Tjololo's well. In fact, very well!!!
He's lucky. He's still living it up at Mala Mala and I'm stuck in Washington DC. I've already been here nearly a month hidden in the darkness of an editing room all day. The only thing here with any ties to Mala Mala is Dale. He's doing a great editing job and the film is really looking great!! Everybody here at National Geographic is very excited with the project and I just can't wait to get that Super Cool Dude onto those television screens around the world where he'll hold his own Standing Alone!!!
It'll still be a few more weeks before the film is finally completed. Then we have to wait for a screening date. Not sure when yet, but there is talk of July/August. Will keep you posted.
We're still sorting out who will narrate the film and who will be composing the music. Michael Dolan is writing the script and doing a great job.
And back home, Mala Mala, the big rains thankfully never came. November was a very wet month and then it all but dried up after that. February we had another little burst of rain but much less than November. This was not normal and apparently March has produced only the odd shower.
After the cam was closed in mid December we took a break, from Christmas until early into the New Year. But then it was back on Tjololo's trail/tail until I left for the US at the end of February. He continued to entertain us as per normal. But unlucky for him, no more babes threw themselves at his feet after having had a 6 week session at the end of the year where he had 5 different mating sessions with 3 different females. That's really busy stuff. Well I presume so anyway, although he never looked too busy.
But Tjololo never did give us the big one. We didn't wish it on him but if he was going to fight then we wanted to be sure to document it. But male leopards fighting, is a very rare occurrence and we'd probably have been left with a Tjololo with a few more ear notches.
I didn't actually get to shoot much material in the last month or so, except all the time hoping for some special "cherry". And looking at the film now we just don't have anywhere to fit in any more.
It's all actually quite scary now sitting here and having our 18months work reduced to 52 minutes. We wonder what we were doing for the rest of the time.
I had to stop filming at the end of January, as anything I shot after that date wouldn't have been ready to put into the film. So for the next month I did what I always wanted to do, I spent the whole month just taking photographs. While busy on the filming project it's hard to take pictures and usually all I was able to get was portraits. The action stuff always had to go on film.
On getting back from our Christmas break Tjololo had himself a warthog kill in a tree. He was looking proud and really well but had a gash in his side, but only through the skin. This looked very fresh and was probably from his encounter with the warthog. This was only the second warthog we'd known Tjololo to kill and both of them left him with scars. Maybe it's not surprising this is only the second.
Well in that last month Tjololo produced the goods on a number of occasions. He killed an adult male impala but it was too big for him to tree. As usual he soon had company and a hyaena tried to drag the carcass. For the second time ever (the other time also being with Tjololo on his kudu kill), we never saw it with any other leopard, Tjololo wasn't going to give up that easily and a tug-of-war ensued. Neither party getting anywhere, they both fed. When the hyaena moved off Tjololo hoisted the kill. Hearing the kill gaining altitude the hyaena came running back and was able to grab a hoof. Tjololo hung on, onto the tree and the carcass. But the combined weight of impala and hyaena was too much and he had to let go. He did manage to steal it back several hours later and tree it.
That was a great night for me and I got some great pics. You might even see them in the National Geographic magazine some time. They've seen a bunch of my photos that I brought over and like them very much. I'm really excited.
Another morning Tjololo returned from an outing into Kruger. He moved down into a donga system and then for an hour and a half he sniffed around an area of about 75m in diameter. We stuck to him the whole time but were convinced he'd lost his mind. Then he walked under a low bush and next we saw him nudging something. Standing up, baby waterbuck was oblivious to the danger. He was no more than a day old and had been stashed away by his mother. This was very clear evidence that newborn animals have no scent. Tjololo had been past this bush many times walking within a meter of it and was still not able to smell anything.
It was hard to watch this stunning little baby with huge ears and a lovely coat of long dark grey hair, I've never seen one younger than a few months, totally innocent to its predicament. Tjololo nudged the youngster out from under the bush toward us. Only when a claw sunk into its flank to pull it back did it realize this was definitely not mom. Tjololo played a brief 'at and mouse' game with it before killing it and moving off into the donga. Another lesson in the harsh reality of what the African bush is all about.
But all in all the last month was great and the last night out with him was a rather sad night thinking back on all the good, bad and hard times we'd had on his trail. But for Tjololo and me, it doesn't end there. I'll be keeping tabs on him when I get back and get involved in my Ground Hornbill project.
Simon and Daryl are working with the hornbills at the moment and having some success with habituating them. It will be a long process but hopefully when I start filming I'll be able to walk with the birds. I'm really excited looking forward to a change in my lifestyle after having been filming at night for the last 12 years. Now I'll be working in the day AND I'll be walking with my subjects, not stuck in my vehicle for 16 hours a day! Getting back to my roots.
Well that's about all our news. From Washington DC it's a good bye till next time and rest assured Dale and I are crafting away to make sure this is THE leopard film that will always
"STAND ALONE!!"
TJOLOLO
