Africa Wild

Hi James,

On the morning of the 2nd of December 2010 at approximately 05:38 while tracking buffalo to recapture myself, my wife and the vet working with us spotted this Brown Hyena streak over the road. It ran behind a stand of knobthorns but I managed to get off a quick shot of poor quality as it stopped for a second and turned and looked back. It then took off for to the east. I’ve deleted the emails I sent to scientific services with exact GPS coordinates but I can tell you that the siting took place on the Lindanda Rd about a kilometer or two before junction with the Trichardt Road. I reported the incident to the section ranger of Tshokwane (Mr. Steven Whitfield) and scientific services (Nick Zimbatis who agreed with the identification and passed it on to Gus Mills who also agreed with the identification). They may also still have the GPS coordinates if you require them. I also spent a fair amount of time observing brown hyena in the Waterberg while working there and can tell the difference between a brown hyena and an aardwolf which is often other people’s argument.

Well, as a guide I have been cursed to never have a nicer sighting! Last night we managed to pick up a brown hyena near Sable Dam here in the Phalaborwa area. This is the second confirmed sighting by a guide on a night drive in the same area in two months. It darted off far too quickly for a picture but for those few brief seconds it was visible you could see it clearly. Great news and definitely will be checking out that area again.