This morning we drove to a dam wall to watch a lake which we already know to contain hippos and crocs, but today we went birdwatching. We left very early and it was well worth it when the sun began to rise over the lake:
Although some of the guys here are more interested in the bigger mammals, I really enjoyed it and we spotted some 60 species including giant heron, francolins, little bee-eaters and giant kingfishers. Here is the little bee-eater:
In the afternoon we failed to find the cheetahs. It is becoming frustrating as the telemetry equipment doesn't seem to work unless you're at a very close range, making it impossible to hone in on an individual animal. Instead we found our own sights such as this huge termite mound:
And these wildebeest across another lake:
In the middle of the day we had a lecture from Manie on spiders, snakes and scorpions. This forms part of a series of lectures during the first week. Manie's talk was thought-provoking. There are several very dangerous species here and we're a long way from any help.
In the afternoon we went to feed the wild dogs and chatted to a lady called Wendy who is overseeing the wild dog project. One of the problems facing these dogs is that they are not cooperatively feeding, that is where two or more dogs feed from prey by pulling at opposite directions much like a tug-of-war. If they don't learn this technique, their survival in the wild will be difficult. I was able to take some pictures in the fading light which demonstrates this problem:
After dinner Richard, Gary and I played cards. It wasn't long before we noticed that it was dark, we were being noisy and we were lit up to all animals that may be nearby. We therefore quickly retired to bed!
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