Last week, Roz and I went out to do some sampling not too far from HQ. When we got up to Hippo Pools, I spotted a cloud of dust that could only be from a large buffalo herd, so we went to investigate. After a few attempts at counting the herd, I managed to see the collar that had stopped working entirely, still on Harpy, the buffalo cow. I got hold of Rob Jackson the vet and Peter Perlstein the helicopter pilot, who were both free, and arranged for them to come out to help me remove the collar. I stayed with the herd, and after a few hours, the helicopter came in and landed to pick me up. Harpy was in a herd of around 500, with no working VHF, so just spotting her from the helicopter took a while. The wind was gusting so we could only dart in one direction and the herd was running all over the place. We finally managed to get a dart into her, and she went down fairly quickly. We recovered the collar and reversed her, then Rob and Peter headed back to Maun.
The next day, we went the long way round to Chitabe, to sample from a few points along the Gomoti. The area has dried up nicely, and we were able to get around without any problems, even bumping into one of the collared lionesses from Dog Camp, Chanel. We went to say hello at Chitabe, where we were well received, as always, and managed to find the wild dog pack of 22 animals before heading out.
Yesterday we went again to sample from areas close to HQ, as the previous trip was shortened somewhat by the darting. We went to Hippo Pools, and found three cheetah: Franky, Fredericks and Flojo's cub just by the side of the road. They got up and slowly walked off, so we followed and watched them climb a tree and deposit their scent marks. They kept walking and spotted some impala, which seemed entirely oblivious. They were behind a riparian tree island, and at first the three cheetah all approached together. Then Franky and the cub went to the right, while Fredericks sneaked round the other side, picking up to a trot to get round more quickly. We stayed with the others, and watched the cub hang back while Franky walked slowly towards the impala before stopping right out in the open about 100m from them. We caught a glimpse of movement and saw Fredericks trotting round the back, then the impala saw him and ran away from him, straight in front of the car with Franky in hot pursuit. Unfortunately sage got in the way of my perfect photo! The other two cheetah ran, but they all gave up a couple of hundred metres later and the impala ran off. It was an incredible sighting, both for the tactics and the proximity to the chase - the sound of their feet pounding the ground was amazing.
Valkyrie, one of my collared animals, decided on the 31st October to walk 30 km east towards the wet season range. This was after about 20 mm of rain fell over a couple of days. After spending 3 days there, she has realised her error and has returned to the floodplains. I will be going out to see if I can work out what changed her mind.
The next day, we went the long way round to Chitabe, to sample from a few points along the Gomoti. The area has dried up nicely, and we were able to get around without any problems, even bumping into one of the collared lionesses from Dog Camp, Chanel. We went to say hello at Chitabe, where we were well received, as always, and managed to find the wild dog pack of 22 animals before heading out.
Yesterday we went again to sample from areas close to HQ, as the previous trip was shortened somewhat by the darting. We went to Hippo Pools, and found three cheetah: Franky, Fredericks and Flojo's cub just by the side of the road. They got up and slowly walked off, so we followed and watched them climb a tree and deposit their scent marks. They kept walking and spotted some impala, which seemed entirely oblivious. They were behind a riparian tree island, and at first the three cheetah all approached together. Then Franky and the cub went to the right, while Fredericks sneaked round the other side, picking up to a trot to get round more quickly. We stayed with the others, and watched the cub hang back while Franky walked slowly towards the impala before stopping right out in the open about 100m from them. We caught a glimpse of movement and saw Fredericks trotting round the back, then the impala saw him and ran away from him, straight in front of the car with Franky in hot pursuit. Unfortunately sage got in the way of my perfect photo! The other two cheetah ran, but they all gave up a couple of hundred metres later and the impala ran off. It was an incredible sighting, both for the tactics and the proximity to the chase - the sound of their feet pounding the ground was amazing.
Valkyrie, one of my collared animals, decided on the 31st October to walk 30 km east towards the wet season range. This was after about 20 mm of rain fell over a couple of days. After spending 3 days there, she has realised her error and has returned to the floodplains. I will be going out to see if I can work out what changed her mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment