Four And A Half Minutes!
Each game drive is different whether morning or evening, as well as around the Lodge and Bushcamps. We’ve learned to expect the unexpected, to see what unfolds. We’re in the 4WD’s, comfortable and safe because of our guides who have encyclopaedic knowledge of South Luangwa, the animals, geography and history, and have amazing driving skills. Mulengha has a wonderful sense of humour - we “ribbed” him frequently after he “broke a tree” one afternoon (well it was a large branch lying on the ground) and nearly running over a python! More importantly, he never put us in danger – I’ll never forget how he steered us away from that testosterone-hyped bull elephant.
This has been my first visit to Southern Africa, and hopefully not my last.
Over 4 weeks, I have visited Namibia, exploring the Namib Desert and its extraordinary red dunes by foot and 4WD, then flying over them to the Atlantic coast. I’ve seen shipwrecks from the air (now in the desert well away from where they ran aground), was driven up and over steep dunes, watched and photographed massive flocks of pelicans and flamingos, came closer than I would have liked to a seal and a pesky pelican on the catamaran in Walvis Bay, and learned about the history of Swakopmund.
Botswana’s Okavango Delta and Makgadikgadi Salt Pans provided great animal sightings, including seeing lions with their kills in three different situations, a leopard stalking at night, herds of giraffe, zebra and elephants, and magnificent landscapes ranging from bush to desert. A boat on the Okavango River provided a new perspective, as did a mokoro ride in a large waterway. On the evening before my birthday, I saw the June full moon rise in the east over the desert, while the sun was setting in the west. And of course the Milky Way, with the all important Southern Cross constellation, sparkled overhead.
Flying in light planes has provided an extra dimension – from the flight across the Namibian dunes, to the flight from Windhoek to Maun and then on to the Kwara airstrip near Splash Camp, when I saw hippos and elephants from the air; then when I was “co-pilot” on a tiny Cessna from Kwara to Maun before flying on to the Tsigaro salt airstrip, and finally from there to Kasane. Each has provided another view, a sense of the size and terrain of these parts of Southern Africa.
In Zambia I was immersed in the South Luangwa National Park for 8 full and 2 half days. With this number of game drives, we were bound to see more, and I certainly did. Each sighting, each adventure has increased my knowledge and with Sue F, Cindy and Ian each providing guidance and tips along the way, hopefully my photographic skills have also improved.
By Monday I had seen most of the “major” mammals except Wild Dogs. These are the 2nd most endangered animal in Africa, and are only found in six countries here – one of these is Zambia.
When Sue F and Cindy asked us what we hadn’t seen – the answer was Wild Dogs. So we went in search of them, and found a pack finishing the remains of a kill that had probably been 10-15 minutes earlier. They are beautiful animals with distinctive markings, long legs, white tips on their tails and large ears.
We watched them wait until the alpha female had finished eating (she’ll go back to the den to feed the pups), then they were into the remains and jostling for their share. Once finished they chased away some hyenas and vultures, and then lay around relaxing after a solid effort.
Their social interactions were fascinating to watch. There seemed to be 2 or 3 dogs that sat away from the pack, a little like “lookouts”. Another woke up and started moving from dog to dog, sniffing and licking inside one of their ears. I have no idea what this was about, but the dog being licked, seemed unconcerned, so perhaps this is some form of socialising.
On Tuesday we had started the drive back to Mfuwe and were going through an area close to where the dogs had been. I saw something small and light-coloured cross the track ahead. It wasn’t a leopard, and I didn’t pick it as a wild dog, but then a few dogs started coming down the track towards us. Mulenga did a “U-turn” to follow them.
Suddenly I saw a dog chasing an impala into long grass to our left. Now we were following it – the impala “pronked” (jumping high and kicking its hind legs back) in an attempt to fend it off. The dog was gaining, and with my eye glued to the camera, I felt the car move to the right and stop.
We’d stopped in front of a clear area. I took my camera from my eye for a moment, and saw the dog I’d been following joined by many more. Three or four were forcing the impala into the clear area. With the camera back up to my eye, I kept my finger on the shutter as the whole pack of dogs closed in on the impala.
There was no escape – three or four dogs surrounded it, and pulled it to the ground. It got up very briefly, and then more dogs joined in, their white tails pointing up to the sky. We were witnessing a kill. I just kept shooting, not sure of what I’d actually captured.
After what had seemed to be a very long time, the dogs left the “scene of the crime”, some taking parts, others having had their fill. They left the area absolutely clean of any remains – no blood, no fur, no bits and pieces. Nothing for the hyenas that would come around later, and vultures, should they follow the hyenas.
Sue M checked the time-stamps on her photos – from the time the dogs had brought the impala into the cleared area until they left it spick and span, 4.5 minutes had elapsed. So quick, so deadly.
Once it was all over, we sat quietly, trying to process what we’d seen. Sue M said to me that early in the kill I’d said: “I don’t think I want to watch this”. But watch it we did, all of it. We know that this is what happens in the bush, but to see it unfold is brutal.
[As an aside, my photos include some fairly nasty images – I’ve put some on my website, and will be happy to share more if you would like to see them].
We drove off and found the pack a short distance away lying, walking, checking in on each other. Some were moving away, probably going back to the den to feed the pups with the food they’d swallowed. One was limping and running on 3 legs – Sue M called him Gympie.
We worried about Gympie being excommunicated from the pack, but it seems that this doesn’t happen. Later that day we saw him running (on three legs) with them when they tried, unsuccessfully, to take another impala. There was another dog with him – was it checking to make sure he/she was ok? We can never know.
Our early morning game-drive on Wednesday, and our last for this trip, was much more sedate. We saw zebra, giraffes and a young leopard, as well as the magnificent birds that inhabit this area.
What an amazing way to end four weeks of seeing and photographing wildlife in Southern Africa.
A big thank you to Sue Flood & Cindy Miller Hopkins. Not only did they provide the impetus and opportunity for me to come to Zambia, and therefore to Namibia and Botswana, they know how to ensure we enjoyed this with comfort, knowledge and style. Our South Luangwa group was wonderful and interesting to travel with – a big thank you to Sue M, Nick, Ian and Burkhard – it’s been a great adventure with you all. And I look forward to seeing Sue F and Ian on the way to the North Pole in just 6 weeks.
