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I'm amazed at the number of people who won't believe that brown hyaenas occur in Kruger unless presented with photographic evidence.

Brown hyaenas have been seen several times in the Makuleke CNP, on all occasions by professional safari guides. Do you really think they are making things up?

With the advent of digital photography, pictures no longer provide uncontroversial proof, they can be doctored at will. I'd much rather take the word of a reliable observer.

It is, however, quite possible that brown hyaenas are transient in the area, I have yet to see one, despite having spent well over 100 nights at Pafuri Camp.

Spotted hyaenas are also rarely seen, even though they are heard often and their spoor is all over the place. Sightings have recently improved considerably though, both in the Makuleke CNP and on the S63.

Johan

Just to refresh - from page 2 ...

Authentic enough to share with Kruger staff ...

From: Rob Thomson
Sent: 17 September 2002 10:50 AM
To: KNP-Rangers; KNP - Research; KNP - Hospitality Managers; KNP - Regional Managers; CIS (Corporate Investigation Services)
Cc: Wouter Jordaan; Phineas Nobela; Marc Mcdonald; Leon Serfontein
Subject: BROWN HYAENA

Dear all

... on sunday night at 19h00, while we were returning from Lanner Gorge from the West via pafuri gate. Approximately 5km East of the pafuri gate running towards us was the most magnificent specimen of a large Brown hyaena. Due to its size I assume it could be a female. It was in excellent condition, I could not find a scratch on its face from 30m. It ran in the road for around 30 sec, before it turned and vanished into the bush, its long hair flowing in the wind as it ran away from us.

This is only the second 'wild' Brown Hyaena I have seen, the first being at Venetia Limpopo reserve. Wilbert Von Voort said he thought he saw one two years ago in the Nyalaland trails area, and Dr. Gus reckons there have only been six other sightings (records) in his time in the park. Gus, please correct me if I am wrong.

Could they be moving in and out the area, due to positive change in water policy (Pienaar/Mills)? An opinion which I believe is valid, especially long term.

The Spotted 'brother' does occur in the area but their numbers are not too high, however they are the dominant predator in the Pafuri, while the lion population is minimal.

The Nyalaland area and blocks 12 & 13 (East of the Tar road) are so vast with little human movement and no roads, that their could be more of these hyaena walking around out there. There areas of movement are so massive and number density low that it is hard to tell for sure.

Hope you find this e-mail of interest.

Anyway, it was a privilage to see this rare specie in Kruger, and welcome any other resposes, especially from the old hands in the 'bush' park.

greetings

R. Thomson

I am confident that I saw one fleetingly in the spring of 1987 on the northern S52 loop while travelling westwards a few km before Shangoni turnoff .

Usually is the word. I don't bring one, I prefer to watch and enjoy, instead of spending half the time with one eye shut peering through a viewfinder and worrying about shutter speed, white balance, image composition etc.

I do have a smartphone with a camera, which I really only use to take close-ups of flowers and leaves. It is not much good for anything else.

Johan

You may know the area I mentioned , there is a slight incline so there was a good "depth of field" , there are a lot of rocks and I saw it for perhaps 3 seconds at a distance of around 200m , it was running in the same general direction on the right side of the road about 30 degrees to the right of the direction of travel , before it loped out of sight behind a rocky outcrop , the lope was very similar to that I have seen described , and in case there is doubt , it was larger than an aardwolf , the size of which I am familiar with .
There was insufficient time to stop and prepare and take a photo with a Canon AE1 Progam loaded with Fuji slide film .
(The time spent at Shingwedzi was followed by a sojourn to the Olifants wilderness trail , the trails ranger was Bruce Chapman who was rather tired of trails at the time as he had completed 5 trails in sucession without a break as he had been to America to attend a congress on wilderness areas , his colleague had been on duty for 4 weeks continuously while he was there , thus his extended period of duty . It was while travelling in to the camp that we overheard Sanparks personnel , who were at the time building the Metsi Metsi trails camp , conversing about building material requirements over the 2 way radio in the vehicle.)