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After the days of remote beauty at the Chitake campsite we break camp and leave to set up camp by the Zambezi River at Nyamepi Camp. I will not miss the tsetse flies at Chitake and I am pleased to be down in the river area again, in the company of hippos. The area here is lush and green. The downside at Nyamepi is that there are other people.
Anyway, we go for walks and game drives and see loads of animals. We spend dusk hours watching a pack of 10 African wild dogs. They while away the time trying to sleep but constantly waft their tails and shake their heads to keep the bugs away. They can find no rest.
Suddenly a few of them get up to urinate and defecate. This is a group thing. They sniff and roll in each other’s pee and poop in an effort to smell like each other. I will not comment on what I think about that kind of social behaviour. They then greet each other nose to nose, growling aggressively then yipping submissively.
In wild dog groups there is a dominant male and a dominant female who get to have all the fun. If the other females deign to have pups the dominant female will usually kill those pups. Females usually emigrate from the pack (often dying) while males hang around waiting to take over the leading role. Pups have fun while they can, rolling around and tussling with each other just like domestic dogs.
Hippo for dinner
Another day we happen upon an interesting scene. We smell and then see a dead hippo. It is lying in the shallow river on a green bed of water hyacinths, bloated, stinky and feet up in the air. A few hyenas have also spotted the hippo and think “dinner”. This is easier said than done. The hyenas are chickens at heart and spend ages getting up the nerve to dip their feet in the river. “What if a lion comes by? What if I drown? What if I someone catches me?” they seem to ask themselves.
The lure of food overcomes their fears and they finally venture into the river. They clamber onto the hippo carcass and try to break through the skin. This is tough. The hide of the hippo is very thick and even though hyenas have a strong bite they find it hard to pierce the skin. At the same time, the hyenas have trouble keeping their balance on the curved and slippery surface of the hippopotamus. One of them slides off into the water and look frustrated and embarrassed.
Egoists that they are, they occasionally fight each other for the carcass. They pull at it, but in each their direction. If they worked together instead of against each other, they could drag it up onto the riverbank and have a much easier job of eating. Meanwhile, the vultures are gathering. White-backed vultures, hooded vultures and marabou storks make up a grim audience to the comical show.
