African Impact
Through our volunteer programs, we invite you to be more than a tourist - to be a traveller, a conservationist and a humanitarian. Explore, Inspire, Impact.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Nathan Webb and Leigh-Ann Marnoch, our Hwange project managers, report back on some of last weeks excitements...
Friday 11th July 2008
A early start to the day with a small carnivore spoor transect. This was Joyces (our current volunteer) first one and she found it very interesting. During the transect we came across a very big male lion as well as leopard spoor. When Leigh placed her hand next to the lion spoor, it was the same size. It was nearly 13cm, which is not the biggest but its still big enough. We later came across female herd of elephants and one of the calves came walking down the road towards us. He was only about a year old but he still insisted on giving us a dominance display which we thought was funny. We then followed up the lion spoor hoping to find it but we came across something even better. We spotted some eyes in the distance and when we got closer we were surprised to see a male leopard lying in the grass. We watched him for a bit and after a few minutes a female leopard appeared from the bush next to him. These two must have been a courting pair as the male growled at the female every time she tried to rub up against him, which is a sure sign that they were mating. That was a unique experience for everyone especially Joyce.
It doesn’t end there, on our way back to the lodge we saw a side striped jackal on the side of the road which again is rare! We are getting luckier each time...
Diary of a Project Manager - Elephants, Lions and more in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe
Nathan Webb and Leigh-Ann Marnoch, our Hwange project managers, report back on some of last weeks excitements...Friday 11th July 2008
A early start to the day with a small carnivore spoor transect. This was Joyces (our current volunteer) first one and she found it very interesting. During the transect we came across a very big male lion as well as leopard spoor. When Leigh placed her hand next to the lion spoor, it was the same size. It was nearly 13cm, which is not the biggest but its still big enough. We later came across female herd of elephants and one of the calves came walking down the road towards us. He was only about a year old but he still insisted on giving us a dominance display which we thought was funny. We then followed up the lion spoor hoping to find it but we came across something even better. We spotted some eyes in the distance and when we got closer we were surprised to see a male leopard lying in the grass. We watched him for a bit and after a few minutes a female leopard appeared from the bush next to him. These two must have been a courting pair as the male growled at the female every time she tried to rub up against him, which is a sure sign that they were mating. That was a unique experience for everyone especially Joyce.
It doesn’t end there, on our way back to the lodge we saw a side striped jackal on the side of the road which again is rare! We are getting luckier each time...
#permalink Diary of a Project Manager - Elephants, Lions and more in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe posted by Sarah Graham @ 5:18 AM 
