino Backdrop: Video

Yellow to red, filled with blue and white a fire flickers through the colour spectrum. It’s that time of the year that ecologists recommend burning certain areas of the bush veld. This would normally be a natural phenomenon, but has to be calculated and self-acted in our controlled environments.

It’s amazing how the animals are not really perturbed by the blaze and carry on as normal, just keeping out of its way. The fire swept past the hyena den but was stopped short by the trampled, there was no sign of any panic at the den, they just go underground and let the smoke pass over. I surprised the cubs at the Manuchi crossing yesterday and they were quite glad to see me tagging along.

The mothers were doing their usual “Jack-in the Box” type neck stretches eyeballing me out, but just making sure the cubs were alright. The cubs then scurried back to the den, which gave me an opportunity to follow the females on a little hunting excursion in the cool drizzle. Temperatures soared at around 40 degrees during the week and then dropped to 20 degrees on the week-end. The drizzle brings a little relief from the harsh rays of the sun, allowing the hyenas to move around during the day. They eventually came nose to nose with a herd of zebra, but nothing came of it. This is the first time I’ve been able to follow them with my vehicle and they were quite relaxed about it. So a small staring session and everyone went their own way. The hyenas headed in-between the hills and I was left stumped.

I met up with Sjambok earlier in the week, he was looking like a true king. He had eaten far too much, was over weight and lazy. He’s in charge, so I guess he can do what he likes.
One interesting thing I spotted was a White-tailed Mongoose.

This light footed creature is a little larger than a Spotted Genet and shows a lot of intelligence by hanging low and sitting on its white tail while I was scanning for it using the spotlight. Kim and I swapped blogging days while I head off to my sisters wedding for the week, so until next week – over and out.

Cub Compare: Video

I arrived back on Malilangwe with an icy cold tail wind blowing me all the way from Mutare. My vehicle was still on the hill lighting up the wild dog den, so first things first, I caught a ride with Kim to the den. I ended up doing the lights while Kim was filming; I was quite excited as this was my first visual of the pups.

Strange little guys – as good looking as little bulldogs I would say. I spent most of the morning on the hill catching up with Kim and exchanging stories. I was dying to check up on the hyena cubs so that was the obvious next stop. I saw two of the little guys as I arrived at the den; actually, they are not that little anymore.

They didn’t hang around and I thought they had forgotten the sound of my vehicle – I was a little disappointed. I drove around later in the afternoon until the sun was setting, then went back to the wild dog den to deliver some light. The dogs had left late to hunt and we stayed waiting long after dark. They hadn’t returned and I was again keen to get back to the hyenas.

As I had hoped, they were all back at the old den and lively as ever! Six cubs headed straight for my vehicle and proceeded to bite anything they could get their teeth into. The video I’ve posted is from before I left, this will help us see their progress; that is, as soon as I produce a clip of the footage I got this evening. It’s good to be back!

Earless Injury: Video

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

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.

Full Moon Hyena Whoop: Video

Hyena cubs and more hyena cubs, this is how everything unfolded last night, and again this morning. The cubs attempted to out-whoop each other, which the adults responded to and turned the ravine into a resounding amphitheatre – amazing! Then the mother of two of the cubs showed them how to put those scent glands to use. The den smelled like the hyenas had eaten well and I found a hair ball the size of a Persian rug where I normally park.

I like to give them plenty of space, which normally allows the adults to make use of the entire area and I pick up more activity. Last night the one adult almost climbed underneath the vehicle they were lying so close. This is great to see, because we don’t want to be putting these animals under stress each time we pull up to the den.

All animals, even within the same species, respond to us in different ways, we don’t always judge the situation correctly, but this is the nature of what we do. The scouts that have been helping track down the black rhinos are occupied with other important anti-poaching tasks, so I wait patiently for them to have some time to do some more tracking.

I took an easy drive to Nduna this afternoon, there were lots of elephant tracks on the road until finally I came across a lone elephant bull. There is no charge or close get away story to be told, on the contrary, he was quite a peaceful young chap. What I was on my way to check out anyhow, was whether I’d find the earless rhino in recovery. I found him hobbling close to the hills looking worse than ever. The limp is bad and he smells like rotting flesh, I’m really worried about him. Oh, I made a mistake when sexing this rhino, it is actually a bull. Only with endangered species, will the reserve sometimes intervene, but there’s a process of acquiring permission from parks (this can be quick with an injury situation). We will check him out tomorrow to decide whether this will be necessary… but heaven forbid we get too close.

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African wildlife adventures live from the bush