About life, work & fun in Hwange
Just a small selection of my previous trips Lioness (Panthera leo) DB - David Beckam (shot in 2009 for killing cattle) One of the Mohicans Judah (disappeared at then end of 2010) Scaredycat (shot by a trophy hunter in 2010...) Jericho Cheetah (Acinonix...
Plain zebra (Equus burchelli) White rhino (Ceratotherium simum) Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) Elephant herd (Loxodonta africana) Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) Elephant and male Eland (Taurotragus oryx) White rhino Male impala (Aepyceros melampus)...
Black chested snake eagle (Circaetus pectoralis) Lillac breasted roller (Coracias caudatus) Crowned cranes (Balearica regulorum) Secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius) Broad billed roller (Eurystomus glaucurus) Little sparrow hawk (Accipiter minullus)...
When we woke up in our cave this morning, the sky was completely overcast and it was quite chilly... We had planed to drive around the Brandberg mountain, but the weather discouraged us, so we chose to go through the desert instead. We had some real 4X4...
Sundowners from the campsite along the Kwand oriver in Mudumu NP. Th campsite offers no commodities, but it's perfectly located over the river. We saw elephants swimming to cross the river! After the sun was down, 6 Saddle billed storks came to roost...
Sometimes, you just need a brak from Hwange. ANd we're lucky enough to have the Matopos NP only 3h30 drive away from home. So we decided to spend a week end there, to change scenery... Maleme camp site View on Maleme dam from the Black Eagle Lodge Maleme...
In October 2011, we finally got lucky and I managed to dart my 1st hyaena!! We need to change a GPS collar on Cyclope, from the Makwa clan. We sat at a young ele carcass for quite a while and had to drive around to get close enough to her to dart har....
After Cape Cross, we drove along the coast up to the entrance of the Skeleton Park at the mouth of the Ugab river. It was quite cold there, with a lot of wind! Anyhw, it was great to be there, on the Atlantic Ocean listening to the waves carshing on the...
We took part in a big operation of rhino dehorning and microchipping in Hwange. That was a lot of fun but still quite a serious job... Putting the blindfold to avoid any visual stress & getting ready to pour some water to keep her cool. Chap and Ray drilling...
After reaching the Skeleton Coast NP gate, at the mouth of the Ugab river, we headed east following the dry river bed. Gemsbocks and springboks were waiting for us but were a little bit shy... We then left the river on our left and follow the road in...
From Vic Falls, we crossed the border to Bots at Kazungula then cross Chobe NP to Ngoma gate and Namibia. From there, we went straight to Katima Mulilo, capital of Caprivi. After a night there, we proceeded to Mamili and Mudumu NP, down the Caprivi at...
I just spent 10days in South Africa to have a bit of work done on my Landy so it'll be more confortable in the bush. Here are the results!! Front spotlights and sum guard Side spotlights for hyaenas New roof rack Roof rack details: 18mm marine ply wood...
We left the Ugad river on our left and curved South to reached the Messum Crater. Once again, the road was bordered by Welwitschia . We didn't realised we were in the crater before looking at the GPS!! We camped in a cave, almost at the exact center of...
From Rundu, we drove South towards the Waterberg Plateau NP. The road coming from south east offers a great view on the plateau. It is unfortunately not allowed to self drive or walk on top of the plateau, so we didn't visit up there. However, it's possible...
Should I try this kudu, seems tempting enough!! We used this kudu as a bait to try to collar a new hyaena on the Airstrip at Main Camp. The one individual we wanted didn't show up, but 6 others were there and finished our bait in less than 2 hours......
Earlier this year, we really had a problem with rats, so we decided to take a cat to get rid of the problem. We ended up with 2, Amanzi (male) and Inyanga (female). While Amanzi stayed in camp and was sterilized, Inyanga went to Saf Lodge, and bred with...
After being back for 5 week without seeing a big cat, I finally found Tommy feeding on a carcass of a 6-7years old elephant. He might even have killed it! For sure, this is was HIS meal, not to be shared with anyone. Any hyaena that tried to get close...
From Palmwag, we hit the road North loking for the Himbas people. But at this time of the year, they are all in town, in Opuwo as it is too dry to remain in the bush. We saw them there and they just look amazing!! No picture though as they always ask...
Sometimes, a bad news just turns into so many good ones!! As we were doing fieldwork around Ngweshla, we had a shock absorber issue on my car, so we decided to cut the fieldwork short and make our way back to Main Camp. As we were driving along the Kennedy...
After I can't remember how many months after Nic was after this young male lion, we finally cornered him in the bush behind Broken Rifle. It was an interesting capture, as the first dart went literally through the tail and Kakori vomited some nice chunks...
During this amazing week, we immobilized many animals including kudu, buffalo, eland, elephant, lion, white & black rhinos, giraffe, hippo in the water, wildebbests in plastic bomas and impalas in net boma, and of course the typical donkey! It was great...
All right, living in Zim also means trying to learn a few new things. And as I often go in the bush wtih armed rangers, I decided that after all it was not such a bad idea to learn to shoot a firearm... So after a few weeks procrastinating about it, I...
Here are a few pictures taken by Lucy Hunt during the hyaena capture at Guvalala in September 2010. Setting up the GPS collar Measuring the teeth Nyarai and me (This is Peter Makumbe on the right) The capture went very smoothly and since then we saw Nyarai's...
A big part of my job here is to monitor carcasses trough nights and days for hyaena and lion activities. When I heard that a big bull died next to the pan at Sinanga, I packed my slepping back and everything else and zoomed off there. When I arrived at...
Hi there!! Hope you're all doing well. I'm flying back to Hwange on the 2nd of July, for 5 full months in the bush. It will be the dry season, and it promesses to be very dry this year. This means a lot of natural mortality of ele calves and other herbivores...
