My first ever wild dog!

Tuesday August 5^th
Zimanga – Kwa-Zulu Natal
Why have I been elected chief cook? I’m sitting on the veranda waiting for the chicken casserole to do its thing, but I have crickets and the occasional nightjar for company, so it’s not all bad.
And I don’t get to do the washing up.
Late start this morning: 6.30. We are being spoilt. 5.30 starts from tomorrow!
The main thing I learnt on this morning’s drive was that if you see a guy parked up in a battered Toyota truck, there’s something worth looking at. (The guy in the truck owns the reserve.)
Now, the painted dogs were excellent, don’t get me wrong, but the cheetah and its kill was marginally better: getting out of the truck and getting close to the cheeta - which simply observed us with rather less than curiosity – is going to be a hard act to follow.
I learnt how to use the telemetry tracker and how to log sightings of the animals being monitored. I’ll twist someone’s arm to take a photo, assuming we survive the casserole.
Oh, and it may still be winter, but it’s HOT. Mornings start with woolly hats and about 15 layers, but it’s strappy tops and Factor 50 by 10am.

This is Kalahari with his kill - an impala.