BY JENNIFER THOMAS
Spring is here and the temperature is rising. No rain for three months now the bush is looking dry and dusty.
A warm breeze sometimes blows gently, but usually the air is still. A few trees retain a sprinkling of green leaves but mostly the branches are bare, except for the trees forming a green fringe along the banks of the Luangwa River.
All of the smaller rivers and streams have dried up leaving wide sandy beds. When the water supply dries up and the plants are all brown and bare, it is truly the survival of the fittest. It is easier to see the animals now as the bush provides far less cover and shelter. Elephants form larger groups of twenty or more and some families spend time amongst the sprinklers on the Lodge lawns, under the shade of the huge fig tree.
Sometimes it is necessary to move around the camp carefully, as there are elephants on every walkway. In the late afternoon, many elephants walk purposefully to Mfuwe, arriving after dark to raid the ripening crops.At first light, they return to the relative safety of the National Park. Very intelligent animals, elephants! The lagoon, in front of the Lodge attracts antelopes, giraffes, elephants, hyenas and mongooses, who come each night for a drink of water.
Lately, most game drives have returned with reports of leopards and lions, now easily visible in the dry landscape. Buffaloes have formed large breeding herds of 200 or more which spend the days grazing between the river and the hills and can be seen cooling themselves in the muddy lagoons, in the soft evening light. The bird population has become more varied with the arrival of the migratory species.
Beautiful Carmine Bee Eaters form large colonies which nest in the sandy river banks, providing an interesting and colourful display. There are baby animals everywhere, all learning survival strategies from their mothers, while the males either guard the territory or return to a solitary life in the bush. Family groups of warthogs, baboons and puku can be seen grazing together on the plain. This peaceful activity is occasionally disturbed by approach of a rival or predator. Baby hippos remain with their mothers for the first two years as a young hippo can be prey for lions. Elephants remain in the family group until they become teenagers, then they are strongly encouraged to find their own food and eventually form a new family group. By the time hippos and elephants leave home they weight over a tonne, so it is clearly time for a more independent lifestyle. Wildlife safaris are endlessly surprising.
On a recent night drive, we were enjoying a warm, quiet evening, occasionally disturbed by bush hares and elephant shrews, when we discovered a tree where two adult leopards, a male and female, were devouring a small antelope. At the base of the tree, two hyenas waited quietly for tasty morsels to drop from the branches. Their concentration was not disturbed by a passing hippo who was searching for the ripe, sausage-shaped fruits that had also fallen from the tree.
Eventually, the hyenas received their share of the evening meal and retreated to the thicket to finish their supper, in peace. Africa is a strange mixture of cooperation and coalition as well as rivalry and predation-such is life!
