Hunting Painted Dogs. Part Three.

Day 3 - A Near Miss

Sunrise

I love being on safari, but it does have its downsides. Being woken up at 5:30am is one of them. Another is the lack of dogs.

This morning it was even more of a pain than normal, as Annick had spent the night mostly awake and quietly groaning. A near overdose of anti-spasm medication seemed of little help. 

Reluctantly she got herself ready and we left under a spooky dawn (see above, cue vultures). Perhaps foretelling the doom to come?

Things did, however, start well enough.

We soon came across this entire pride of lions, looking around hopefully for their breakfast. They obviously hadn’t spotted us yet...

The social intercourse of these cuddly cats is fascinating. Take this young couple. They were clearly in lurv...

Their snuggles and cuddles were heart-warming,

although their love-bites were something to avoid. Best not to give way to the urge to stroke these killing machines. They exude power. I don’t.

It is interesting to note how the manes of the males are quite poorly developed, scruffy even. Those in the Serengeti and, more so, Botswana had very impressive, long flowing locks. (Remind you of anyone?) These looked a little moth-eaten. 

However, I don’t hold with the ‘eaten by moths’ theory. I think it’s more a cultural thing. Those from further north were clearly from the hippy generation, whereas these are more of the punk variety. Kids today...

This young female was cleaning herself up, obviously out to attract the opposite sex. (Other preferences are available.)

She meticulously included those ‘difficult-to-get-to’ places.

Her grooming seems to have worked on this guy. (I think it’s a guy.)

Apparently I was not attractive in the same way. She prefers Kelvin Klein*.

Discretion being the better part of valour, she decided against having me for breakfast (biblically or otherwise). So she got up and left, gouging out a bit of the Jeep as she passed on by.

Flirt.

You need to be very careful in the wilds of Africa. Wherever you go, there is danger. Even taking a drink can be frought with unexpected risks.

You never know who might be behind you...

Who said romance was dead? 

We drove on, leaving these amazing creatures to play and hunt. And sleep.

This, it turns out, was our big mistake.

Just half an hour later, Julien and his motley crew stumbled upon the same pride of lions. As they were there admiring the lion’s drinking techniques, they started to become agitated. (The lions that is. The motley crew were already somewhat nervous.) They had sensed the presence of other predators.

Enter stage left, yes, you guessed it... four Painted Dogs.

This was immediately radioed to us but, it was too late. The four were on a hunting mission and were not going to hang around for photographs.

We had missed them.

In utter dismay, disbelief and disappointment, we stopped for breakfast, overlooking a sand river, so as to cry into our coffee.

The local baboon delinquents tried to lift our spirits by trying to throw each other off the cliff edge.

Sadly, this was no help. We were not amused.

Annick’s tummy torment continued. She ate nothing, she just laid on a mattress and slept. It seems that, of all the dangers in Africa (including drinking) onions are the worst.

It was clear we had to get her back to camp.

On our return, she took more medication and then retired to bed and slept. 

That afternoon she appeared a little better, but was too ill to go out again. 

Heroically, I went out alone. 

With two guides and a shotgun of course...

We searched further for our quarry, at one point even seeing fresh dog tracks, but no actual dogs. The trail had gone cold. 

Whilst searching, we did see this magnificent Kudu, with horns to be proud of. I would be proud of these horns.

This juvenile Butlers Eagle, albeit impressive, was no dog.

Fish Eagles were everywhere. This one perched right next to us. It had a bad feather day.

The setting sun (see below) forced our return to camp, where Annick was still improving, but could not face a stomach refill.

Whilst she slept I joined the others for good food and an interesting mixture of people. The mix was maybe a little too ‘interesting’ as one couple of W**kers from Wigan took real offence at me being upbeat (apparently the world is coming to an end) and the mention of Brexit nearly caused them apoplexy ("and what is wrong with Brexit?"). 

Oh dear. Note to self: keep your mouth shut.

Thus, this day was not our best.

But it couldn’t get any worse.

Could it?

To be continued in the next blog, amusingly entitled Part four.

Day's End

Daily bonus: Annick's favourite iPhone image from Day 3

Sadly this was about about the only photo she took today. :(

* Kelvin Klein scent is being used to capture tigers... (here)

Part one of this amazing story, 'Getting There' can be found here.
Part two of this amazing story, 'Selous Game Reserve' can be found here.
The Next Part is Here!