Week 358 ( 2nd to 8th July 2010 )
Light-hearted, care-free moments
Madonna amused me one afternoon when she walked straight over to a young thorn tree, nosed amongst the fallen branches and picked up a twig scarcely two inches long and paraded back and forth with it sticking straight out of her mouth. She then pawed it first with one foot and then the other, walked two steps and pawed it again. Shortly afterwards she spat it out, licked both paws and tugged at the fluffy hairs between her pads. She then retrieved her twig and walked up to the gate and chuffed at Princess around it, bragging about her find. When she received no answer she pawed and prodded it again and then spat it out once more… for the last time.
The next day Madonna climbed into the trough and 327 made ready to chase the vehicle down the fence. I moved forward and 327, who only had eyes for the vehicle ran smack- bang into the trough. At the same instant of impact Madonna (who had her back to him) displaced half the water as she hurriedly turned around and uttered a surprised chuff. To cover his faux par he had a few laps of water and Madonna leaned against him to recover her composure.
Later the same day it was feeding time for the kids who were pacing at Tigers’ Roars main gate. I blew the predator whistle at the Mini Camp and all hands were on deck. Before I could say ‘come and get it’ both were at the Mini Camp’s gate demanding to be let in. King Henry was first through the gate (naturally) and consequently first at the food. Whilst he was giving the carcass a good clean, I invited Princess into the 0.5ha camp and she wandered around smelling the roses so to speak. King Henry left the meat, charged at his sister and raced circles around her like a whirlwind and dashed back to the carcass. Infected by his happiness she too raced into the Ravine Camp, grabbed the buck by the neck, wrenched it from under her bewildered brother and tore off with it. They both then forgot about the food for the time being and huddled at the fence to talk to their Dad
Feeding time for the Hulooo and his brothers also made me giggle. They were pacing midway along the northern fence but once they saw that I was offloading food they ran towards the eastern annex. This was no mere trot-until-we-eventually-get-there run but a full-throttle, whole-hearted gallop. Coco was first in and grabbed one leg, Hulooo and JenB tussled over another – kicking up clouds of red dust as each tried desperately to tear the food out of the other’s grasp. Hulooo eventually triumphed by spinning around and JenB looked around. He then discovered the last leg and carried it off. After 15 minutes of dedicated eating he had totally flattened his meat and approached Hulooo in search of more. Hulooo growled at him and he made his way over to Coco who also had a lot to say in defence of his dinner. JenB turned around and sniffed dejectedly at a pile of Blesbuck droppings. Whilst JenB’s back was turned the other two hurriedly switched meals and JenB looked over his shoulder in horror at their duplicity. It dawned on him that he had once again lost out and he lay down at the fence trying to blot his brother’s contented chewing form his mind.