After an early rise at 5am, it wasn’t long before we heard
the distant sounds of Hyena and lions calling whilst having a well needed
morning cup of coffee. The calling was different, it was intense and clearly
not for territorial reasons.
We where planning on heading to the underground hide for the
morning but we decided it worthwhile to bypass where the commotion was going on
and see what was out there.
We followed the audible commotion for a while before we
found what it was all about. A clan of Hyenas where challenging 2 young male
lions over the remains of an impala ram kill, yet another victim of the Impala
rut. There wasn’t much left and we were lucky enough to catch the last bit of
action. The sun was just about to rise and we positioned ourselves according to
the lions and hyena, and the approaching golden light. As classic Masahtu has
it, there wasn’t a tree or shrub in our way and we had the 2 young males walk
past us, shortly followed by 13 hyena unsatisfied with the scraps they were
left.
After almost an hour of interaction, the rising sun set the
tone of calmness once again. With adrenaline flowing in full force, we
retreated to the hide to absorb what we had just witnessed. With a cup of
coffee in hand we browsed through the images we had just got on our ‘short’
little detour to the hide.
The good old saying of ‘Mashatu always delivers’ never seems
to fail.
Text and Photographs By: Kyle de Nobrega
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