Cheetahs and Rhinos, and Hyenas, Oh My!

Another 4:30 start to the day; a bit of breakfast, a quick cup  of tea and we were off in the Land Cruiser to scour 17,000 acres for the wild dogs.  We powered up a steep hill follwing an eight foot high highly electric fence and knew we were close on the trail of the dogs because of the strong telltale beeps of the telemetry equipment.  We couldn't see the dogs so we parked to wait for the to wake up and appear. It was a cool, overcast morning and we used the time to learn bird calls, spot birds and enjoy the view overlooking the hills. And then we waited, and waited, and waited, apparently the dogs were still full and tired from the impala hunt the night before, so we waited some more. After 2 hours if sitting, we decided to let then sleep, and moved on.

Out next task had us recording three rhino spottings. We wathed a mother protect her calf and an injured bull trying to make friends with the cow by huffing and snorting. We identified them by notches in their ears. Magnificent.

Not so magnificent was the next task. A neighboring lodge had lost power the previous weekend, and the meat in their freezer had thawed to 95 degree heat for a full day, and was spoiled. We carted crates of refrozen meat into the truck and rode with around 100lb of melting, rotting meat. Our take was to unwrap all of it and throw it in several piles, hoping to attract hyenas, so that the vet can dart and collar it. The purpose was good, but holy cwap did it stink, splatter, and stick to our fingers. Somehow it didn't seem like a good idea to have four volunteers smelling of rotten meat driving around a game reserve. We felt like bait. Here, kitty!

Along the way, we had the priviledge of watching two male cheetahs (brothers) feeding on an impala. Our first viewpoint was probably around 25 yds away. They tucked into the impala and popped up once in a while to keep watch for lion or hyena that might take their lunch away, but didn't mind us at all. We later saw the cats again, right next to the truck, with huge distended bellies, panting heavily. We learned that they eat so much inone sitting that their stomach presses up against their lungs, making it harder to breathe.

In the afternoon, we found the dogs again, and watched then play cat-and-mouse with about 15 wildebeest and a few zebra. In response to our alarm of a single puppy being chased be the herd, our guide Michelle said, "he'll just have to run fast." Who knew that in the wild the wildebeest and zebra
Play tag with wild dogs.

Our 11 hours in the back of the truck ended in a rain shower and we still had to go back to the juts to do our communal cooking.  It was stir fry and it was awful.  We are using beat up pans, a two burner cook stove and either frozen or canned foods and no spices to speak of.  Not our nest work. Kind od like camping though, you do the best with what you have.  Off to bed now... We have a 4:00 am start tomorrow to call in hyenas.