Tags
&Beyond Phinda, antelope, baboon, bushbuck, cheeta, civit, elephants, genet, giraffe, Gorongosa, hippopotomus, impala, kudu, leopard, lion, mammals, mongoose, monkey, Mozambique, nyala, rhino, sable, South Africa, warthogs, waterbuck, wild dog, zebra
By now, you know I saw a lot of birds while traveling with members of the Intermountain Bird Observatory to South Africa and Mozambique. But we saw mammals too, both large and small. During our three-weeks, we stayed at two game reserves. Gorongosa Park in Mozambique, and &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve in South Africa. Birds were abundant everywhere—so were mammals.
In Gorongosa, we saw waterbuck galore. There were so many of these large antelope that while we were there, a helicopter roundup was necessary so that excess animals could be culled out of the Gorongosa herd and trucked to another reserve which needs more of them to sustain a healthy population.

They were everywhere, but I missed a good photo. Attribute to Animalspot.net
We saw many different antelope varieties: nyala, sable, kudu, bushbuck, and impala. We had glimpses of blue wildebeest, a small pride of lion, elephant, and a ton of warthogs, vervet monkeys and chacma baboons. We had a quick night-time glimpse of African civet, slender and white-tailed mongoose, and genets, small cat-like creatures.
At Phinda, nyala roamed the grounds of the compound like buffalo stroll the across parking lots in Yellowstone. The much smaller red and grey duiker were shy. We usually caught only glimpses of them in the distance before they bounded into the brush. Mini-antelope called Suni are even more shy. The size of an Italian Greyhound, they stole my heart. We also saw zebra, giraffe, more elephants, hippos, more lion, cheetah, leopard, and white rhino. One member of our group missed a morning drive due to exhaustion. He enjoyed a casual morning on the grounds and gleefully showed us a photo of an elephant drinking out of the swimming pool!
One particularly memorable event was a conclave of rhino moseying down a road that intersected ours. We stopped to watch as they shuffled and milled hesitantly near the intersection. Our tracker pointed out that there was a lion resting in the tall grass beside the road. The rhino, having very poor eyesight, sensed the presence of danger, but couldn’t figure out exactly what it was. We watched this for quite some time before the group ambled off, casting cautious glances behind them as they went. Our driver crept up to the intersection and we waited for the lion to put on a show. We could see only his head sticking up above the grass. Then he began to roar—oh my did he roar! And his girlfriend was nearby, but sounded rather unimpressed. “ROAAAR!” “Yeah, I hear ya.” “ROAR!” “Yeah, yeah.” “Roar!” “Yeah, ok honey.” Be sure to have your speakers on and watch to the end of the video as the Lion King collapses in utter exhaustion. It’s tough being royalty.

Worried Rhino
Our visit to Gorongosa culminated with an early morning drive in search of wild dogs. Last year, 14 dogs were brought into the park. Since then, 28 pups have been born. The pups are born in a shallow, broad den—often an abandoned warthog den. While the pups are small, the pack will change den locations two or three times. As they grow larger, they are left with an adult aunt or uncle while the pack hunts. The pack brings down large prey by running it down, brutally tearing the animal apart while still on the run. The dogs don’t stop running till they get back to the den, where they regurgitate undigested food for the pups. Digestion doesn’t begin until the dog rests, at which time blood returns to the stomach to trigger digestion.
Interestingly, shortly after the 14 dogs were released in GNP, the pack split into two groups of four and ten, with an alpha female in each group. Then the females of both groups each had a litter, which is quite unusual. The two females continue to raise the two litters as one family. A very healthy, balanced family.
We drove to a site in the woods where game cams have been recording dog activity. We waited for maybe 45 minutes until suddenly the pack came bounding into view, their big round ears alert and listening for the pups. The pack ran past us, then circled back to where they had entered and bounded back out again with little fanfare. Test, our guide explained that regurgitation elicits a racket of little barks and yipping, which we did not hear. He guessed that the hunters came in, gathered the pups who are now old enough to move on their own, and ushered them somewhere more private for the breakfast feast.
At Phinda we were treated to more giraffe, and up close and personal elephant action! Interestingly, the group of females present more danger than the males, who appear somewhat threatening in the next video. The park ranger just told the boys to mind their manners and they huffed and retreated.
Our last game experience was observing a young leopard wrestle with his huge waterbuck kill which was too big for him to pull into a tree and even too large for him to pull into a thicket, so between panting rests, he began butchering right before our eyes.

Young leopard with his kill
These experiences with the mammals were really the highlights of my trip to the African Continent.
When you consider how many Rhinos are extinct or endangered, I would be worried, too.
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Yes, and you raise a fine point. I forgot to mention that you may notice that the horns on these Rhino have been removed. This is done when they are young in the hopes of protecting them from poachers who will slaughter an animal just for that one piece of value — to them.
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After your Idaho sage brush comment, it surprises me that you didn’t mention any “pink” elephants on this journey!
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Didn’t see any of those. I looked . . .
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Wow what a fantastic experience!! Love the pictures!!
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Thanks! And I did not come home and get sick… phew.
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Fascinating. Thank you. I’m puzzled about the dogs – are these a non-indigenous species? If so, why introduce them?
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That’s a great question, Cat. I probably should have gone into a bit more detail. They are indigenous, but the predator/prey relationship is interconnected. Just as lions, cheetah, and leopards were wiped out as a result of war, poaching, and drought (because their prey were decimated therefor they had no food source), the same is true for wild dogs.The wild dogs are a very unique species. Here is a link that explains a lot better than I do. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/a/african-wild-dog/
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Thank you – very interesting, I’d never even heard of these “painted dogs”. I hope they can survive,
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I think years ago I saw a National Geographic or PBS documentary about them, but I didn’t quite understand it. The filming was done at night, when the dogs are most active, and I didn’t really understand how they differed from hyenas. But they really are amazing and beautiful critters. With those big upright ears, they give them impression of great joy. Our glimpse of them was very fleeting. I’d have loved to see more, but realize we were really very lucky to even get that sighting of them.
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Such an abundance of mammals. No wonder they were the highlights of the trip.
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Really, these animals and the ability to watch them in their natural environment gave me chills and heart palpitations. I don’t think words can convey how special it was, how different than watching a documentary. Sharing the air…there’s just something…
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Linda, very cool. Ironically, I saw three deer this morning here in the suburbs. They wander the greenways, but sometimes find themselves in neighborhoods. Keith
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