November 10, 2012

1410

At the table, overlooking the dry riverbed again.  This morning was overcast and cool again but by mid-day many of the clouds had burned away and it was starting to warm up.  Currently, the sun’s out and it’s breezy, warm and humid.  I’m surrounded on the deck by wet clothes, hung up in various positions – washed in a sink.  Want to look my best (or at least not smell) when I pick up the girls tomorrow.

Not a very productive morning in terms of photos but a lovely drive nonetheless.  Recall the expression – “A bad day fishing is better than a good day working”?  It’s like that.  Now it’s mid-day on the last full day and I’m already thinking about tomorrow and beyond.  One more drive this evening and a short one in the morning.  So much depends on the light and we have not had great light here.

Chacma baboon

Right now the girls are on the way to Grandpa’s and then on the way to the airport to begin their journey.  I’m so looking forward to seeing my girls.

November 9, 2012

1310

On the deck.  Day started out cold with rain, then brightened and then just a few moments of sunlight.  Now its clouding up again and it’s once again quite cool.  Last night was cold enough for two blankets.  Unusual for this time of year.

Good morning so far.  Rushed off to see lions at the buffalo kill, but never had much of a shot.  They do have little cubs – we could hear them – but we never got more than a glimpse of them through the brush.  Headed back to the leopard but finally it moved on.  Took a slow ride back, photographing yellow billed hornbill and black-bellied bustard.  When we hit the turnoff near out camp, we checked on our jackals.  Didn’t see much going on so photographed three ostrich nearby.  Then we noticed that there was a termite emergence happening right there and the adult jackals were going crazy.  A termite emergence is a phenomenon where thousands of flying termites emerge from underground colonies at about the same time.  It usually follows rains, when conditions are somehow right for the termites.  It’s a time of huge excitement for many of the animals.  Termites are good nutrition and they literally emerge in the tens of thousands.  It’s a time of gluttony for birds, frogs, many mammals and other insects.  The jackals were running around like crazy, zigzagging and leaping into the air.  They hardly knew which direction to turn.  We then found one of the pups, who also was chasing down the termites.  Good fun for them and good shooting for us, though I am a little worried about where the other pup was.

Black-backed jackal leaping for termites

Lunch in the company of a dwarf mongoose and I should be taking a nap but instead I spent time editing images and now a brief entry.  We are also rigging up the GoPro to take another stab at catching the Little Bastards.  They didn’t come yesterday, we think because of the heavy rain.  So we think they’ll be hungry and we’ll be ready for them.

Word is that Aislin got her braces off today.  I can’t wait to see her.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

1500

A quick note today.  We had amazing thunderstorms last night and now again this afternoon, though it’s now settled into a heavy, steady rain.

This morning we rushed out early to get to the lions at yesterday’s buffalo kill.  On the way, we found an old male leopard walking up the road and spent some time with him.  Then the beautiful male with the warthog kill was still there and we spent a little time with him but because he seemed to just be sleeping and because the light was poor, we moved on to the lions.  We found them at the kill though most of them stayed far back in the bush where they couldn’t really be seen.  A couple of lionesses did cross the road to a nearby pond and we did some shooting there.  But when they got up and returned to the rest of the pride we left and went back to the leopard in the tree, where we found him feeding on the warthog.  After maybe an hour, he dropped down to the ground where we were able to get a few images of him in the vibrant green grass.

Off to Satara Camp then for some business and brunch and then back here for a nap with thunderstorm soundtrack, a shower and now getting ready for the evening.  We’re working on a plan with the GoPro.  Something involving the Little Bastards….

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

1206

Short break in the action.  Hell of a thunderstorm last night.  Little rain but an amazing light and sound show.  For an hour or more of continuous thunder.  Constant rumbling background punctuated by cracks and booms of nearby lightening strikes.  Seemed to keep the honey badgers away from my tent, though they did visit Albie’s and left muddy footprints everywhere.

This morning we were out the gate at about 0445.  Observed the jackal pups for a short time, waiting for the light to come, but the adults seemed to put the pups away in the den and they all took off somewhere else.  We decided to drive on and came across a large bull white rhino sleeping a short distance off the road.  Watched for a while as the light got better and better.  Finally the rhino got up, rubbed its horn on some stumps and then ambled off away from the road.  We then drove south on one of the unpaved roads.  Eventually had a nice sighting of some dwarf mongooses in nice light.  Later we found a large male leopard asleep in a tree and also found out about some lions farther down the road that were in the process of killing a buffalo.  We headed toward the lions but by the time we got there, they were deep into the brush and mostly seemed to be sleeping, under the observation of half a dozen or so vehicles.  We decided to head back to the leopard.  Popped a few frames, but determined to head back in the evening when the light would be better.  Maybe also check on the lions again.  With a large, fresh kill at hand, the lions will probably stay in the area for some time so right now we’re thinking we’ll try and get to them early tomorrow morning.

Now back.  No sign that the Little Bastards have been in either tent though they did deposit some poop on Albie’s porch, just to make a point.  Had a great brunch, tried to take a nap without success.  Took a shower and now I’m just copying cards and writing a few words.  Back on the road in a couple of hours.

It’s so beautiful here right now.  The storms brought in a high overcast.  Nice breeze and nice temperature.  The sounds of so many birds here as I write.  It’s a gentle and lovely scene.

Hopefully we’ll get some spotted cat action this evening but whatever comes along will be fine.  I don’t think I’m setting the world on fire with my shooting so far but, really, it doesn’t matter. 

Looking forward to the arrival of the girls.  Just three more days for them before they depart.

And later –

Beautiful male leopard

We did return to our male leopard up in the tree.  We watched for quite a while and then he came down to rest in the grass.  But his rest was fairly short-lived because a very large herd of buffalo began to move into the area on a collision course with the leopard.  He sat there looking annoyed until they got too close and then up the tree he went.  When the buffalo got a clear scent of him, they became agitated and surrounded the tree, rubbing on it and looking up.  Buffalo hate cats and I’m sure they would have been enraged if they had caught him somewhere down on the ground.  As it was, he could do nothing but sit up in a tree and wait for them to move on….

Buffalos run leopard up a tree

Tuesday, November 6, 1530

I’m sitting on the deck of my tent at Tamboti Tent Camp at KNP while three workers are securing a freshly painted steel cage.  The cage will be used for enclosing the refrigerator and any food.  The need for that becomes evident as I try to describe yesterday.

Flew from J’burg to Hoedspruit on a domestic turboprop de Havilland without incident.  Met up with Albie and took the relatively short drive through Orpen Gate into Tamboti.  I’d never been to Tamboti – it’s a beautiful and quiet little tent camp along the banks of the Tamboti River.  The tents are relatively permanent, mounted on wooden platforms.  Albie and I have tents overlooking the Tamboti river bed, which at present is dry.  We saw plenty of signs of elephant in the riverbed and many signs of baboon around camp.  As is often the case, there was a sheet of paper taped to the doors warning not to leave food about because the vervets, baboons and honey badgers in this area have become accustomed to stealing food.

We went on a late afternoon drive, and I tried to get used to using the 600mm lens on a ‘beanbag’ draped over the window in the back seat of Albie’s 4x4.  We didn’t see a lot of wildlife though we had a very cool sighting of a Southern Ground Hornbill carrying a toad he’d captured.  He suddenly darted off a couple of meters and caught a skink and then gathered the toad back up so that he was strutting around the side of the roadway with a skink, the skink’s tail, which had apparently come off during the chase, and a toad.

Southern Ground Horbill with prey

When we returned to camp, we came upon disaster.  Baboons had been in both tents.  They’d tossed some of my stuff around, like burglars in a hurry and creating a bit of a mess (poop prints, peeing on the deck), but they’d found all of the food in Albie’s tent.  It looked like full-on debauchery, with food debris everywhere, mixed in with baboon pee and poop.  It was a gawdawful mess. 

What the Little Bastards did to Albie's tent!

The camp management was reasonably responsive.  They moved Albie into and adjoining tent and provided at least a rudimentary cleaning that night.  Albie still managed to pull together a nice steak dinner and we sat around talking about what a gawdaful mess it all was.  Then, while sitting around camp, a honey badger showed up, searching high and low for food.  He was quite bold and came within 5 feet of us without fear but also without any sign of aggression.  We bundled the food items up, secured them as well as possible and split to go to bed. 

I didn’t sleep at all.  All night I heard the honey bader(s?) snuffling around the tent, knocking over trash cans and the like. Also, I had genets up in the bush right next to the tent squabbling, squealing, churring and purring all night long.  And to top it off, the bastard baboons were sleeping nearby and would periodically awaken to have a shouting match before settling back down.

In the morning, we found that the damned honey badger had broken into Albie’s abandoned tent, opened the refrigerator and took most of what the baboons didn’t want (baboons apparently don’t like mushrooms and didn’t seem to know how to open the container of yogurt – no problem for the honey badger).  So, another minor clean up. 

We secured tents as well as possible, went on a couple of nice game drives today.  Again, didn’t see a lot of wildlife, but got some shots of baboons (the bastards) in very nice lighting and on the way in this evening we found some very young jackal pups.  We’re planning to try and shoot them in the morning, when they should be nicely backlit.  Wish us luck with that plan.

When we returned, we found that baboons had been in both tents again.  Mine was again tossed without major damage, though they did tear up the bag that I keep my lens cleaning supplies in.  The apparently just made a courtesy visit to Albies.  I think we have a better plan for securing items but it’s still annoying that the little bastards come in and go through everything.  It’s the same sensation of violation that follows having your house burgled, know what I mean?

And now its 9:15 pm, I’m exhausted and I’m going to sleep with the fan on all night to try and drown out the noise of the bush.  Three thirty am wake up call to go shoot some jackal pups!

Monday morning, J'burg

Man, I got some sleeping done last night.  Let's see, about 15 hours of sleep in 4 days - check.  A big giant Black Label Lager.  Check.  One tiny Lunestra.  Check.  Nine hours of sleep.  Check.  Dreams?  Interesting.... I'll tell you one thing, Rosanne Cash wants her white tshirts to be white, people.  Don't wash them with the gray tshirts.  She brings cotton balls around to check the whiteness so don't think you can get away with any shortcuts there.  Don't ask me how I know.

Skype my girls in a few minutes, breakfast and then catch a flight to meet up with Albie Venter in Hoedspruit.  Drive into Kruger and then see what we got.  Checked the weather and it's supposed to be 95 F there today.  Sweet.

So off to breakfast.  Pack.  Low drama early arrival at airport and on to next stop.

Sunday night, Johannesburg -

Arrived this evening in J'burg.  No drama or issues.  But so very tired.  Heading to bed for what I hope is 9 or 10 hours of sleep.  Heading to Kruger tomorrow.  Nite.....