LIFE GOES ON IN PARADISE

The rains are really setting in here now and the dambo is filling up again. This is good for the wildlife as it means they can find clean water everywhere however it is bad for animal viewing because it is difficult to get around the park and also means that the under growth is growing fast. A lot of animals that have been hiding under ground come out when the rains come so I expect to see spiders, frogs and snakes over the next few weeks.
The land rover is running well however when I did the shopping yesterday, 130km round trip, there was no fuel in town. How people make a living out here I don’t know as it can be very difficult to travel.
The solar panel for my electricity is ok but when the clouds come and it rains it doesn’t charge up the battery for the computer or camera batteries and although there is loads of water in the dambo the solar pump doesn’t work efficiently so the main storage tanks are low so there is a shortage of water to the houses. This also means the shower doesn’t work due to lack of water and wouldn’t be hot anyway due to lack of sun shine.
I have recently got more pictures of another leopard and also hyenas whose home ranges are about 30 km from the other leopards and hyenas that I have encountered. There have been no new sightings of the wild dogs and no reports of lion or cheetah anywhere.
The civet, bush pig and hippo turn up on my cameras regularly and last week, after trying to get his picture for 3 weeks, I finally got a video of the water mongoose that scours the fringes of the dambo most nights.
Yesterday one of the young fish eagles got a bit close to the water, while fishing, and ended up having to swim to the shore. The spur winged geese that where close by saw this as an opportunity for revenge and chased him across the lake. I am not quite sure what they would do if they really wanted to impose some damage upon him.