For the better part of the night the Black-Backed Jackals and Crowned Lapwings kept me awake as they had quite a discussion going on throughout the night. Eventually dosing off, I got woken quite abruptly as I thought I heard a lion roar in the distance. Not sure if it was just a dream, wide awake, I listened intently and that’s when the culprit lets loose another series of roars. That was definitely a lion!
The rest of the night up until the early hours of the morning we heard the lions in the distance roaring. This kept going on for several hours. Deciding that we will try and find some evidence of what they were up to during the night. We set off bright and early, clearly feeling the result of winter in the air, with the sun barely out. With each hour passing the hope to find the lions started to diminish as they could be anywhere in the thick bushes and we were approaching their bedtime.
Our search seemed endless as the hours passed and the results left us rather empty-handed, but that’s nature for you, but what we found next was just equally incredible. Driving along Mbidi road, with the sun quite high by now, we finally stumbled onto a few Kudus and a lone Blue wildebeest wanting to cross the road. Upon our arrival they had second thoughts and went back to the left side of the road, where they previously came from.
Watching our every move…
The rest of the night up until the early hours of the morning we heard the lions in the distance roaring. This kept going on for several hours. Deciding that we will try and find some evidence of what they were up to during the night. We set off bright and early, clearly feeling the result of winter in the air, with the sun barely out. With each hour passing the hope to find the lions started to diminish as they could be anywhere in the thick bushes and we were approaching their bedtime.
Our search seemed endless as the hours passed and the results left us rather empty-handed, but that’s nature for you, but what we found next was just equally incredible. Driving along Mbidi road, with the sun quite high by now, we finally stumbled onto a few Kudus and a lone Blue wildebeest wanting to cross the road. Upon our arrival they had second thoughts and went back to the left side of the road, where they previously came from.
Watching our every move…
With the engine off, they seemed to relax a bit, but still very alert. One of the older cows kept staring off into the distance as if she heard something our ears clearly couldn’t.
The young bull in particular was watching me closely, he finally decided to cross the road to the tasty leaves waiting on the other side. With every mouthful, he just had to check on me again. It was quite entertaining to watch this handsome youngster. This went on for some time. Until they decided to cross the road again and started to disappear into the bushes.
Just checking to see if I’m still there…
Did you know?
Kudus, as well as other spiral-horn antelopes are non-territorial. Reproductive success takes priority over defending recourses or territory. Dominance for reproduction purposes are based on body size or the size of their horns. The horns will continue to grow even after the animal reaches maturity, whereas in other territorial species, the horns will stop growing when the animal reaches maturity
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