I’m always excited getting back to the wild dogs when I’ve been away from them for a few days and as I approach the den excitement turns to anxiety.
Driving in to the den this afternoon I had that confident feeling that all was well which was strange. ‘Cos on numerous previous occasions when approaching the den and not seeing any dogs at a first glance I would often go into panic mode worrying the dogs had left and moved on.
My first clue to panic was there were no vultures around, a clear sign that the dogs must have moved. But still I wasn’t too phased. The tracks around the den weren’t more than a couple of days old, so I was hoping they couldn’t have moved too far.
There were no signs at the old den or the anthill I had found them at on a previous occasion. Getting a little jumpy and wanting to catch up with my friends in a hurry, I resorted to that wonderful thing called technology.
And happily I got those desirable beeps coming to me loud and clear. They had moved about 500m to the northeast of the old den. And sure enough the vultures were there.
Then it was time to count heads but they were all scattered resting in the shade of small bushes that this wasn’t going to happen in a hurry.
Except for BB’s pups lying in a pile together. They were all accounted for. But I was most concerned for the alpha pups, as they are travelling far and wide with their parents and more likely to encounter dangers.
Only later on in the afternoon when the adults had a greeting ceremony and the alpha pups came running to join in was I able to find the full compliment of alpha pups. But the adults still evaded my head count.
Soon after sunset the dogs headed off west BB leading the way. The whole pack was there, all 21 of them, heading out on the hunt. It is a truly awesome sight to see all these dogs fall into single file stretched out about a hundred meters in the mopanie woodland.
At first the adults allowed BB’s pups to follow but soon got anxious. BB tried calling them to suckle so the rest of the pack could move on, but her milk has all but dried up and they weren’t falling for that old trick.
As darkness descended Floppy started leading the BB pups back east. Some of the alpha pups followed too. They only moved about a hundred meters and lay down.
BB had been watching the proceedings from a distance; the other adults by now were all lying down, and moved in to take over when her pups lay down. She trotted over to them, called and headed back towards the den with all her pups and the alpha pups in tow.
It was now dark and I headed back to camp.
At Manyuchi pan I encountered 8 hyaenas and 2 elephant bulls. Switching off the engine and the lights I sat back and watched.
The elephants kept chasing the hyaenas off when they approached the water, which didn’t really phase the hyaenas, and all it was was a game. But watching this in the moonlight, moon is full tonight, was truly the most magical moody experience.
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