This morning, we went out on
drive with Andrew and Claudia to look for cheetah and hyena. We headed down to
Pidwa South, stopping for various general game on the way. We saw another
steenbok, which was awesome! They are so cute! It was really cold again this
morning, I guess making up for yesterday’s warmth! The sky was clear and
beautiful, and we drove along looking for tracks. We found some hyena tracks
and cheetah tracks, but nothing fresh. After a while, we found rhino tracks
again, but there weren’t any good signs to find him. We continued making our
way through PSO to Garonga, and ended up seeing the Garonga Safari Camp, which
is another private lodge. It was really lovely there, and we also saw the
private airstrip and a farming area. They are growing their own fruits and
vegetables in a really protected area, multiple fences and nets to keep animals
out! While on the airstrip, we got word that one of the farmers next door to
GAR thought our lions had broken out again. Apparently, one of their cows had
been killed. Two years ago, 9 of our lions were killed by the next-door farm
because they were out on their property and were a threat to their livestock.
So we switched gears into fence patrol. We drove the entire Garonga fenceline,
looking for tracks that were around there, as well as holes in the fence, or
holes dug under the fence. We found a hole that may have been made by animals
trying to jump the fence, but it was too high for lion to jump through cleanly.
We found lots of lion tracks going up and down the fenceline, but nothing that
looked like they got through. After a while, we got word that the manager of
the reserve had gone to talk to the farmer, and they decided it was a leopard
that had killed one of their cows. Leopards can get over the fence, easily, if
they want to. So we concluded that hunt, and began just following the lion
tracks. Lukas had the bush camp team driving in the same area, looking for lion
as well. He located a group of four in a drainage line, and then they began
hunting. It was Midget, one of the mothers of the Makhutswi pride, her two sub
adult boys (Zamula and Ubhuti), and her older son, Kalahari Jr. We followed
them for a bit, offroading through the thick bush, and tried to get some nice
visuals. They were definitely on a mission, so we followed until they got too
thick into the drainage line. Lukas and Andrew went separate ways in the
trucks, and walked the drainage lines from opposite sides, trying to pinpoint
them, but we couldn’t relocate. The blocks are large, and if the lions were to lie
down in the bush, you could miss them at 2 meters. After criss-crossing the
block on some smaller, over grown roads, we gave up the chase. We had seen them
a few times, and gotten to ID them. It was already 11, and getting quite hot,
so we headed back to camp. We got home around 12, after stopping a few times.
The girls made us lunch, leftovers and fresh veggies for sandwiches. Then,
Stewart and I cleaned up the kitchen, and I went to work on my mapping. I
worked until almost 3, and then we left on our afternoon drive. We spent a
while looking for some tracks in a drainage line, but we found nothing. We saw
the typical game, zebra, impala, wildebeest, along our drive. There are a lot
of groups of sub adult male impala this time of year, like bachelor herds. Then
we headed out to a spot far in the South of the reserve, right in the corner of
a fenceline, where we found Nandi and Nkosikasi resting after having their
dinner. They had killed a wildebeest and feasted until they were both very very
full! They lay there in the slowly setting sun and slept lazily. We saw the
head of the kill, which was really cool. We sat with them for a while, and
eventually Nandi got up and moved to the other side of the vehicle, passing
only a meter from the side. Then she went and laid down right by Nkosikasi.
They weren’t going anywhere tonight! So we left after a bit, and headed to a
dam near Kristi’s Kamp to watch the sunset. It was BEAUTIFUL! We stayed there
for a good while, watching the sunset and the 7 bathing hippos in the water.
There were a few young ones, and they all gave us quite a show, blowing air and
splashing water, opening their huge mouths, and swimming quite close to us on
the bank. After we had watched them for a while, we headed out on our way home.
We were quite far south, so we headed home and looked for a leopard along the
way. We found some more little duiker, the second smallest antelope in Africa,
but no nocturnal cats! We got home earlier than usual, around 6, which gave us
some time to relax and work on stuff before dinner. It’s not very cold out, so
I decided I wanted to sleep on the observation deck tonight! I’m trying to
convince Molly and Emily to join me, and they said they will do it on a day we
have to get up early for a drive, so in case we don’t sleep well, we can just
sit on a car the next morning, instead of do manual labour. Haha. Fair enough.
The girls made chicken potjie (pronounced poit-kie) tonight for dinner, and it
was quite good, although I wasn’t very hungry for some reason. We ate late,
around 8, and then we all drifted off from the fire around 9. I worked on my
data for a bit before Claudia sent me off to my building so she could turn off
the lights. After the ellies being in camp last night, I realized how quietly
and unnoticeably they can slip in.
Sunset over the dam! With hippos!
Sunset over the dam! With hippos!
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