I have somehow neglected writing posts as I have resumed writing a novel I had shelved years back. This activity has taken more time than I thought and I am now determined to finish it to resume other writing projects, including the blog.

Despite the above, we still travel to the bush and, a few days back we had the visit of friends and relatives with whom we travelled to our favourite spot in Zimbabwe, Masuma dam in Hwange National Park, where what we saw brought me back to the blog.

It is rather amazing how cold it can get at night in Hwange. We had already experienced this earlier and came prepared. However, I still needed to put on my polar jacket to be able to gain some warmth. In any case, we survived.

The night before our visitors had agreed on an early game drive and I heard them departing the camp at about 06:00hs. I like to get up early so by 06:30hs I was at the viewing platform where I met the two ladies in charge of the camp, doing the daily cleaning before other toursits arrive. The dam was quiet and the sun was starting to warm things up so, seeing the prevailing peace, I decided to go back to the camp (about 50 metres towards the back) to make myself a cup of coffee.

I had just put the water to boil when one of the ladies came running to tell me that “the painted dogs have chased an impala into the dam and a crocodile ate it!”. Cursing my coffee idea and after shouting “wild dogs” to my frozen wife (she came in a flash, happy to leave the cold tent!), I run back to the dam. As expected, I could not see anything apart from the usual pod of about twenty hippos that were still where I had seen them earlier.

It was an upset Bushsnob that my wife found when she appeared. “I cannot believe what I missed” I said, “for a cup of coffee!”. Sensing the mood, she went out of the viewing platform to have a better look as we could still hear the dog calls coming from the nearby hill at the back of the camp!

Then, the amazing thing happened. As if a second take was needed by some nature director, galloping sounds came from the hill behind the camp and another female impala jumped into the dam again and started to swim away from the dogs. I managed to get the camera in video mode and register the last seconds of the impala’s life as well as the amazing sight that it was calm again a few seconds after the event! (please note that it shows a scene that some may find too strong!).

After recording the impala´s demise, I focussed on the disappointed wild dogs (about eight of them) that had worked hard for a meal and twice lost it to crocodiles. They were watching the water and, after some of them drinking, they departed again to find another prey and we did not see them again.

The above sequence shows the dogs after arriving to the dam, contemplating their prey disappearing!

Do I need to add that the early birds that had gone for the game drive and seen the usual herbivores were rather surprised and disappointed when they hear our news on return?

The story continues…