Week 320 ( 9th - 15th October 2009 )
Madonna and the King Henry get busy and Hulooo gets company in the Looney bin
Madonna and the cubs had been exceptionally busy during Sunday night; hunting and killing a total of seven blesbuck. I drove around the camp and managed to locate four. Two were lying far apart in the western section of the camp in an open grassy area. One other was propped up against a tree in the region of the river and King Henry was guarding another near the grass camp’s fence. The two in the open area I was able to retrieve for later but Madonna wasn’t about to let me make off with hers and to prove her point she dragged it under the nearest tree. She then crossed over to her son’s buck to make sure that I didn’t try and steal that one as well.
On Wednesday afternoon they were again out on a hunt. The blesbuck were divided into two groups. The first ran along the far fence across the river into the North western portion. The other group were calmly grazing in the eastern section. Madonna then came into view with the buck speeding ahead of her. The antelope veered off into the bushes and Madonna slowed down. She continued forward slowly and King Henry appeared pushing the buck further into the corner, the blesbuck then turned and raced towards the river and the tigers forced them to cross the river through the trees. Between them, King Henry and Madonna again split the group; one half made it across the river and watched in trepidation as the others were chased around in the thick vegetation along the river bank. I lost sight of predator and prey and drove around searching. Minutes later I spotted King Henry’s butt protruding from a bush as he was struggling to drag a buck from a previous hunt out. He had quite obviously given up on the hunt. The blesbuck had regrouped and there were only 12 left; Madonna had indeed been successful.
The brothers provided some entertainment this week: Coco and JenB were boxing one another about the ears – prancing about on their hind legs. Hulooo was sitting nearby; fascinated. He then galloped off, haring around the camp zigzagging this way and that with no obvious destination in mind, running just for the sake of running. His brothers also caught the bug and soon all three were racing crazily in separate directions all over the show... Suddenly, at the drop of a hat; it all stopped and they huddled at the gate soaking up the rain like sponges.
TigerWoods wasn’t to be outdone by his sons and also acted a little gaga in the rain. I flung him a blesbuck leg over the fence and he bounced around on his hind legs as he waited for it to fall. Picking it up he carried it off a short distance and then looked at me expectantly as I readied another leg. He ran closer still carrying his prize. As the second leg sailed over the fence, he dropped the first and caught the second between his front paws and quickly shoved it into his mouth so as not to drop it. He then tried to pick up the first leg but found his mouth already occupied. He tried again and still couldn’t fit both into his mouth, no matter how he tried. He eventually sorted out his dilemma and settled down to eat first one and then the other.