Tracking Hyenas & Leopards

We wake up early on Sunday morning.  While we don’t have any work today, we report for brekkie at 6.30 and prepare for our first game drive of the day.  We are off hyena tracking and we are very excited as this is a first for all of us. 

We drive for awhile and scour the reserve for a signal.  There are 3 spotted hyenas in the park that are collared.  Pooh and Paddington who are siblings and their father, Rupert.  Pooh and Paddington came to the park when they were about 3 years old.  They grew up in captivity (for tourism) but came in to the welfare program run by AfriCat when they were no longer wanted by their owner.  Somewhere along the line their mother died but their dad Rupert who is 20 years old is still alive and lives here.  Paddington and Pooh are now 10 years old.  While they were in the welfare program, they were fed 3 times a day and then last year they were released into a bigger reserve to judge if they could fend for themselves. 

It wasn’t long before they had killed a young giraffe and an oryx, proving they were ready to be self sustaining and survive in the wild.

The spotted hyenas are different to the brown hyenas in that they hunt for almost 75% of their food and only scavenge for the rest.  The brown hyena is a true scavenger and does not hunt.  They are pack animals and siblings stick together.  

Finally, after a fair bit of driving we get a signal.  These 3 hyenas have been radio collared when they were released and are monitored similar to the cheetahs so they can be monitored.  The hyena we have a signal from is Pooh.   She is deep in the bush, and we will have to do a bit of tracking on foot to find her.

We follow Rion single file and Clive brings up the rear.  On the way, we surprise a pair of giraffes who are perhaps startled to see foot traffic in their patch.

It is important to approach Pooh upwind of her so she is aware we are here.  A hyena startled can be unpredictable, but Pooh is used to humans and just needs prior warning so she can decide on her move first.  She wakes up and has a sniff, before getting up and moving to a new location.

Rion then motions to us it is OK to follow him a little closer and approach the hyena down wind.

He has settled back to sleep and seems happy to let us stand there watching.   He is beautiful and looks like a cuddly dog.  It is hard to imagine that he is actually the top predator of the bush and that even a leopard will give up its prey for fear of being mauled by a hyena.

This must be our lucky day.  On the way back we pick up a leopard signal and it turns out to be MJ and Mufana, 2 of the collared leopards who seem to have ‘found’ each other!

MJ, stands for Maha Junior, which means beautiful eyes.  She is the female and is 8 years old.  When a female leopard is in heat she leaves her territory and comes looking for a mate.  Maha has chosen a toyboy!  Mufana, the male is just 5 years old and is obviously very keen.  We have driven through the bush to find them, and park about 10 feet away to watch.  The grass is long and they are partially obscured.  Perhaps even leopards need their privacy?  Still, it is exciting to be this close to these majestic cats.

To our delight, Mufana jumps on MJ right before our eyes and the bush is filled with the sounds of their love making for a few seconds.  No foreplay involved here :)!  Leopard mating takes several weeks, and they could mate 3-6 times a day in periods of 5-12 seconds.  It is also a painful process for her, so it isn’t long before she throws him off.

To our delight this happens a second time.   Seeing a leopard mate in the wild is pretty special and we feel truly privileged.

MJ has had cubs previously.  Unfortunately, she lost her first two to other leopards but her second delivery produced a cub that still survives.  With a bit of luck in 3 months times, the bush may hear the pitter patter of little leopard feet once more!

Leopard cubs stay with their mother for 18 months, and it is only after the cubs are weaned that she goes into heat once more.  So, babies are spaced about 2 years apart.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this reserve will see a new generation of leopard cubs in 3 months time.I check out the pool on Sunday afternoon and have  a relaxing afternoon before our night drive. 

It is exciting to be out in the night in search of nocturnal animals but it isn’t so good for photography.  We saw the usual antelopes, a night bird scrub hare but the highlight for me was seeing a spring hare – a Namibian Kangaroo!

“Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile”. ~ Franklin Jones