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| Pic of the Day. |
( Grant, Herold & Shadrack.)
Wilddog ( +/- 14 Pack) / Vielmieter –
Vielmieter Trough.
Afternoon Drive.
( Grant & Shadrack.)
Buffalo ( Dagha Boys) / Peru –
Xikhari Rd.
Daily Synopsis.
With us only
receiving a further three and half millimetres over night we set off
on drive under far drier conditions and with the sky being a fairer
shade of pale grey than the black of the previous two days it looked
promising.
Jacky had heard
Lions calling round four thirty to the West of camp so we set off in
that direction to see what if we could pick up on anything. Herold
and Shadrack first checked around Sohobele and Argyle Dam looking for
Leopard. We then lost Herold for the morning as the rain from the
previous afternoon proved to much for his radio which left him
communicating to us on his hand-held. Zigzagging our way around the
North West we picked up no signs for the Lions that had by the looks
of things been teasing us. Herold was checking further to the West
and he too found nothing. With our drive taking on the ever to
familiar pattern of being a quiet one, we needed something to spark
the bush alive. Once again there were the comments of only having
seen Impala, and guides having to expand their tree knowledge. Up
until this point our highlight had been two Dung Beetles fighting
over a rolled ball of dung.
As if the bush
could sense our desperation we were thrown a life line in the form of
Wilddog! We should have known as this was the ideal weather for our
drive saving best friends. Having received the message from Eric an
employee at one of the camps who was actually not on drive himself
but saw them opposite the camp and knew we would be interested in
them we quickly descended on the area. Herold appearing from nowhere
arrived on the scene first and we followed shortly behind him. Some
of them were to be found resting next to a pan while others where up
and down in the nearby riverbed, their attention clearly grabbed by
something in the area. It looked like they had just fed as many of
them had the visible blood stains on their heads. As is with Wilddogs
they gave us a bit of a run around and would at one moment be heading
East and the next to the West, this made controlling the sighting a
little bit of a challenge. With the dogs loosing interest in what
ever had had them occupied in the riverbed they all conglomerated
around the pan choosing different locations to rest. As you can
imagine they were the draw card of the morning and we pulled out
having had a great sighting to let others enjoy.
As is always the
case you need only one thing to ignite the bush and then everything
seems to rear it's head to be counted. We had driven passed a very
nice herd of Zebra and a couple of Warthog on our way to the dogs,
where had they been half an hour ago! Shadrack had the same happen to
him as he turned to head towards the Dogs he found the Lion tracks we
all had been looking for earlier. They had been between where Herold
and I had been looking. From the tracks it would appear they had been
hunting Dagha Boys. Shadrack spent as much time as he could in
following up but eventually could not risk missing out on the dogs.
Well at least we now have somewhere to start off this afternoon.
Not going to say
much about this afternoon except that the only difference from
yesterday afternoon s drive was today we did not get wet. It however
was just as miserable and apart from a couple of Dagha Boys and an
impressive Kudu Bull there was not much on the go. To make things
worse the pic's I did take of the afternoon were not recorded as I
forgot to put my memory card back in. Doh! Thinking of it now that
could be a reason to be cheerful, as I did not take many pic's, so I
did not loose out on much. Can you imagine what a happy camper I
would have been had we had an epic afternoon!
Following up on
the Lion tracks from the morning we drove the entire surrounding area
with no joy , so we sent Jacky and Difference in on foot to follow up
on from the last tracks, while we once again double checked the roads
to see if we may have missed something. It was not long before we
received a message from the trackers that one of the Lions were
roaring very close to their location while another responded a little
further off to the West. Getting back to the area as quickly as
possible both Shadrack and myself combed the area but found nothing.
After spending the majority of the afternoon driving backwards and
forwards in the area we decided to take sundowners in the vicinity of
the calls in the hope they would give us one more clue. Drinks
unfortunately came and went without any sign so we once again drove
around the area to check if they had not got mobile. Thinking it was
the Mafikizolo Pride they may have heard us and taken cover and
waited it out until we left which is their typical M.O. With our
luck not having changed and very little sign that it would we headed
back to the lodge.
What is disturbing
about our lull at the moment is not that we are not finding the
animals but there is so little sign and tracks for them which means
there is no immediate end to our misery. I'm presently sitting with
guests of three nights, tomorrow being their last day and so far they
have seen only Buffalo. We have some work cut out for us tomorrow.
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