Tag Archives: lions

Speed Freaks: Video

When the moon hits the sky like a wafer thin slice of pizza pie then you know… it’s a new moon.
I’m all sing songy and full of energy, I’ve been doing the 3:30 am dance to get to the wild dogs before they start moving.

Funny thing is, I’ve enjoyed getting out there and doing something different.
A little variation in life can only be good. And it really was new moon… three days ago now.
Kim and I are putting a promo video together for the second wild dog film and I’ve been struggling to get on to the blog. I see the comments building up, thank you for all the responses.

Those dogs are a hoot, but they take us through the toughest terrain. This can only mean one thing for me – punctures!
I feel like I’m working in a tyre shop, anyway, it comes as part of the package I guess.

The dogs were thriving down in the South of the reserve, killing between three and six Impala a day.
They have even ventured out the fence to hunt a few extra impala on the hunting concession south west of Malilangwe -
little poachers they are.

Once the hunting was done for the morning and the dogs decide they’d tortured us enough through the mopane woodland, they then rested up at Chavagwisa Pan, this routine went on for a good week. This is the only water in this part of the reserve with the rains still holding out. The dogs take over the pan leaving the antelope snorting and grunting from the sidelines as they remain thirsty through the extra hot summer days. It’s a hard life near the bottom of the food chain.

Thankfully today the heat was squelched with a few light showers, but the dogs moved North and then across the Chiredzi River again, now the roads are too wet to get there. Let’s wait and see what happens, in the mean time I’ve been to checkup on the hyenas.

Lion Cubs on the Hunt: Video

Christmas Day has come and gone, I spent the day with family in Mutare and enjoyed the sunset in the hills.

In case you’re wondering, there was no Chanel No. 5 to celebrate our anniversary, but a little form was shown with a sunset cruise on Malilangwe Dam where we spotted an Osprey having an argument with a Marabou Stork, the Marabou ended up with the fish, but the Osprey looked pretty determined to teach the Marabou some table manners.

Banyini Pan has been drying up with the intense heat, but half a kilometer to the south is natural pan teaming with life. This is where I found a secretary bird for the first time in our stay at Malilangwe – graceful birds, always a great sighting.

I also managed to catch up with the lions on Banyini one evening. Magwaza’s three cubs are out and about, they are joining the hunt now and outdoing the adults at times – when they can stop playing about and focus on the task at hand of course. One of the cubs pulled down an Impala calf, interestingly enough, the lionesses left the cubs to fight over the small impala on their own without interfering. There are so many young impala around it’s difficult not to run into them around every corner.

Holiday season will soon fade away, but for the baboons every day is a swing in the trees.

Happy New Year, rich blessings, stay safe!

Rhinohog: Video

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.

Hyena Chop Stix: Video

The dark clouds have been rolling in over Malilangwe, but with nothing more than the promise of rain. It is November already and anytime from mid-month onwards we can expect the down pours to start. I can still remember last year, when I was caught in a heavy storm and the water was flowing straight through my clothes as I cautiously navigated the muddy roads– it makes one feel like a kid playing in the rain.

I’ve been getting some daily exercise walking up and down the hyena hill to check on the new den.

I eventually found the two older mothers using a den right on the top of the hill in a different den than I thought previously. When I first spotted one of the older cubs roaming the hill I used my “special call” to attract their attention so they wouldn’t freak out by my presence. They came straight away to inspect and then strolled over to a crack in the rocks.

I followed and took up a position on a nearby rock. One big mother then came out the den to see what new clan member had arrived; surprisingly, she was completely relaxed with me being there. I stayed for the morning to observed and take photos and get them used to me being around the new den.

The hyenas and wild dogs had a huge confrontation South of Manyuchi two mornings ago, but nothing serious enough for them to eat each other.

I received an update on Magwaza the lioness and her three cubs. They were hanging around Chitindigova Hill just North of Bandama Pan, always in the hills these lions, the cubs are growing strong and the ex-Nduna lioness is still mixed up with the pride with one other lioness. This unknown lioness seems to be lactating, which means there might be some more little ones on the way. It may be too soon to jump to conclusions, there is really no way to tell for sure, unless some mad person climbs into the hill to take a look. I think I might camp out in my vehicle over next few days to see what I can spot.

Hyena Sunrise Bath: Video

Once again I’m back to witness the African sunrise piercing through the brush and silhouetting a baobab tree.

My first destination had to be the hyena den to check up on how the little guys were doing. I arrived at the den to find no one home, but this was nothing to be concerned about because I had guessed they were moving around a little more often after running into the cubs at Manuchi Pan two weeks ago. I checked in at all the other dens hoping to pick up some signs of movement – and hopefully no evidence of lions reeking havoc.

Finding nothing nothing there, I continued on to do a loop around the reserve to catch up with what was happening while I was away. Driving through the hills one notices how the Knob Thorn trees are all standing out with their green leaves. The Mopane Trees are still dry which is giving the woodlands that eerie feel with the blackened grasslands also leave the animals finding grazing elsewhere. I had organised a cruize on Malilangwe Dam for the afternoon, which is a real treat for me not having to drive and just take a camera along to shoot all the action.

This then inspired a fishing trip for the following day, but first I needed to get back onto the hyenas’ disappearance. I pulled a late night shift to catch th cubs in the act, this turned out to be a winner.

There were five cubs with the two younger cubs, but the new borns seem to have been moved. The usual excited greeting cerimony followed and they all remained comfortable with me hanging around all the time. This morning I managed to do a recount on the cubs and all six were there with the little guys still missing. I will be trying to pick up on their location tonight, hopefully they have not gone too far.

Handling Fire: Video

The lions have been back.
I saw male lion tracks in the area of the wild dog den and on getting to the den, no sign of the dogs. This was in the afternoon as I’d spent the morning with Mark on the giraffe carcass with the hyaenas.
For the last couple of hours of light I searched the area, but picked up no sign of the dogs.

With an early start the next day I was back in the area searching, climbing all the highest koppies hoping to get a signal from Chevvy’s transmitter. In this mountainous country, using telemetry becomes rather hit and miss, but being up on the highest peaks usually produces success. By lunch time and with many conquered hills under my belt, I was still no closer to finding the dogs.

So I’d decided that I’d fly in the late afternoon. But just before heading to the airstrip, I climbed another mountain, this time close to home base, and sure enough I got a signal a long ways to the west.

The whole pack, including the pups had moved to another den having travelled about 5kms from the previous den. This is a long way for these 12 week old puppies, but they all seemed just fine.

They only spent a couple of days at this den and moved to another further south. This was far more user friendly to me than the last one.

But after being there only 2 days, disaster struck. Getting to the dogs at dawn, I only counted 10 puppies. One was missing and the pack had now moved away from the den. Searching the area there was no sign of foul play, until I got to the den and peering into the crevice I saw the curled up body of an African Rock Python. I could only see the one coil and then I saw the dead puppy. Shortly the python had disappeared. Not an easy feeling as I wondered which crevice it might appear from next. And then of course I went even more against the grain and wedged myself deep into the crevice to retrieve the puppy. Which I did and found its upper body covered in saliva. The python was already beginning to swallow the pup and my appearing on the scene must have disturbed it. I left the puppy there, but the python never returned.

The pack subsequently moved their den back to the previous one. Hopefully no more pythons up there!

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