Did we capture Okolunu?

Its been a very busy few days, trying to capitalise on the strong signal found. Tracking Pangolin's is so difficult and there are so many factors which frustrated and confused us each time; when do they get up, signal attenuation when they get behind rocks, when do they go to sleep, signal shadows on hills, how far is the signal and is the pangolin moving,, plus many others.



Following on from my previous post where I outlined what we knew, we went up the next night onto the rocky ridge and would wait a few hours checking for signal regularly. Unfortunately we were forced to abandon as an electric storm was raging above us, and holding up a metal antennae on the top of a hill didnt seem like such a good idea. It began to pour down as we drove back.

The next night we checked all along the public road, possible picking up a very faint signal at one point. Then from the rocky ridge we didnt get anything at all.


Maybe it had disappeared again we werent sure, so - starting from scratch Tim and Paul climbed up the big Beesting hill the night after and checked for signal into the night. They managed to get another very strong signal, and tried to follow it; driving and walking up the boundary fence, but it disappeared completely around 1am as they approached the south of the ridge. Hooker, the rhino bull had shown up at the house earlier and we had hoped it was a good omen.

Last night we drove all down the public road - nothing, but a Caracal did cross the road ahead of us (a small cat that can kill sheep and baby antelope); was this a good omen? At the top of the ridge around 10.30 we got a very strong signal, and we followed it for many hours north along the boundary. It seemed to be slightly on the other side of the boundary, probably in Shilunga's territory (the bad man). We sometimes had to hop the fence as some areas of Mundulea were too dangerous to walk at night due to rhinos, occasionally we heard hooves running away from us in the dark.
After about 3 kilometers of following the fence we were back at the public road and the signal still came from the same direction; across the road? We just continued to follow, hopping over the fence of  the friendly diplomat's farm and walking for another 3km or so through the bush. It wasnt easy walking. Eventually, the signal became so strong that it came from all directions, and Tim transformed; taking control and ordering us about! We were too happy to oblige of course and scanned the bush with our torches as he moved ahead trying to pinpoint the source of the signal. At one point we could hear a scratching, but decided to home in on the signal. Our GPS trace showed us going in a straight line North the whole time - could it be that Okolunu was running ahead of us? Another kilometer or so further on, I said quiet, and we could hear the scratching sound; we followed it and found Okolunu above ground, wrapped around the base of a tree in an effort to protect itself.

Okolunu is a huge monster, last weighed at 13,5kg, but probably bigger now. Most pangolins dont go above 10kg. We stood taking some pictures and discussing our plan, and it lay there unmoving. Tim put on work gloves and picked it up to place it in a sack, and it began to unroll and then curl up, the radio tag was there on its bag and seemed in good condition. It was now 2.30am.

We began walking to the road, and after many tries managed to contact Graham. Once we reached the Mundulea gate, it was a short wait with Okolunu moving around in the sack until Graham arrived to pick us up. We arrived back at 4 am.

Okolunu spent the night in the garage after we removed any possible poisonous items. Released from the sack, it uncurled and walked to the side wall where it attempted to hide. It really is such an amazing creature; like a tank that charges through the bush, and it looks like a dinosaur.

We are currently waiting for Bruno to arrive in order to discuss the next steps, which will involve placing GPS loggers on it.

Hooker at the house

Tim checking signals

Tim checking down a possible hole

Okolunu!