Ecotraining Videos

The clan has moved to the very first den that we found them at nine months ago, I ve been catching the sunsets at the den with the cubs emerging for their late afternoon suckle. I spent a few late nights at the den, but the hyenas were pretty unproductive. The one morning they carried a baboon carcass back to the den there was a tug of war over who was going to get to rip the limbs off it, but the mothers are very protective over their carrion and only let their own cubs nibble on the carcass. I did manage to catch up with two playful males at Manuchi Pan though. I must say, the water sports got a little rough with the one trying to dunk the other - all in the name of a little fun though. All sorts of creatures emerge after a little wet weather, I ve seen plenty of toads just plodding around the den area, along with five water monitors in the Manuchi/Sosigi area. In between the light showers during the last few days we get to see the wild flowers emerging, not to mention the grass shooting to provide the grazing for the next season.

We’ve been cooped up taking shelter from the rain with no communications or internet for the last few days. It was quite pleasant waking up to the sound of rain pouring down and not having to be anywhere or do anything, but I was eventually itching to get out. So I eventually got to do a little photo commentary to pull us through - enjoy. After a little wet weather the bugs are starting to make their appearance along with the flying ants. I shudder at the thought of the mosquitoes coming out in full force! Animals know when the rain is coming; the hyenas prudently took shelter in the hills in expectation of the wet weather, but they still come down to the communal den during the evenings to socialize. The elephant bulls are out and about looking for the high protein browse in the south of the reserve. Just before the rains came I paid a visit to Nduna Dam and ran into a Kori Bustard walking the edge of the dam. They are huge birds and this one was not in a hurry to fly away as I was shadowing it. Another great thing about summer is the summer visitor birds taking up residence on the reserve including the woodlands kingfisher with its expressive call.

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.

I continued with the white rhinos at chinzwine pan, I was attempting to get some sunset rhino pictures, but it was not that easy. I’m thinking that I will give them another shot this evening. So it was from the rhinos in the South to the wild dogs in the West. Something similar to that song where they sing “from the east side to the west side”, well I think all rap songs have that line in them, but you get the picture. The dogs were back at Chidumu rocks, which is quite a picturesque setting with its rock figs and its huge bolders. They had a festive session, where the adults regurgitated and the pups all tried to climb into the same piece of meat. Kim has returned so I will let him continue on all wild dog happenings. I headed for Manuchi hide after “Dozer” suffered from a high temperature when the waterpump seized – I am again limited as to where I can venture. Anyway, it turned out to be an incredible time in the pit. I waited a little while as the Giraffe began to filter in along with the Impala. It was a fairly hot day at around 36 degrees, so they get fairly desperate to drink. But, it was not long before the hyenas move in to claim their spot. The giraffe were not that easily intimidated this time and they all seemed to move around the pan following a peace agreement. The hyenas were on to me in the hide fairly quickly, which in turn left the giraffe wondering what was burrowing in the ant mound. The sun went down and with the last remaining light the hyenas left along with me as I had to walk back to the car. The giraffe was left in peace to drink his fill.

I was out early in the morning and I hadn’t gone a kilometer down the road when I met up with a male hyena carrying a limb back to the clan. He turned to judge the threat and realized the familiar purr of Dozer’s 2.4L finely tuned motor almost immediately. Readjusting his grip on what looked to be a Zebra front leg, he continued his trot along the road back in the direction of the den. After three kilometers or so he took a short cut through some thickets and I went around to meet him at Manuchi Pan. He was already there when I pulled up and the one older cub was at the pan gnawing on the limb. It wasn’t long before the gathering of the clan and the party once again got out of control. The males love hanging around with the cubs, they run up and down chasing each other and wrestle around in the pan, this is very funny to watch. I have been checking up on the dogs while Kim is away finalizing things on the Wild Dog movie. All the dogs are all doing well, they seem to be hunting early and catching quickly, because they are back at the den by 9:30/ 10 am. They’ve been heading straight into the hill where the den is after a short greeting ceremony and stay there until after 5pm every day so far. The pups are growing up fast, it’s been great spending time with them again. I took a visit to the Hwata Pan which has dried up, and also to Chimize Pan, which is full at the moment. The white rhino have been drinking there and this is exactly what I’d hoped for. There were five rhinos nearby the pan, with a large male trying to chase the younger calves away from the female so he could get down to business. Things don’t always go as planned and for now he had to come up with a better plan to maneuver his way in there. It feels good to be back in a routine after the whole buffalo capture saga, it really pays off, putting in the hours with the animal you’re working on, I m getting some amazing footage at the pan lately. Yesterday I watched the hyenas take over the pan once again and refuse entry to all other animals waiting in the shadows. Eventually three warthogs were brave enough to challenge the hyenas and eventually came out tops. The hyenas end up giving each other a fright and when one panics they all high-tail it out of there. Another one for the hooves.

The sun rises and the dry sand begins absorbing the heat as its rays fall upon the ground. The wind swirls between the hills and the dust takes to flight from the down-draft from the chopper as it takes off, marking the end of the long hot buffalo capture. Flying between the hills and over the Chiredzi River makes for some breathtaking sequences, I always enjoy getting a birds eye view of a place. For now I m happy to get back to my hyenas, and they must have heard me coming, because the first came ambling out of the woodwork right away, followed by the others as the heat began to dissipate. It was wonderful to see some real behaviour from the clan, this is quite a change from filming humans performing tasks. After a good time at the den I thought that Manuchi must be rocking and I was right. The adults had once again taken over the pan, they were sprawled out all around the entire area. Hyenas can be quite possessive over their watering spots, they tend to hang around longer than what is required to just rehydrate, they rather enjoy sporting around in the water. One of the mothers was carrying what looked like a dead cub in her mouth. She proceeded to drop the lump of flesh in the pan and then submerge herself in the water. This all looked a little horrifying to begin with, but it turned out to be what seemed like a foetus of some sort from a kill - what a relief. Alan called on the radio and mentioned he was near Sosigi so a quick detour was in order to catch a glimpse of Tanga. Nothing like spotting a leopard on the road home, this may have been with the help of a little cheat, but it was still just as sweet.

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.

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!

Yellow to red, filled with blue and white a fire flickers through the colour spectrum. It’s that time of the year that ecologists recommend burning certain areas of the bush veld. This would normally be a natural phenomenon, but has to be calculated and self-acted in our controlled environments. It’s amazing how the animals are not really perturbed by the blaze and carry on as normal, just keeping out of its way. The fire swept past the hyena den but was stopped short by the trampled, there was no sign of any panic at the den, they just go underground and let the smoke pass over. I surprised the cubs at the Manuchi crossing yesterday and they were quite glad to see me tagging along. The mothers were doing their usual “Jack-in the Box” type neck stretches eyeballing me out, but just making sure the cubs were alright. The cubs then scurried back to the den, which gave me an opportunity to follow the females on a little hunting excursion in the cool drizzle. Temperatures soared at around 40 degrees during the week and then dropped to 20 degrees on the week-end. The drizzle brings a little relief from the harsh rays of the sun, allowing the hyenas to move around during the day. They eventually came nose to nose with a herd of zebra, but nothing came of it. This is the first time I’ve been able to follow them with my vehicle and they were quite relaxed about it. So a small staring session and everyone went their own way. The hyenas headed in-between the hills and I was left stumped. I met up with Sjambok earlier in the week, he was looking like a true king. He had eaten far too much, was over weight and lazy. He’s in charge, so I guess he can do what he likes. One interesting thing I spotted was a White-tailed Mongoose. This light footed creature is a little larger than a Spotted Genet and shows a lot of intelligence by hanging low and sitting on its white tail while I was scanning for it using the spotlight. Kim and I swapped blogging days while I head off to my sisters wedding for the week, so until next week – over and out.

The puppies of course are growing and their colours coming through nice and strong now. And unfortunately for me they’re still in the same den. Having got back from a successful hunt yesterday and fed the pups, 4 of the adults headed back in the direction they came from, but just at a stroll. The pups followed across the valley and up the next hill. Somewhere along the way they got separated and half the pups headed home. Chevvy took the others up the hill and rested up at a cave. The pups checked it out but didn’t go in. I thought the adults were possibly taking the pups back to their kill, but then having got to the cave, it seemed like they were trying to get them to move den. But that didn’t last and soon the adults were ushering the pups back to their old den. It seems to have been a quiet week with the dogs. All doing their normal thing and hunting successfully. Thankfully no more visits from lions and actually no sign of them in the area. A hyaena did pitch up near the den today but it didn’t even have time to smell the roses and the dogs sent it packing. I’ve been flying my microlight again to help with some work on the reserve. Not having flown for 4months, my first flight ended up with engine failure. Thankfully I was near the airstrip and managed to glide in safely. With a complete carburettor overhaul the machine is purring again and I’ll be taking to the skies again tomorrow in search of some sable antelope.

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. 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. 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. 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!

The wild dogs are still at the same den, which continues to frustrate me as the area is covered in long grass and the entrance to the den is obscured by bush. AND of course there’s hardly any sun reaching the area either. And to add to that I can’t drive to the den. Which of course makes things not so easy for me as I have to carry everything up there, but I also really need the pups to get used to the vehicle. The pups are now 10 weeks old and the brown/yellow colours are really coming out on them. One pup seems to have the beauty of her mother. She’s the one I named Domino. The adults/yearlings are still hunting like demons and more than coping with feeding the pack. And Puzzles is enjoying the easy life staying at home most of the time. She very seldom goes hunting. But then I suppose somebody has to babysit. Yesterday the pups followed the adults hunting for the first time. They ventured a good half a kilometre from the den with the adults repeatedly trying to send them back home, but they were all psyched up for an adventure. Eventually Puzzles came trotting past me to the pups, gave a whine and then trotted back past me to the den with all 11 little ones following hot on her heals. It wasn’t 5mins and the little guys were back down the hill, this time on their own. Half way down they seemed a little, sort of ‘lost’, I suppose. For 15mins they milled around and then thought better of it and ran back home. Even with all going on the frustrations grow, as I haven’t had the camera out the box all week! Bleak! The only predictable shooting we’ve been doing is me in front of the camera for a change. Mark has been shooting me for material needed for the wild dog film. The beauty of this is, I’m getting around the reserve again. And always happy to bump into a bunch of elephant bulls!

The sun rises creating a dark silhouette that makes it feel I’m driving straight into a colour saturated abyss. A dark form launches from the tree tops and spreads its wings as it glides effortlessly away from my moving vehicle. My mind flicks through the pages of the bird guide as its name springs to the tip of my tongue and I mumble it to myself, “African Harrier-hawk,” or formally known as the Gymnogene. Some poor bird probably just got robbed of its young or was saved by my passing through. One gets a sense of achievement from being able to identify birds and animals without searching through a field guide. I’ve ditched the tree book for a while and I’m back on the birds. Even as the suns light is cast on the tree tops running past Manuchi Pan I pick out a Racket-tailed Roller perched on a branch – it’s a gem of a bird to spot. Manuchi has been a great area lately drawing plenty of game to what little water remains on its muddy bottom. I m spending most mornings and afternoons at the hyena den and the abundance of game in the area is confirmed by the pack horse like bellies of the hyenas bulging like balloons, even in the front view of the animal. The cubs still abandon everything to greet my arrival and inspect the lump of steel with tasty wheels. One interesting happening was a male hyena bringing what was left of an impala kill back to the den. The cubs were scoffing at the skin to pick off what scraps remained. I’ve been seeing the cubs regurgitating hairballs for the last few weeks now so it must be a fairly common occurrence. I waited patiently for the two new cubs to come the other night and was rewarded for my efforts. I’m so pleased that the mother has warmed to my presence, I’ve been seeing a lot of natural behaviour from the clan lately. The sports at the den will no doubt continue.

The wild dog puppies are now 9weeks old! All the dogs are still going strong. 8 adults and 11 puppies. They’ve moved den twice in the last week and will probably be moving more often now as the pups become more adventurous and are moving further and further a field. They’re still too young to follow the adults on the hunt but in a few weeks they’ll probably be out there. Puzzles is still suckling her pups but only a couple of times a day as her milk is now drying up. The puppies are now true meat eaters and continue to walk around with oversized tummies from the successful hunting adventures of the rest of the pack. It’s only about 1 in 10 days that puppies don’t get fed, but they sure make up for it on the other 9 days as their tummies are permanently swollen. I can’t wait for the dogs to leave the hills and start their nomadic lives again. I feel I’ve been couped in up their for too long now. The pups colours are now really beginning to change with the browns coming out of the blacks. And then it’s time to try and find ID features so I can name them all. Already we have a Domino, Dice and Delta. I’m still not sure of sexes of all the pups. Thankfully the lions have stayed away from the dens although I have seen their tracks again on the track near the den. All is well in the wild dog world and Puzzles continues to be single. Neither Chevvy nor Kodak are showing any signs of flirting with their mother. No doubt when she comes into oestrus next year things will change. Cheers Kim

I’ve been out and about this last week moving around the property, it’s been another pick-up shoot scramble trying to finish the last of what is needed for the movies in post production. I managed to find Chawhiwhi moping around on Banyini all on his own, he was there for three days while the rest of the pride have been moving around Malilangwe Dam. I’m hoping not to run into one of them as that is the route of my little midday run and I’ve seen a few tracks of late. This is an odd pride as they always seem to be going their own way. Anyway, with most of my elephant shoot out of the way I’ve been trying to spend as much time with the hyena cubs as possible. I have a strong bond with two of the cubs in particular; they really get excited when they see my vehicle pulling up to the den. The one little guy guns it straight for the spot on the floor next to the door. If I stick my feet out the door, he will have his little nibble at my toes then continue rolling around in the dry leaves on the ground – these guys are such value! I’ve seen one of the male adults on his patrol and he has a snare around his neck, this just seems to be a continual battle, humans dream up such cruel ways of trapping animals. I’m hoping to get that snare off, but it is not easy to stay on his tail, I’ve tried twice already and failed. Another highlight in the week was my visit to the roan antelope paddock; these creatures are as majestic as the sable. They receive a feed to help them perform at their peak, so I was asked to help out for a day when everyone was busy – it turned out to be a real treat. They are very rare antelopes that don’t seem to do well in the wild anymore. I was also treated to a large herd of buffalo pulling in at Nyari Pan the other day; it can be quite a spectacular sight as hundreds of buffalo wade into the water. So another week is on its back and I can’t wait to see what the next week has to offer!

We have been filling our time this side with various shoots to complete the pick-up lists on Kim’s movies. Time flies when you’re having fun, but the days are jam packed and we only barely find time to get back to our animals. I have been spending most of my time trying to get the hyenas to warm to me again. It has been exciting to see them growing up and now exploring away from the den. Two days ago I spotted something else exciting, there are now two new additions to the clan! Hopefully this means that I will have access to their sports for an extra few months. There is no tracking device on any of these guys so when they disappear I’ll have trouble finding them again. The lions were around Banyini Pan this morning followed by a large herd of buffalo – this all seemed to be the wrong way around. And to top it all, this amounted to no action and me not even being able to find the lions. I managed to catch up with Magwaza and her three cubs the other day. There is that phrase that all parents eventually end up uttering, “Oh, they grow up so quickly.” I think that applies for both the lion cubs and the hyena cubs, also, if animals could talk they would also be saying it. This was the first real bonding session with the lion cubs and it was good to see them all inquisitive and playing around. Magwaza had killed a buffalo and the cubs were beside themselves at first, even burrowing their bodies right inside the carcass. Two young hyenas were on their way to pick up the remains the following morning and even a leopard had a go at any easy meal. That was until the lions returned and chased the rather chilled cat off their kill.

It’s been an interesting week for the dogs and thankfully they’re all still going strong. Zip and Kodak both have foot injuries but both recovering just fine. The day after the lions killed the dogs, the rest of the pack were too nervous to go to the den. So for over 24hrs they didn’t feed the pups. It was only the next morning after a successful hunt that they slowly approached the den and called the pups out. As was to be expected Puzzles wanted to move the pups to a new den. They often do this when hassled by lions. Several times she called the pups and they would follow her until the yearlings stepped in to feed them. They stopped the whole move. Eventually Puzzles gave up. The next day Puzzles was on her own at the den and had already moved some of the pups to a new den close by when I got there at dawn. She then tried to move the rest but they wouldn’t jump down a ledge. She picked up the one and carried it off leaving the others milling around me. Eventually they moved back to the den. Puzzles then gave up calling them and carried them one at a time to the den. Now back at the 2nd den. Puzzles is now out hunting with her yearlings, and nobody is left behind to look after the pups. But the den they’re in is really secure from lions and other predators, so long as the pups don’t go a wandering. Lions were again at the den the one night and again the pack were nervous all day only getting to feed the pups late in the evening. Puzzles now seems to have resigned herself to the fact that the pups are in a safe den, so why move them? Hyaenas also came to within about 50m of the den. The dogs watched, ready to send them packing, but no need. They hyaenas seemed to know they better move off. They had come to check out the dead dogs of which there was hardly anything remaining. We were also successful in implanting Chevvy with a transmitter. This goes in the stomach cavity and the animal doesn’t even know it’s there. So at least now I can again keep track of the dogs movements. The dogs are all doing well and the yearlings hunting very successfully. There’s been no change in the status of the pack without Jiggy being there, but no doubt things will change when Puzzles comes into oestrus next year.