Week 325 ( 13th - 19th November 2009 )
A week in four paragraphs
The boys were lying scattered around the camp – panting. Hulooo lifted his head to watch and his brothers just rolled their eyes. Hulooo became a little more active and was able to pace in front of the gate. Coco managed to raise himself sufficiently to move his position and continued sleeping. This afternoon saw a vast change in their energy levels. They all came bolting out of the trees and chased each other around for a while before focusing their attention on the gate and the possibility of being fed. Once they realised that dinner HAD arrived they stormed over to the gate and whined for me to HURRY UP ALREADY!!!!!!! Once the gate was opened they all tried to scramble through the gateway at the same time, wedging each other in. After a bit of a tussle Hulooo was first to extricate himself from the bundle, followed by Coco. JenB procrastinated wandering if he really wanted to cross the gate. He eventually made up his mind and leapt through.
Madonna and her cubs were lazing around and had absolutely no inclination to do anything more energetic than flick their tails. In the afternoon Madonna and both her cubs galloped out of the trees and had reached the gate before I did. The babies lay as close to the gate as they dared; King Henry demanded immediate gratification and Princess shoved her paws through the gap under the gate and chuffed. Princess chased her mother around from port to starboard and everywhere in between, Madonna had by this time had enough and she pushed off to quieter pastures. It rained later in the week and they all rushed around like lunatics revelling in the rain. Princess tried to climb a tree but failed to find a foothold on the slippery bark and slid down to the ground.
TigerWoods was sleeping and had no interest in the day. Later, he padded over to the gate where I was standing and lay down – yawning majestically and talking sporadically. I left to check on the others and he stood up, stopping halfway with his butt in the air – in two minds whether to follow or not. Sloth gained the upper hand and he flopped back down with a grunt. The arrival of food spurred him to action and he paced back and forth chuffing in anticipation
14 live Blesbuck were offloaded into Tiger’s Roars in the afternoon and Cathay was already at the fence waiting to welcome the buck to the Valley before the truck was even halfway to the offload point. She was a very interested spectator and the thunder of hooves also brought 327 racing over for his share of the excitement