Tag Archive for 'Impala'

Sandy Death Trap: Video


The wild dogs have sure been covering country again, moving long distances north and south, up and down like a yo-yo.

Croc bait
Puzzles takes up the rear making no attempt at hunting. Can’t blame her as the tummy’s now really beginning to grow. She feels nothing to beg from all the other family members, AND she gets rewarded. They’re all looking after mom as she prepares to bring the next batch of puppies into this world.

Shredders
Again the river proved to be the death trap for the impala. Jiggy caught this female as she tried to escape by crossing the river. Those pointed hooves are no match to a dogs paws that are far better equipped to stay on the surface of the sand.

River play
It was a good meal for the pack and they then spent the rest of the day lying around in the sand. I joined them. What a way to spend the day. It’s almost like spending the day on the beach, except on this beach you’re allowed to bring ALL your dogs!
While I shuffled around getting comfortable, moving here and there, the dogs would often come and lie up next to me. All very rewarding. Even Puzzles is slowly starting to trust me!

River adventure
It’s still hard to tell how much longer Puzzles has to go, but a good guess would be no more than 2 weeks.
I have seen her digging at a few old antbear holes in termite mounds, but nothing too serious. I wonder if she will go back to her old den in the hills?
Walking on water

Stuck in a Rut: Video

It’s the first of a new month and this roller coaster seems a little out of control! That’s just the way things are; nothing we can do about timing moving faster than what it used to. For a calm Sunday afternoon drive, I headed down to the dogs with my wife and Don, the producer of “The Big Five Challenge”. The dogs are so far in the south it took a while to get there, but the scenery along the river is just magnificent.

Afternoon at the beach

When we found Kim, he was already chilling in the river bed, while the dogs enjoyed what seemed to be a day at the beach. The vultures were trying to take advantage of the nutrients left in the dogs faeces, I still shiver at the thought, but the dogs were chasing the birds all over the show loving the afternoon game of tag. There are really large stretches of sand, which makes it feel like one is at the beach, I suppose it can be our own type of beach if we wanted it to be. The dogs proceeded into a sequence of playful running up and down the bank of the river, just a pity the light had already faded and we needed to start the trip back home.

Male Bushbuck

I had planned a day out with some of the Malilangwe scouts today; we were trying to track down some black rhino. We started at six in the morning and found some tracks pretty early on near Nduna Dam; this started a long walk in a north easterly direction. Weaving our way in and out of the hills, we found track after track and browsed branches with many other signs. We even had a warm rhino midden, but only ended up battling our way through the long grass. It was pleasant when we came to a stretch where we could walk under the shade of the Musasa tree.

Porcupine

We also found places where the rhino had been disturbed, and it was at one such place as this that we ended up confused as to what direction to continue. We did come across a few young elephant bulls meddling with the trees on the side of a road. Basically, this was how my day carried on; tracks…follow… no more tracks. Let me say though, it is not that easy, there is still lots of grass which covers over the tracks in the sand, and to top it all, it seems as though they are busy moving areas to have access to water. To me, it was still a successful day; in fact, any day walking through the African bush I considered a privilege.

White backed vulture

A Horny Game: Video


Jiggy hasn’t been living up to his name as the big killing machine. For 3 days now he hasn’t eaten, but the rest of the pack have.
The pups killed the other day and Puzzles and Jiggy never got to the kill. But when the pups joined them Puzzles made sure they regurgitated for her. She begged from 4 pups and they all fed her well, but there was none for Jiggy.

Not sharing
The next day the dogs were right in the south and when I got to them I saw one dog on the opposite bank of the Chiredzi river. Not able to drive down there I ran down to the river to see where the other dogs were. No sign. Then I saw an adult male impala running along the far bank of the river. It looked tired. It ran around the bend, so I had to run down the river too. It got to a donga/ravine and tried to jump across but fell short, being so tired, and thumped into the side with its chest. It lay there a while, then got up and ran on before disappearing into a thicket. Then I saw the wild dog pup came tearing along the bank. Got to the donga, sniffed around, then carried on. Got to the thicket, turned round and headed back the other way. Then turned again and back to the thicket. Just then the impala ran out and across the river.

Perfect spot

It’s very shallow now and mostly sand. The impala was exhausted and had already nearly stopped in the sand when the pup grabbed it. I had to sprint back to the car in the soft river sand. Drove further down and then tried to drive down into the river. The bank was steep. Then I was on 3 wheels. Then teetering on 2 and finally came to a grinding halt on a huge tree stump. I couldn’t go further, so grabbed my camera and ran to the dog and impala. The pup was now full and leaving to call the others. The impala was still standing with its backside having been eaten. I managed to get some footage before it collapsed on the ground. The pup was gone a while so I ran back to the car to try and jack it off the stump. Then I saw the other dogs arriving and had to rush back to the kill. This running in soft river sand is tough going. The dogs were great, even with me running at them they scattered at the last minute but only briefly and were back on the kill. I spent the next couple of hours with them in the river feeding and playing with them all around me. Even Puzzles. Just amazing to have this experience and to be accepted like this. Truly awesome.

Reflective kill
When the dogs eventually left I was left to dig myself out. Jacking the car wasn’t getting me off this massive tree stump. In the end I had to chop through this tree, nearly 2ft in diameter, and only then did the car start moving. Many more jacking attempts and digging and eventually about an hour and a half later I was out!

Can't float
With all this going on Jiggy got to the kill about half an hour late. There were still scraps but he didn’t even bother, as if too proud to eat from their kill.
And today the dogs were just being domestic. Just acting like domestic dogs. Lying around, playing a little and not up to much.

Playground
A herd of wildebeest got the pups attention for about 10mins and then all was quiet again, until sunset when the pups heard a white rhino nearby and decided to hassle the bull. It looked like a lot of fun with this huge tank repeatedly charging them but they were too quick. Unfortunately it didn’t offer me any opportunity to film it.

Blue waters

Broken Peace: Video


Oh my doggies are just wonderful!
As the days go on and I spend more and more time with them, they make me realise more and more what amazing animals they are. Nothing mind blowing, but just amazing AND I’m being allowed to spend my days with them.
The wild dog pack have spent the last few days chilling out in the hills and running sorties into the lowlands at dawn. So successful have been their raids in the mornings that they haven’t needed to hunt in the evenings and continue to spend their nights chilled out in the rocks.

Lone 'wolf'
And all this time, (well not at night) they’re allowing me up close and personal. So much so that I’m now seeing some development in Puzzles’ teats. Her nipples are starting to show, which they haven’t done in the past.
Golly this makes me wonder if I haven’t lost it…………… Staring at Puzzles’ teats and getting excited when I see them. Slow down dude…….!!!
If domestic dogs are anything to go by, Puzzles should have her pups in the next 2 to 3 weeks. At least I’m allowed to get excited about that, but not Puzzles’ nipples……. ☺

Puppy play
This area to the south of the hills at Hlamb Mhlonga, is prime impala country and a great place for the dogs to hang out. Actually it would be an ideal place to be denning with such an abundant food source close at hand. But Puzzles’ hasn’t shown any interest in dens in the area.

Bashing heads
I had left the dogs one morning in the hills and was on my way back to my vehicle when I heard the clashing of horns. Impala rutting season and the males were at each other. I ran over there knowing they would be too engrossed in each other to hear or even worry about my approach, and I did get really close. And I’ve seen it on numerous occasions when with a predator how they will home in on the sound of clashing horns. Easy pickings!

Distracted
Jigging continues to be the killing machine he is. For the last few days he’s been killing on his own and then calling the pack. Yesterday I was on his case but lost him and caught up to him milling around moving to and fro. And then he was onto it, an impala lying in the grass. He had obviously been chasing it and exhausted the impala ducked down in the grass hoping Jiggy would go screaming past. Which of course he did. But he was wiser than that and soon realised its trick. And when Jiggy did get to the impala it was way too exhausted to even stand up. Easy pickings.
And the good news is, Nike’s foot is fine. If I didn’t know she’d had an injury I wouldn’t have noticed her very slight limp.

Nike's trophy
I wish my injuries would heal that easily. My Achilles tendon seems to be torn and the muscle attaching to my hip hurts really badly. That seems to have come away from the bone. I’m sure a doctor would tell me the only thing to do is, Rest it! Well that’s not going to happen, I need to run with the dogs. And anyway if these animals can get over their injuries while still doing their daily ‘work’ then why can’t I? I think we get soft and pamper ourselves too much. And also I think if my Achilles and hip can heal with me using them, they’ll be so much stronger. So there you have it from Dr.Wolhuter!

Gigantic sunset
(Actually here IS something interesting: My wonderful mother, has Alzheimer’s and twice now she’s fallen and broken her hip. On both occasions, within a week she’s walking again. The nurse told me this is not unusual with Alzheimer’s patients, because they don’t remember their injury and so don’t have reason to feel sorry for themselves and carry on as if they’re just fine. The nurse said, other patients who have even smaller injuries take so much longer to feel better cos they continuously worry about their pain. Makes sense?)

Rhino Calf Jitters: Video

Every day I’m noticing how the bush is clearing up. The grass, vines, weeds and leaves have all decided they’ll give in for the season. But, let me say, if we had a longer rainy season we’d have a rain forest to contend with - that would make our lives very difficult indeed.

DPP_0175

Now the funny thing is, just when we think there’s no more rain, the heavens throw a spanner in the works. I just got caught in a heavy shower on my way back from a drive.

Rhino on Banyini

I’ve been scouting for black rhino tracks North of Nduna area. I found plenty of activity there and it is such a good filming location. I came across Mapanzani Weir just below Mapanzani Hill, which is an awesome spot with lots of rhino tracks. I’ve pretty much decided I’ll stick to that area until I get some action.

My what a long horn U have

I did, however, get some white rhino action on Banyini with a cow and her calf - I’ll say no more, enjoy the video.

Wildebeest, Malilangwe

Flocking Herd: Video

A few weeks back, I was filming three Ground Hornbills. It was interesting how they just made themselves at home amongst a large herd of Impalas. Every now and then the female Impalas would even play a few games with the birds.

Ground Hornbill herding

The Ground Hornbill’s deep resounding call has the ability to send one into a trance, it can literally be heard from a few kilometers away.

Manyari makes her Appearance

Out of the cover of a nearby bush, Manyari launched an attack on the herd of Impala. She had taken everyone by surprise and it was only by chance that I was rolling at the time.

Puzzled Look

I’m feeling all motivated after today’s seminars and after watching a few new releases, I can’t wait to get back out into the bush. I’m counting the days…