HOT OFF THE DRIVE 10/25/08 PM

Reports of another (the 3rd) kill site.

Question is whose ?? Of course we head that way to check it out.

And sharp eyed Pieter finds it.


AH, Karula with a young Nyala. We didn't stay long but will get back to Karlua later.

A lone Nyala. Pieter thinks it might be because the herd got separated when Karula showed up.

A bit of rain of the lens ...

but a few swipes of the cloth and ...

all is clear again (for now anyways)



As you can see, rain is needed there. While rain will hamper Drives, they really do need it.

What's this ?? Ellie ? Rhino ? Sorry, just a really thick area of bush. Fools everyone, LOL

A few Zebra out and about.




Those clouds are holding the promise of rain. Question is how much and when.

Checking back in with Karula, we find her resting. BTW Karlua means "Peaceful"



She has a full belly and full bellies always mean naptime.

Jackalberry Tree where Pieter is hoping to catch Karula in the act of taking her latest kill.

Since Karula was napping it was a good time for our crew to take a break and switch back to the waterhole.

And just in time for this group of Dagga Boys. It was funny, they came at a run. Must of been powerful thirsty.

Went right for the water ...

and one guy just pushed right in.

Which made for a tight fit.

OK getting a bit crowded, time for ...





making some room.

Footing on the stones is a bit tricky so a little help from a friend is good. (Seemed to me like they were leaning on each other)

Feeling a bit chippy (Heard Pieter say that he was feeling a bit chippy today too. Must be the promise of rain LOL)

They soon headed out to parts unknown or just somewhere to bed down for the night.

Always amazes me how fast night seems comes there

WildEarth has a cool feature. Live GPS. The red marker is where the Drive is in relation to the whole area.
This shot shows where the first kill site is. Just below that is camp.

And the Impala is still there. Maybe others will come into the area too. Leopards that is.

While they switch over to infra-red, we got a short Geography lesson. See where it looks like an "A" well the cross line shows the distance between camp and Dixie. Not far at all. And there were a bunch of happy and tired children in Dixie this night. Today was their 'Movie Day'. Fun but exhausting.

Ah, the Dagga boys didn't go too far.

This little (and I do mean little) guy has found his bed for the night. Wasn't hardly any bigger the Pieter's finger.

Arrow points to where Pieter saw the Flatneck Chameleon. Boy he has good eyes, LOL

Back at Karula, a mom and youngster Nyala are yards away from ...

where Karula has made a bed in the soft sand.

This shows where Karula was with her latest kill (Camp is in the upper left hand corner)

Most she's doing now is finding the most comfortable place to lay. (The sand in the river bed makes a good place to do that, nice and soft.) With 3 kills in the area we should have a few days to enjoy her company.

Images courtesy of http://www.wildearth.tv/ (Drive cam)

.

I also want to pass along a bit of information I got today. I had wondered about how Karula was feeding, so I asked. I learned that most predators go for the hind quarters first because that is where there is a lot of meat and it's easy to get at. I always thought they went for the belly area first (since that is what we usually see) . And as Pieter said, what's in the belly can't be taken. So it makes sense to get the most as fast as they can. Then after the initial feeding they continue up the carcass. Thanks to WE for giving us the chance to ask questions and teaching us more about what we see.

Well that was it. I got to see the whole Drive, been along time since I got to do that. And as always I was not disappointed.

.

Until the next time HAPPY VIEWING !!