Wildcast - African bush adventures live-blogged to a screen near you

When I arrived at the den in the dark this morning one of the adults barked at me and left. And for the rest of the day there was no sign of the adults or the pups. I could hear the pups squabbling in the den but they didn’t venture out without the adults there. Midday I left the den for a few hours. This is usually a time when nothing happens. (I’ve noticed it with these dogs and also the previous pack I’ve followed. Midday is their main sleep time. Night time too.) Back again in the early afternoon and still not a peep from the adults. As the light was fading and only just enough for me to film, the pups came out to play on their own without the adults being there. This is brilliant news. So hopefully in the days to come they will now be brave enough to play outside the den! At very last light the alpha female and alpha male arrived to feed the pups. They were both well fed. I’m not sure if they killed this afternoon or if this was from the morning’s hunt. They seemed oblivious to me in the hide. Great stuff. But after a while when I moved the male saw me and barked. But only once. The pups of course scattered but were soon out again looking for scraps. As it got dark I packed up. This time the dogs were a little more serious in their barking but I like to think they’re getting used to me. Not too likely after only a week or so at it. It also seems that these are the only 2 adults in the pack. There’s been no sign of the other female. Has she maybe gone off and had pups on her own? Has she teamed up with Whisky? Wouldn’t that be the best!

I got to the den and set up just in time for the adults to arrive. They must have left to go hunting in the dark this morning and were successful. The 2 females arrived at the den whining to call the pups. Like ants they erupted from the den to receive warm fresh meat regurgitated by the adults. And meat they got. Lots of it. Those tummies were bulging and yet they still wanted more. The alpha female came back to check they’d eaten all their breakfast and one of the pups tried to suckle from her, but she’s already drying up and the pups are already enjoying a meat only diet. And for the rest of their lives it will be fresh meat. Very seldom will they scavenge from a carcass they didn’t kill. Especially if not fresh. It was great to have the pups running around for about 15minutes fighting/playing with each other before they retired for the rest of the day. With such full tummies they needed to sleep them off. With them up to nothing I slept off part of my day in the hide. That eternal waiting game. A comfortable double bed would make it a lot easier. But then I’d be in such a deep sleep I wouldn’t wake up to anything. And so that being the very reason I’m always uncomfortable when trying to sleep in the field. Maybe I should just get an assistant to keep an eye on things for me while I sleep in comfort?? I’m not able to get photographs of the pups at the moment because the noise of the camera will have them running for cover. For now these images are from a couple of years ago. But soon I hope to get new images. adventure, africa, african, animal, animal kingdom, blog, blogumentary, conservation, documentary, dog, ecotraining, education, endangered species, experience, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, hunting, kill, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open Content Alliance, pamushana, peace parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, wild dogs, wildcast, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

Yeah! I m safely back in the bush! Just busy getting all my equipment sorted and ready to roll at sunrise tomorrow. But not so exciting to be sitting in my hide again all day. I just hope the wild dogs will again perform and continue to get used to my presence. adventure, africa, african, animal, animal kingdom, animals, blog, blogumentary, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, experience, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, impala, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open Content Alliance, pamushana, peace parks, photo, photos, podcasting, teach, video, wild dogs, wildcast, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

It was one of those days in town. And thankfully I only do this once a month! Running around shopping malls with my trolley ain t the kind of thing I call fun. Well not just yet. And dentists and doctors also don t fit into my fun category. Anyway I m all set to hit the road again back to the bush tomorrow!!! adventure, africa, african, animal, animal kingdom, animals, blogumentary, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, experience, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, kids, lion, lions, malilangwe, Open Content Alliance, pamushana, peace parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, wildcast, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

Penny s birthday today and I just couldn t face not being with her. I drove through the night to arrive at dawn to surprise Penny. She s a happy bunny to have her daddy. Happy dad too now needs to recover! These buffalo just kept coming and coming out the woodland. It was a huge herd. Really spectacular.

At last the pups gave me a peek into their lives although it didn’t last very long. The alpha female arrived obviously after a successful hunt around 8h30 this morning. On arriving at the den she whined a little ways off but really quietly. I think she was a little apprehensive with that thing in the hide. Then she got bold and walked to the den and called them out. Unfortunately she remained behind some bush, which I had left there to give her some cover. She suckled the pups standing up and then shortly another dog regurgitated meat for them. (Not sure if it was the male or the other female. Actually we don’t even know if there are 3 adults in the pack.) That was when I got lucky and the pups came into my clearing to eat the chunks. They are just so cute these little guys. They lost their ugly look they have at about 3 weeks and are now looking more like dogs. But stocky little dogs. Nothing lean like their parents. That will only come at about 4 to 5 months. For now they’re just cute little puppies. Having filmed them for about 4 minutes my tape ran out and just the click of me changing tapes alerted the adults. With one bark the pups underground! (I wasn’t able to get any photos today. This photo was taken a couple of years ago and those pups are much the same age as these little guys are now.) Several hours later the Alpha came back to the den but then saw me through a little gap in the hide. She barked several times and didn’t come back. But at least they really do seem to be getting used to me at last. Still got a long long way to go. adventure, africa, african, animal, animal kingdom, animals, blog, blogumentary, bush, bush knowledge, conservation, cute, documentary, dog, ecotraining, education, endangered species, experience, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, hunting, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open Content Alliance, pamushana, peace parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, puppy, teach, video, wild dogs, wildcast, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

Another day in my hide and another day of no filming. The good thing is the dogs are still around and they did call the pups out while I was there but they called them around the corner into the rocks where I couldn’t see them. It looked like they were already regurgitating meat for the pups. Then and adult gave one bark and the pups bolted back into the den. And that was them for the day. At least the dogs did call the pups out with me there and when they saw me arriving this morning they only gave one bark and left me alone. So hopefully they’re slowly getting used to me. It’s sure going to be a long slow haul. While sitting in the hide in the afternoon I heard a skirmish not too far off with wild dogs and a hyaena. I presume the dogs had killed and the hyaena was trying to steal the carcass. The dogs were having none of it and kept badgering the hyaena. The hyaena kept screaming as the wild dogs tormented it. The lions roaring was more roaring stuff I hadn’t used before, shot a couple of weeks ago just after the lions had made their waterbuck kill. adventure, africa, african, animal, animal kingdom, animals, blogumentary, conservation, documentary, dog, ecotraining, education, experience, film, filmaker, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, hyaenas, hyena, lion, lions, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open Content Alliance, pamushana, peace parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, wild dogs, wildcast, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

I left the dogs to themselves today hoping they’ll get used to the hide. So tomorrow I’ll try my luck again. I was out early to see if I could find the dogs hunting but it turned out I was too early as I found their tracks over mine when I went back to Manyuchi pan. Later in the morning I got reports of a dead leopard. On investigation it turns out to be the leopard we’ve had someone working on. Her carcass was in a tree. So obviously put there by another leopard. The vet came to do a post mortem on what remained of the carcass. It had been well fed on leaving only skin and bones. The vet found puncture wounds in the skull and haemorrhaging on the one remaining front leg. She had obviously been killed, and so it must have been another leopard. This is the 3rd such incident on Malilangwe. Why are the leopards killing each other? I really don’t think there’s an over population of them. Not sure what it could be. With that sad news I moved down to the Chiredzi River and saw these elephants sliding down the very steep river banks to come and drink. And it’s not even 10minutes and the matriarch has them on the move again back into the woodlands to go and feed. Also taking advantage of the river were these vultures that often come down here to sun themselves, bathe and then have to drip dry. On leaving the river I encountered this young bull on top of the bank. He was in to showing off and gave me a headshake as I arrived, but only to them resume feeding again. I must say it was just good to be driving across the whole property again checking out the usual sights, especially after having been so tied up with lions for so long. adventure, africa, african, animal, animal kingdom, animals, blog, blogumentary, conservation, documentary, dog, ecotraining, education, elephant, elephants, experience, film, filmaker, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, hartebeest, kill, leopard, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open Content Alliance, pamushana, peace parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, vultures, wild dogs, wildcast, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zebra, zimbabwe

I spent yesterday afternoon building my hide and before sunrise today I had it up and I was in place for action at the wild dog den. It was a long cramped up day and although the dogs came around a few times they wouldn’t go in to suckle the pups. After sunset I packed up, but left the hide in place. I think I’ll leave the dogs for tomorrow and give them time to get used to the hide without me. Walking back to the car, now already almost dark, I walked into a female leopard. Luckily she gave way. A long day of nothing but staring at this den. Not even any photographs. The clip on the lions is from the night before last when Manyari and Magwaza met up after having lost each other during the hunt. adventure, africa, african, animal, animal kingdom, blog, blogumentary, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, experience, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, leopard, lion, lions, malilangwe, manyari, mashable, narrowcasting, night, Open Content Alliance, pamushana, peace parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, puppy, teach, video, wild dogs, wildcast, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

I really can’t get my mind around how lions work. They are so haphazard in their manners that I’m sure not even they know what’s going on. Last night the Nyari pride headed south. They moved all the way down to Malevula hills across some really rough terrain of hardened clay pitted with deep elephant tracks. At the hills they split seeming to be flanking some prey animals. We never saw the prey and doubt they did, but now we were one lion short. Magwaza had gone off on her own. The rest of the pride waited and waited for her to return. Nobody even roared. When the wind picked up the lions took off straight into it. Some distance further on they found this zebra carcass. The skin was still mostly in tact and still draped itself of the boney framework of the animal. Vultures had cleaned it up from the inside leaving nothing but the skin and bones. And the lions just weren’t interested. Realising vultures had been at it they moved on and Manyari didn’t even bother to inspect the kill. The lions moved back down wind and waited. Where was Magwaza? Some time later they got active again heading west. But now somehow Manyari managed to shake off the males when she went zebra hunting. Alone she called softly and eventually Magwaza arrived. But still no sign of the males. The girls continued west hunting. Eventually Manyari managed to pluck a young impala from the herd. When Magwaza arrived she was greeted with a cold reception and Manyari had no plans on sharing her carcass. But when she started feeding Magwaza took her chance and managed to sneak in on the carcass. The girls fed in relative peace without the boys around. An hour later there was little left but the bloodstains on the grass. The males had been roaring to the east and now that the girls had finished their meal they roared back but neither party seemed in any rush to join up. I’m going to be leaving the lions for a few weeks now, although I might bump into them occasionally, to concentrate on the wild dogs. My next plan is to get a hide up near the den and see if I have any success. On my way south to the lions last night a huge herd of buffalo were on their way to drink at Banyini. Some panicked at the sight of my car and stampeded leaving a stunning orange dust behind them. africa, african, animal, animal kingdom, animals, blog, blogumentary, buffalo, buffalo stampede, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, experience, film, filmaker, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, hunting, impala, kill, lion, lions, malilangwe, manyari, mashable, narrowcasting, nature, night, Open Content Alliance, pamushana, peace parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, wildcast, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

I really can’t get my mind around how lions work. They are so haphazard in their manners that I’m sure not even they know what’s going on. Last night the Nyari pride headed south. They moved all the way down to Malevula hills across some really rough terrain of hardened clay pitted with deep elephant tracks. At the hills they split seeming to be flanking some prey animals. We never saw the prey and doubt they did, but now we were one lion short. Magwaza had gone off on her own. The rest of the pride waited and waited for her to return. Nobody even roared. When the wind picked up the lions took off straight into it. Some distance further on they found this zebra carcass. The skin was still mostly in tact and still draped itself of the boney framework of the animal. Vultures had cleaned it up from the inside leaving nothing but the skin and bones. And the lions just weren’t interested. Realising vultures had been at it they moved on and Manyari didn’t even bother to inspect the kill. The lions moved back down wind and waited. Where was Magwaza? Some time later they got active again heading west. But now somehow Manyari managed to shake off the males when she went zebra hunting. Alone she called softly and eventually Magwaza arrived. But still no sign of the males. The girls continued west hunting. Eventually Manyari managed to pluck a young impala from the herd. When Magwaza arrived she was greeted with a cold reception and Manyari had no plans on sharing her carcass. But when she started feeding Magwaza took her chance and managed to sneak in on the carcass. The girls fed in relative peace without the boys around. An hour later there was little left but the bloodstains on the grass. The males had been roaring to the east and now that the girls had finished their meal they roared back but neither party seemed in any rush to join up. I’m going to be leaving the lions for a few weeks now, although I might bump into them occasionally, to concentrate on the wild dogs. My next plan is to get a hide up near the den and see if I have any success. On my way south to the lions last night a huge herd of buffalo were on their way to drink at Banyini. Some panicked at the sight of my car and stampeded leaving a stunning orange dust behind them. adventure, africa, african, animal, animal kingdom, animals, blog, blogumentary, buffalo, buffalo stampede, bush, bush knowledge, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, experience, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, hunting, impala, kill, lion, lions, malilangwe, manyari, mashable, narrowcasting, nature, night, Open Content Alliance, pamushana, peace parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, wildcast, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zebra, zimbabwe

I went out early to the wild dog den and took up my position above the den. None of the adults were around and the pups were in the den. This time I had my camera. Just as the sun was setting the alpha female (the same alpha female from the group of 3 I had filmed some time ago.) came trotting up to the den and called the pups. She was totally unaware of me, although she had come along the same path I’d left my shoes on. I went bare-foot as I could then be quieter when approaching. I peered over the edge of my rock and saw what looked like 9 little pups suckling madly while mom stood there keeping a look out. I was keen to take photos but worried the sound of the camera clicking would disturb her. But I had to get at least one photograph. So click I did. She heard it, looked up, saw me, barked and took off. The pups took off into the den. I got the photo but I don’t like to disturb them like that. It’s just so hard in that rocky area to observe anything from a distance. You have to be almost on top of them or else you see nothing. The pups look like they re 4 to 5 weeks old. I left the den with the alpha female barking at me as I went. The lions, well the lions. They were on the move south and at Chikwete Cliffs took an east and kept that direction all night. A couple more unsuccessful hunting attempts through the night and the pride are starting to look a little lean. At dawn they’d reached Chimize pan where Manyari took the lead and went in a wide circle around some zebra. She was very much in the right place but wasn’t getting support from the rest of the pride and when she charged in the zebra took off with no confrontation at all. While looking for the pride to regroup, Manyari was suddenly confronted by her cubs that came out of nowhere. 4 lionesses and 1 young male. These are the same lions the Nyari pride chased off the zebra kill recently. The big cubs and Manyari were all happy to see each other. But only until Sjambok came charging in and chased them off with his brother hot on his heels and Magwaza too. Manyari followed but didn’t seem to keen to see them off. Then Manyari followed after the youngsters. Her pride followed her. She called softly but the youngsters were now nervous. When they did get close again, the males saw them off. It’s strange that the Nyari males should chase off 4 available lionesses. But I’m sure it’ll just be a matter of time and they’ll have joined the Nyari pride. As for the one young male, well he’s likely to be sent packing by the Nyari males. adventure, africa, african, african birds, animal, animal kingdom, animals, blog, blogumentary, bush, bush knowledge, conservation, documentary, dog, ecotraining, education, endangered species, experience, experience adventure, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, hunting, lion, lions, malilangwe, manyari, mashable, narrowcasting, nature, night, Open Content Alliance, pamushana, peace parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, puppy, teach, video, wild dogs, wildcast, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

On my way out I went via the wild dog den. The good news is they haven’t moved following a number of us having inspected the den yesterday. (Although it might help if they did move.) So over the next few days I plan to visit the den a couple of times daily to start getting them used to this human thing. Then in a few days time I plan to spend a whole day there and see how they react. I think it’s going to be a long long process. As I passed Manyuchi pan there were vultures in the trees all around but no sign of any kill. It s quite possible they d been following the wild dogs and as it got late ended up roosting here. The lions seemed to be in buffalo mode at sunset as they headed north towards Nyari pan where a herd of buffalo were already heading north. Unfortunately that was about the only thing buffalo related that the lions did. They never pursued the herd. Instead, just west of Nyari pan they first made an attempt on impala and then a herd of zebra. This then took them north into the hills where they rested a few hours. Next we were moving west towards the Chiredzi River. Again zebra were being followed. No stalking here. They have this idea they can run in on the zebra from a distance and hope to be successful. And so it’s another night that the lions go hungry. I’m trying to work out their success rate and right now it’s about 5%. And even worse if we take the fact that their last meal was stolen! Resting up on the Chiredzi their neighbours called and the Nyari pride returned with a massive volley and then kept at it every few minutes for some time. Dawn had the lions hunting impala. The herd had seen them and stood there snorting. In the meantime Manyari and Magwaza had managed to sneak off and surround the impala. It all seemed perfect BUT they just never sprung the trap and ended up coming sauntering back to the males while the impala scattered. Those clever lions! I was actually thinking to myself how absolutely terrifying it would be if lions were clever. Thankfully god knew what he was doing. At this time of year it’s not uncommon to find elephant bulls along the Chiredzi and this big dude is becoming one of the regulars. He’s got that little kidney-shaped hole in his left ear. Banyini was full of plains game and for a change this small herd of Eland. I don’t know where these guys disappear to but they don’t always seem to be around. Before making it home I again visited the wild dog den. All still seems well there. Not that I saw any pups but I could hear them shuffling around underground. adventure, africa, african, african birds, animal, animal kingdom, animals, bird, birding, birding african birds, birds, blog, blogumentary, buffalo, conservation, documentary, dog, ecotraining, education, elephant, elephants, experience, experience adventure, film, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, lion, lions, malilangwe, manyari, narrowcasting, nature, night, Open Content Alliance, ornithology, pamushana, pan, peace parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, travel, video, vultures, wild dogs, wildcast, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zebra, zimbabwe

YES! The scouts found the wild dog den. I was out there first thing in the afternoon hoping to spend the rest of the day and night there. But the den is up in the hills in the rocks. We walked up there and found what looked like evidence of 2 age groups of pups. So possibly both females have had pups. An adult was lying up behind the den in the rocks and dashed off when we arrived. Unfortunately there is no way for me to film the dogs in this location. I can’t get the vehicle any where near there and if I was on foot I would have to be too close to see anything and this would disturb the dogs considerably. So my only hope is they move den soon to a more accessible area. Anyway the good thing is the dogs are back and have pups. We really want to habituate them as quickly as possible so we can inoculate them against rabies. With no filming access to the dogs, my plans changed and we were back with the lions last night. They were on the move when we got to them at sunset, heading north. A big herd of buffalo was to the northeast of them no far off. I was sure we were in for some action. But the lions just walked on past. I couldn’t believe it. They showed absolutely no interest in the buffalo. Those unpredictable lions! They moved on northeast and on 2 occasions hunted zebra running in from a long way off. Strange hunting tactic. And then stalked really close to some giraffe. They were really keen. 2 cows moved away and then a big bull followed. Suddenly they lost interest. Was it only the cows they were after? They slept on in till dawn. Dawn came with a thick mist and after waking they moved north in the mist. That was pretty neat. Lions in the mist! Thanks at last for something lions.

I flew in the afternoon and found the lions not far from where they’d had their zebra kill. They were west of Chiloveka dam presumably having gone there after their kill to drink as they usually do after a big meal. They spent half their night still sleeping off their kill but soon after midnight were on the move northwest. When they arrived at the Chiredzi River, Sjambok was keen to cross into dangerous territory. Another pride owned that side of the river. He started walking through the water in the sandy riverbed, but when it got to 6inches deep he retreated. Not so brave after all. The Nyari pride continued north along the river making travel for us really difficult with all the dongas/gullies that follow the river. We kept having to leap frog ahead and wait for them. A herd of buffalo were on the other side of the river, which might be what Sjambok was after. But at dawn they heard buffalo to the east and immediately headed that way. But strangely they didn’t follow through and ended up resting close to the river. Earlier in the evening Manyari had surprised a francolin and managed to pluck it from the air as it took off. I don’t know why she bothered, as she wasn’t enjoying the meal having to get through all those feathers and then those delicate ‘chicken’ bones that could get stuck in her throat. She eventually gave up rolled on the remains of the carcass. The rest of the pride joined in. Hopefully tonight the lions will continue to follow up on those buffalo. Action! On my way out last night I found One-tusk and her family crossing the road. Once they’d crossed I followed after them with One-tusk taking up the rear. I hadn’t seen them for about 2 months and wanted to see if she would still greet me. Slowly she turned round as I got closer. I stopped and switched the engine off. She came ambling to the car, put her head down and pushed on my bull bar pushing the car several meters. Happy with that she moved on again. I can only think this is her way of greeting me. Like clockwork she does this every time I see her. I was just so excited to be remembered by her and to get her normal greeting. She is just amazing! On my way home this morning I bumped into her again. Again she came to greet me, but this time decided she would push down on the bonnet of the car. Now that’s just not fine and I told her so. She backed off politely. Wow! adventure, africa, african, animal, animal kingdom, animals, bird, blog, blogumentary, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, elephant, elephants, experience, experience adventure, filmaker, flickr, fly, francolin, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, hunting, kill, lion, lions, malilangwe, manyari, mashable, microlight, narrowcasting, nature, night, Open Content Alliance, pamushana, peace parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, travel, ultralight, video, wildcast, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zimbabwe