Tag Archive for 'zebra'

Rhino Pick Up Lines: Video


She put her head down and built up the courage to move over to the crouched figure on the ground. The sun had already set and the sky was a fiery red – the colour of blood. There’s something that switches over in the mind of a hyena when night falls and this hyena mum wanted desperately to give me the once over, or just a friendly sniff.

Mid morning thirst

Whichever one it was, I wasn’t about to find out and blocked her determined approaches as the cubs came to lie on the ground completely chilled out. They are so relaxed that I think mum wants a little attention or lies down next to me to keep an eye on me. The saga at the den continues as I widen my terrain, finding males at Manuchi pan drinking at night and then I’m hoping to get them feeding on an old dagga boy that has died down at Malilangwe Dam.

Shade Seeker

This old buffalo survived a lion attack by the skin of its teeth as it tore down the park managers fence and in coming to see what all the commotion was about, scared off the lions. This whole event must have put too much stress on the poor animal and drove the last nail in his coffin as he lay at the dam to die.

Brand New

I’ve also been going far and wide during the week to pick up a few extra shots. Nduna dam is still pumping with wild life. I spotted a leopard on the banks of the Chiredzi River and it looks like Sjambok is still with the Lioness from the Nduna pride. Cheetah have been spotted all over the Banyini area and one still with five cubs. Things are happening and the temperatures are rising well into the upper thirties. This is bringing in Elephant and Rhino to drink at mid-morning to suppress the heat – Come on summer, come on!

Balancing

Contagious play: Video


I had left the dogs late yesterday once it had become too dark to film. It must have been around then that they killed big because when I found them this morning at dawn the whole pack were well rounded.

Big kill

It was a strange dawn. A dense mist had moved in covering the whole reserve blotting out any chance the sun had of peeping through.
The wild dogs’ signal was in the hills, so I walked in there. It was a very different walk, even though it was the same path I’d followed a couple of days ago. The air was completely still. Nothing seemed to stir except the odd little Cisticola that I flushed on my way through the rocks. It was a magical calm. On the verge of being eerie, but not so at all. Just extremely peaceful. The peace of course now only being broken by my incessant whistles as I got closer to the dogs.

What's that all about?

They too were a part of this morning atmosphere hardly lifting an ear to my approach. They know the whistle and were totally happy to take in the peace. I joined them sitting on a rock several meters away and savoured this interesting dawn. It was very special.
As the clouds began to lift several hours later, the dogs stirred and the pups were soon into full on play mode.

More play
But that was the pack done for the day. They spent the day in the hills digesting off those large bellies.

Calmed down

Sticks and Stripes! Video


The last few days were hardly much fun for me or the dogs.
The weather has been rather unpleasant. That would be good English way of saying it. I’ll leave my bad English to your imagination.
For 3 days the cloud has been low, cold and sporadic drizzles. Even the dogs weren’t enjoying it huddling up together to keep warm. That didn’t help me huddling up on my own. It’s about time they let me join them.

Yes I can!
But today the sun again appeared! (Yes I know I’m spoilt with all the sunshine we get but then I’m used to it and so expect it. Spoilt brat!)

Sun at last
In their usual playful manner the pups have been taking on big game, buffalo and zebra. Zebra is a common game but buffalo not so and the other day they hassled them for about 2 and half hours. Of course Puzzles and Jiggy kept to the sideline just watching. Why waste their energy.

Should we?
Having finished with the buffalo, the dogs were at Bandama pan. This is a fairly large expanse of water and as far as I know the dogs have never been there. And it showed. The whole pack was nervous to approach for a drink and then circumnavigated the pan in their tense way before heading off south.

Still nervous
Puzzles continues to grow. She’s looking good, but I think she might still be about a week from giving birth. I know I said that last time, and I might just say it again. At least we do know she is well and truly pregnant and now it’s just a matter of time.
Mark is away for a few days, so I’ll be at the helm. Sorry for you!

What’s on Sable’s Mind?: Video


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!

Zebra Dust Bath

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.

Eland, Malilangwe

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.

Sunrise Portrait

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.

Schools Out

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.

Tyre Titbit

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?)

Buffalo Waders: Video


Winding my way up through the hills, I heard the screeching cry of an elephant. I wondered if it was our friend George giving someone a rev early in the morning. I pulled up to Nyari Pan thinking I could be lucky enough to have the adrenaline pumping again; instead, I watched the sun rise until it reflected off the pan - hardly a compromise I would say.

Ear injury

I then heard Alan coming along from a distance, turns out he was the one who bumped into the elephant – I think he was due for a change of underwear.
I took the route down to Chikwete Cliffs on the Chiredzi River and didn’t expect to see a whole lot going on, but normally I pick up on a little white rhino action. I ended up having tea overlooking the river; subconsciously I think this was my plan.

Autumn forest

I heard a report of a zebra with a young foal not more than a few hours old; I headed for Banyini, but didn’t find it there. Later in the day I positioned myself at Mapanzani Weir in the east of the reserve. I had chosen a terrible spot, because when a large herd of giraffe came along my line of sight was obscured, then I heard a rustling in the bush behind me and huge herd of buffalo were moving around the weir.

Mapanzani Herd

They came out on the other side and I had two large bushes in front of me! I had to get these guys wading in the water so I ended up leopard crawling to a spot to get some footage. Buffalo can be pretty stupid at times, but they are always alert. I managed not to disturb them and I enjoyed my afternoon at the weir. I headed for home past some rock paintings near a cave where a rhino was reported to be sleeping.

Rock Painting