Early winter 2013

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It’s a very long time since I added anything to this blog – not through lack of interest or lack of anything to write about but for numerous other reasons, mostly to do with our internet connection. We have continued to be very busy at Sinamatella and we also had a couple of weeks in Bulawayo while we waited for the gearbox on our hard-working land Cruiser to be repaired so we’ve had some time off as well. Over the next few days I’ll be posting a few blog updates on what has been happening in this early part of the dry season, starting with a general look at the Sinamatella area……

    The most obvious feature of this winter so far is that there is still plenty of natural water available, even as late as the end of June. Luckily I don’t take most of the photos for this blog because I would illustrate the water available like this…..

Tshompani Pan, 17 June 2013.

Or like this……..

Tshompani Dam, 17 June 2013.

Whereas Sue prefers to take much more attractive photos like this…….

Mambane river

Or this……

Mandavu dam

Or this……..

Full moon rising at Chawato

Not everywhere still has water. Inyantue Dam is completely dry…

Inyantue Dam, 29 June 2013     

And the Lukosi River has water only just under the surface but the elephants know how to dig for it….

It’s very noticeable that the animals, particularly elephants are still not back in most of their usual wintering grounds. Below Sinamatella Hill we are only seeing a few Zebra, plenty of Impala and occasional Elephants. The usual winter herd of buffalo has appeared from time to time as well, numbering around one hundred and fifty at the moment. In the last few days Elephant numbers have been increasing at the dams and the natural pans around Tshompani…

Masuma dam, 28 June 2013     

And we have met a few closer to home but they are sometimes still quite nervous of cars, raising their trunks warily to catch our scent and decide if we are a threat….

With the water level remaining high at Masuma, there are still around eighteen hippo resident. We found them sunbathing out of the water when we passed by recently….

They are looking pretty fat, thanks to all the grass available nearby….

A waterbuck with her pretty little calf also came by while we were there but animal numbers in general were nowhere near as extreme as last year’s June count when we saw over 1100 elephant in 24 hours…

Finally, the Wild Dogs have been seen quite regularly again. I met a pack of eleven along the Lukosi River on my way to collect rangers. Sadly one of them had a snare around its neck with just a bit of the wire showing to one side …

 The snare seems to be made of steel cable and I know from experience how difficult that is to cut so it is amazing that the dog had broken free. Presumably another member of the pack chewed through the wire. The snared dog didn’t seem to be in much distress but unfortunately it will almost certainly be killed by the snare in the end as it will be almost impossible to find and dart it.