Tembe dag 9: Feel in a bit down

Dinsdag 13-11-2018

Tembe dag 9:          Feel in a bit down

Dieren vandaag gezien / Animals spotted:

·         Impala (+ babies)

·         Nyala

·         Elephant

·         Giraffe

·         Kudu

·         Common reedbuck

·         Waterbuck

·         Antlion (insect)

·         Southern boubou

·         White-headed helmet-shrike

·         Forest (or dark backed) weaver

·         Yellow billed kite

·         Steppe buzzard

·         Vervet monkey

·         Zebra

·         Crested guineafowl

·         Grey duiker

·         Red duiker

·         Zebra slug (snail)

·         Wooley necked stork

·         Barn swallow

We left at 4 am today. No flat tiers to pump today so we were good to go. Every morning we play the same game. Guess the first animal. Today I said giraffe and I was right.

We found some tracks from lion and black rhino but that was it. Then some roaring and some signals from the telemetry. Sadly no lion sightings. There was a bull elephant who came to pass our vehicle.

Another special happening that we saw were the dancing nyala. This is when 2 males are trying to impress the other. They don’t fight but dance. While they are dancing they put the hairs up on their backs, straiten their bodies, bow their heads and then walk slowly in a circle. The one that is the most impressive will win and can have the ladies. Other things that count are the shapes of their horns. These are not for fighting but to impress the ladies 😊. A much better way than to fight.

When Leo came I asked if I could sit in the front because I was exhausted. It was okay so the passengers seat was mine today. During the drive Leo kept talking. He has a strong opinion about everything, so at certain times you just nod and say yes. W didn’t see many elephants. We did see some common reedbuck females, zebras, red duikers, and a few little things. One of the zebras had some wounds on its bum. Probably from a lion attack, but it escaped ad survives.

During the break I entered some data.

The afternoon session was short. We left at 4.30 pm and had to pick up 2 carcasses for the dogs. They were shot to day to feed the dogs. It were nyala’s. I helped to carry them on to the car. Their quite heavy when all their intestines are still in there. On our way to the boma we almost collided with a giraffe. He was standing next to the road, we couldn’t see him. When we passed he started running towards the road, and the car. We were only inches from him before he ran back to the bush. We got a big fright there. After this we kept on going and when we arrived at the boma Ben made sure the dogs got some exercise before we fed them. Together with Kari and Ben I helped to load the carcasses on to the loading ramp. The dogs loved the fresh meat this was obvious. The went strait for the guts. We watched them for a long time till most of them were finished eating. Whilst doing this we watched the yellow billed kites fly around. There were 12 of them hanging around. The tried to get some of the meat. During the waiting the tried to chase each other away. This was quite spectacular to see.

When we left we went straight back to camp.

Today wasn’t a great day. Today was my uncle’s cremation and this has been on my mind quite a bit and this made me feel sad.