Dog Day Morning (and Afternoon) (8/23)

More pre-dawn reveling, as Jacques loaded Anne, Rick, the Italian Stallion (Mario), his three female escorts, and their “guide” onto the Land Rover in a quest for wild dogs. After two hours in sub-zero (C) conditions, we had traversed almost the entire 22,000 hectares of the reserve,

before we finally located these canine cuties, who, like their feline counterparts, had been orphaned by farmers and nursed by the Africat Foundation.

They played like puppies and lounged like labs,

but their name and Jacques convinced us to ignore our desires to pet them. One even imitated Bo, as he barfed up something he shouldn’t have eaten, then attempted to re-consume the lump before one of his brothers stole the pile. This helped relieve some of my hunger pains.

On our way back to the lodge for breakfast, the thermometer hit 5, as we passed a lone cheetah, moseying up the road, with a full belly and a contented look.

By the time we reached the dining room, the smell of crisp bacon filled the air, and my appetite had returned. A relaxing early afternoon included a late lunch, a quick nap, some blog updating, and bird feeding, as the hornbills perched outside our chalet.

We joined a friendly German family of five for our afternoon hyena hunt with Ruan. We soon learned that Stefan, the 25 year-old son, was a professional photographer, who shared some valuable tips with Rick. For the first 90 minutes of our journey, we only encountered giraffe and lady kudus, until the tracker finally picked up a signal, and we headed out on foot to locate Pooh, not exactly the name most would pick for a hyena.

However, as Ruan informed us, the hyena is a misunderstood animal. In fact, it is NOT a canine and NOT merely a scavenger; mostly killing its own food, despite its relatively slow footspeed. Apparently, it has the endurance of a Kenyan marathoner, and simply wears down its prey. Speaking of praying, we DID notice that Ruan was carrying a club, allegedly because a leopard was in the ‘hood. At long last, we caught up with Pooh,

who looked reasonably harmless while sitting in the high grass, like an oversized german shepherd (with shark teeth). However, as he began walking, his gait was Shenzi creepy, and we were relieved to see him head off into the twilight.

We returned to the vehicle, and picked up a faint signal from one of the leopards and decided to give chase, eventually tracking her down and catching a brief glimpse after the sun had set, and still a good hour’s drive from the camp. I guess they are going to call us late for dinner tonight! Oh well, sometimes it’s a dog’s lifeJ

After another mouthwatering dinner, we headed back to our cottage, where I tested the rule of 600 that Stefan had taught me for photographing night skies.

To my sheer delight, the technique worked, and, after 3 weeks of star gazing with no images to show for it, I was finally able to capture the remarkable Africa sky.