Week 295 (17th Apr - 23rd Apr 2009)
Madonna continues her trek and finds some prey to hand
Madonna still had to move from the seven hectare camp, through the 2ha camp and the half hectare to reach what is to be her home for the next while.
Whilst I was at the 2ha camp looking for Hulooo and his brothers Madonna appeared at the gate, whilst I was debating whether or not to let her through into the 40ha camp the cubs also arrived on the scene, now was my chance. I opened the gate connecting the 2ha and 7ha camps and before I could even blink Madonna had crossed into the 2ha camp (she always used to be so scared of gates); and whilst she was wandering around taking in the smells and talking to her nephews King Henry finally plucked up some courage and leapt through, Princess took some time longer before she too was persuaded to exchange the familiar surroundings of the 7ha camp for the unknown. I closed that gate and within two shakes of a lamb’s tail, Madonna and the cubs were in the 0.5ha camp. Unfortunately they will have to spend at least the rest of the day here because one of the springbuck that we had chased in had managed to escape by breaking a wire in the fence which had to be repaired before Madonna could be let in to teach her cubs the hunting game.
As it was, they could only move to the 40ha camp on Saturday afternoon and it was then that the cubs had their first real-life practical on how to hunt. Madonna noticed the antelope nearby and she wasn’t about to wait for a second invitation: She stalked them very quietly and jumped for one, grabbed it by the neck and suffocated it, not long after, she located another antelope and made another kill. The cubs were not far behind Madonna in the whole hunting experience and looked on wide-eyed as Madonna demonstrated good technique.
During Saturday night Madonna successfully hunted the last of the antelope on the half hectare side of the river; now she will have to go further afield to find more prey. A drive around inside the 40ha camp on Sunday morning brought Madonna out of the thick bushes along the river, she was extremely lazy and she struggled to keep her eyes open. I didn’t see any carcases lying around but her belly, what little I saw of it and her laid back attitude were indicative of a night and day spent feasting.
For the rest of the week Madonna was as lazy as could be and the cubs only put in a brief appearance on Tuesday morning.