While You Were Sleeping
June 2026
Alice in Burrowland
Down the holes, into the hidden world beneath the Reserve
Forget rabbit holes. At Okonjima, the real action is happening in burrows. Burrow camera traps, originally deployed for AfriCat’s Pangolin Research Project, open a doorway into an underground network where one species’ engineering becomes another’s opportunity. Pangolin rely on these shelters almost entirely, reusing abandoned aardvark excavations rather than digging their own, which makes these burrows essential infrastructure for the highly threatened animal.
But pangolin are only the beginning of the story. What emerges from years of subterranean monitoring is a world that feels almost fictional in structure but entirely real in function. Aardvarks build it. Pangolin borrow it. Porcupines, warthogs, honey badgers, scrub hares, steenbok, and a rotating cast of nocturnal visitors pass through it. Some arrive with caution, others with urgency, and a few behave as if the rules are negotiable.
It is a hidden system of corridors, thresholds, and temporary homes where entrances are shared but intentions are rarely aligned. In this version of Wonderland, nothing falls downward gently, and not every hole leads somewhere safe.
This month, Alice does not follow a rabbit. She follows the burrow architecture.
Digging the Doorway to Everything Else
The Original Contractor
Every entrance in Burrowland begins with an aardvark. Long before anyone else arrives, this nocturnal engineer reshapes the ground into tunnels, chambers, and forgotten corridors that later become some of the most contested real estate in the Reserve. Aardvarks are usually solitary, moving through the night with quiet determination, but their work outlives them in a very literal sense. Their excavations are reused, repurposed, and reoccupied by a wide cast of underground travellers, each rewriting the function of the same structure.
This rare encounter at a burrow entrance feels almost like a meeting between drafts of the same story, two individuals briefly acknowledging a system that will soon belong to many others. Even in Burrowland, architects occasionally meet their own blueprints.
Pangolin Parley and Burrow Bumping
Armour, Attitude, and Absolute Boundaries
Two female pangolin arrive at the same burrow entrance, and Burrowland briefly forgets its usual sense of order. Pangolin are solitary and actively territorial, including females, maintaining individual ranges that are structured and defended through scent marking and spatial avoidance. Burrows are critical resources within these territories.
When these two individuals meet at a high-value site like this, the encounter reflects more than poor timing but rather a direct territorial interaction. What follows is a clumsy interaction in which one individual asserts control while the other is displaced. In one frame, the losing pangolin is tipped onto its back, small legs visible as it momentarily loses balance. The image reads as almost comical, but the behaviour itself is functional and clear: even in Burrowland, some doors come with very firm ownership.
Pumba Does the Safety Check
Reverse Parking, Predator Edition
This warthog approaches its burrow with the kind of caution that suggests experience has already done the teaching. Instead of entering headfirst, it reverses in slowly, keeping its head angled outward to maintain full visual awareness of the surroundings. This behaviour is a well-documented anti-predator strategy, allowing for a rapid exit if danger appears at the entrance.
The detail that stands out here is the asymmetry in the tusks. With one noticeably shorter than the other, this individual is likely more aware of its limitations in defence. Tusks play an important role in both protection and combat, and any imbalance may increase vulnerability during an encounter. That slight disadvantage may explain the heightened vigilance. In Burrowland, every doorway needs to be treated with suspicion.
Honey Badger Home, Huddle and Hold
Play, Pause and Pure Comfort
A honey badger female and her cub settle into an easy rhythm at a burrow entrance, turning the space into a moment of calm interaction. What the sequence shows is bonding. Repeated touching, resting together, and relaxed interaction all reflect the stability of the maternal relationship during this stage of development.
Honey badgers are solitary for much of their adult lives, but females maintain strong, extended associations with offspring, with cubs remaining dependent for many months. During this period, burrows function as secure resting sites and shared spaces for shelter and recovery.
This entrance to Burrowland is simply home for now, and no one is in a hurry to leave it.
Separate Rooms in the Same Underground Castle
Happily Ever After… in Separate Wings
Two porcupines arrive at the same burrow system and immediately split, each choosing a different entrance like a couple that knows the layout very well. It looks suspiciously like trouble in paradise, but it is more likely just good use of space.
Porcupines are typically monogamous and often seen in pairs or small family groups, but they are also capable diggers and maintain burrows that can be surprisingly complex. Multiple entrances, side tunnels, and separate chambers allow them to move independently while still sharing the same underground refuge. This setup helps with ventilation, predator escape, and general day-to-day living, but it also means they do not have to be on top of each other all the time.
So while it may look like someone is sleeping on the couch tonight, it is probably just a well-established system working exactly as it should.
Not the White Rabbit
Wrong Story, Same Burrow System
A scrub hare pauses at a burrow entrance, ears raised, body tense, clearly weighing its options. This is not an animal built for life underground. Unlike the rabbit of Wonderland, scrub hares are surface specialists, relying on speed, powerful hind legs, and zigzag escape tactics to evade predators rather than disappearing below ground.
During the day, they lie low in shallow forms that offer minimal cover but allow for a rapid sprint if disturbed. At night, they move more freely to forage, but remain highly exposed. Burrows are not part of their routine but provide refuge as a last resort.
No tea parties, no falling down rabbit holes. Just a surface dweller deciding whether going underground is the better of two dangerous options.
Steenbok and the Burrow Briefing
When It Is Finally Safe to Step Out
A steenbok stands at the entrance of Burrowland, but this time she is not hesitating for herself. She is waiting for her calf. The pause at the entrance becomes the signal.
Not yet. Not yet. Now.
The youngster emerges cautiously from the burrow, stepping into the open only once the adult has decided the world above is safe enough to face. Steenbok are typically creatures of the open, relying on stillness, camouflage, and explosive speed to avoid predators. Burrows are not part of their everyday ecology, but for young calves, they can serve as temporary refuges during the most vulnerable early stages of life. The mother remains close, scanning continuously, effectively acting as both lookout and decision-maker. No falling down rabbit holes here. Just a quiet moment of trust, where survival is passed from one step to the next.
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