Kudu time

Someone once said in a post that he never wasted his time photographing kudu cows, because the males were so magnificent. I beg to differ on that score - I will always photograph the cows, before the bulls, but then I am biased. If you want to know why click on the link to Thumpy - a kudu's tale.

Who can resist this face.......................?

For those who prefer the males with their magnificent horns, here is a pair of bulls in their prime.

Thumpy - a kudu's tale

In more than one post in the past I have mentioned that kudu's, especially the cows, are my favourite antelope.Whenever I see one I am compelled to stop and never seem to have enough photos of them. 

This all happened on our family farm that was situated on the Lundi (Runde) River, back in the days when Zimbabwe was still Rhodesia, when we bottle reared an orphaned kudu calf.

We had a big flock of sheep on the farm in those days, which were looked after by a shepherd. He took them out in the morning and brought the home at night. During the heat of the day the shepherd would take the flock down to the river to drink, along one of the few game paths that wound themselves through the dense riverine bush to the water’s edge. The shepherd would be careful to avoid the pools where the crocodiles lurked and find a place where the river flowed over rocky areas between the pools, where it would be safe for the sheep to drink.

On one occasion the shepherd came across a kudu cow that had been caught in a snare along one of these paths. Her calf, which was only a few days old, lay curled up next to her and leapt up and bolted into the bush, as he drew alongside her. The calf did not get very far, when she too was caught in a snare.

Fortunately the shepherd was not alone that day and while he restrained the calf from threshing about and injuring itself, his sidekick ran back to our farmhouse a few kilometres away tell my folks.

I was not in on the rescue, because I was at boarding school at the time.

It was not long before the calf was rescued and safely ensconced in a pen. The surrounding bush along the river was swept by a team of labourers and was cleared of snares.

At the first opportunity my mother set about the task of bottle rearing her latest charge. We had plenty of cow’s milk but she knew that it was probably too rich for a kudu. After a few telephone calls around the country, she managed to track down a formula for blending kudu’s milk from cow’s milk. Making a few telephone calls was easier said than done in those days. We were on a party line, which was shared with about five other users, so if you wanted to make a call; you had to wait your turn if someone was on talking. To make a trunk call you would have to dial the exchange, ask for the number you wanted and then wait anything for up to an hour for the call to come through. But mother was determined and eventually got what she wanted.

And so the task of bottle rearing an orphaned kudu calf began.

To start with my step father would have to hold her down while mother force fed her, but it was not long until she grasped the concept and would voluntarily take the bottle. This developed into something of a ritual. Before taking the bottle, she would launch herself across the pen and give her benefactor a few good thumps, before eagerly latching on to the teat. This earned her the name of Thump-Thump, or Thumpy for short.

When I finished school and returned home, I immediately volunteered to look after her and this was readily accepted by my folks. My folks who knew all about her idiosyncrasies and watched with bemused smiles while their unsuspecting son climbed into the pen, bottle in hand. My feet had no sooner touched the ground when she shot across the pen and gave me a few good thumps and then started drinking. It is quite intimidating when what seems to be a docile, but nervous antelope suddenly “attacks” you. Let’s just say I was shaken not stirred, much to the amusement of the onlookers.

I then set about capturing the heart and mind of Thumpy. The way to do that was through her stomach. This was done with a variety of treats. He absolute favourite was a particular bush, with whitish berries, that grew along the river bank. I was told that kudus were particularly fond of this bush and every day I would bring her a few branches and it was not long when she would come running when I called her name. She became very affectionate and would nuzzle me and loved having her neck and ears scratched.

This is the only photo of I have Thumpy. It was scanned from an old colour slide and was taken inside the turkey run, with her buddy the goat.

When she was over her nervousness she was moved into a large turkey run, where she had a lot more space to move about and soon had a goat for a friend. Unfortunately the goat died quite suddenly one day and Thumpy was left with only the turkeys for company.

One of the daily rituals on the farm was to release the turkeys to free range in the lands. This was always a moment of great excitement. The turkeys would gather at the gate at the right time of the day and as soon as it was opened, they would charge out and run full tilt into the fields with wings flapping and a lot of noise, before settling down to their foraging.

Thumpy would usually stand by and nonchalantly look at the daily spectacle, until she too was suddenly infected by all the excitement and also made a break for freedom. In her case she did not exit through the gate, but managed to break a hole through the wire mesh fence, with the full force of her charge and kept running until she disappeared in the bush.

I immediately went looking for her but she was nowhere to be found. It was a devastating time for us as she had become such a part of the family. I thought that being a wild animal she would go back to her roots. How wrong I was.

Thumpy was gone for several weeks and during that time we received more than one report about a mad kudu that kept chasing the people from the communal lands, who used to take shortcuts through our farm. Thumpy saw people as friends and a source of food. They only saw her as a kudu that was doing what no wild kudu had done before and so when she approached then, they assumed she was mad and fled in terror.

Then came the day when our shepherd arrived out of breath to let me know Thumpy had joined the flock of sheep. I rounded up some help and quickly collected some of the branches of her favourite berries and headed out in the Land Rover to hopefully bring her home.

Sure enough, she had joined the sheep, but she was already very thin and extremely nervous and it was only after a lot of coaxing and bribery with the berries that she came to me. Looking at the state she was in, I knew she would never survive on her own in the bush and as soon as she was sufficiently calm I quickly tackled her around the front legs and brought her down. The labourers and I loaded her into the back of the Land Rover and returned her to her original pen. 

She was never the same after that experience but I am sure that given enough time she would have overcome her new found nervousness, but that would have meant keeping her in a small fenced off area. As a family we decided that would not be right, wild animals are meant to be free. We had given her life and it was now time to give her freedom.

We gave her to a neighbour who had developed a small game park that was well fenced and where we knew there was plenty of space she would be safe. I made sure that her new owner knew which treats to give her and the last time I heard she had become a firm favourite with him and had returned to her affectionate ways.

Happy Christmas

I wish you all a really wonderful and relaxing Christmas and all the best for the coming year.

These are not Santa's reindeer taking a break, but kudu cows from the Ezemvelo Nature Reserve

The Mini vs Maxi Challenge - From the West to the East

Day three of the tour dawned bright and sunny in Tsistikamma. It is one of those paces that is full of charm and beauty, which makes it difficult to leave, especially after the wonderful hospitality of our hosts Chris and Irma.

To get the most of the atmosphere I took an early morning walk before breakfast, through the gardens and the picturesque village, which is set below the majestic mountains of the Tsitsikamma. Imagine waking up to this every morning.



A two and a half drive brought us to the Elephant House at Addo, where we were ushered into an establishment that was full character and old world charm, with its wide verandas and lush well kept gardens.



This is a place to stay if you are looking for peace and quite, good accommodation and excellent food. Our gourmet three course lunch with our host that was superb, to say the least.

The Elephant House is a stone's throw away from the Addo Elephant National Park, which was our next destination. As we were driving on to Stutterheim after the tour, we decided to  do a self drive in the MAXI teams VW Amarok. This vehicle is amazing. It is just as comfortable on the dirt roads as it is on the tar.

The Addo Elephant National Park is one of my favourite places in the Eastern Cape. Whenever I go there I am never disappointed. This time was no exception. I have never seen the Park looking so lush. The countryside is awash with a blaze of colour from all the flowers - it looks like spring has sprung early this year.

With all the vegetation and surface water the animals were not as concentrated as they were in the drier months, but we were not disappointed - here are three of my favourites, elephants, kudu and warthog.

From here our next stop was the Manderson Hotel at Stutterheim, but that is tomorrow's story.

Kudus

The male of the species prefering to eat, rather that pose.

The female of the species beating a hasty retreat.

Kudu Bulls

Kudus are a common site in the Eastern Cape. Or should I say more common than lions. Yes, you can also see lions along our roads, if you look carefully. I found this out a few weeks back, after making a rash promise to give R100 to the first person who spotted a lion.

These kudu bulls were spotted near Klipfontein on the road to Graaf Reinet.

Antelope and buffalo

This old buffalo bull looks very benign, but don't be deceived by his bovine looks. The old bulls can be very dangerous and there are many reported cases of them goring people to death. If you happen to be on foot in the bush, give these guys a wide berth.



My favourite antelope is the kudu. Their population seems to have exploded in Addo.



Kudu cow browing. I once bottle reared an orphaned kudu, which is why I have such a soft spot for them.



Red hartebees.

When seen from behind these antelope seem to be wearing boxer shorts.

The male of the species - Kudu bull

Several weeks ago Anna from Canada posted a delightful picture of a Kudu cow she had taken at the Toronto Zoo, which sparked a lot of interest. Its origins, however, were uncertain at that stage. As they are fairly common in this area I was able to identify it for her.

Anna carried a follow-up to the original post, by which time I was reclining in hospital, in fact I was in ICU, having just had a quadruple bypass. When I came out I promised to publish some pictures of the male of the species. Well, it has taken some time to get here, but here it is.

The pictures below were all taken at the Addo Elephant National Park.

Kudu bull


This guy's head was sticking out of the thick bush

Crossing the road
A magnificent spread of horns

More from Addo

In my zeal to post my elephant pics I left out all the other game I photographed and have decided to include some of my favorites.

Kudu's - especially the cows are my favorite antelope. That is probably because I reared one on a bottle, after her mother had been snared by poachers on our farm many years ago, in another life. Her name was Thumpy, because when we first started feeding her she would rush at us, give us a good few thumps and then start sucking her bottle. She soon became very tame and was an absolute delight. She was very affectionate and when I called her she would come running for a cuddle and to have her ears scratched.
Like all wild animals they are not meant to live in cages, so when she grew up we gave her to a friend who ran a private game park.

If I had not seen one elephant (See previous post) this little striped field mouse would have been worth the trip.


A family of warthogs - also favourites. They are so ugly they are beautiful. Real social animals.


We once had a weaver bird like this one drop dead in our yard from exhaustion, while building nests for his prospective wives. He was quite manic and would not stop. I don't think he ever mastered the art, because most of the nests were rejected.
This one was waiting for a hand out. He seemed quite unaware of the rules about not feeding the animals - more likely couldn't care less.
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