It was a day of sunshine and no rain. And it’s amazing how quickly many of the areas dry up, except for the heavy black clays.
Manyari had ducked. I’m not sure where she’s run off to. But it was now time for me to be on the trail of the wild dogs again. Mark is away for a week or so, which means that without the lights I can’t film at night. And so the lions get a break.
I was back in the skies flying in search of the dogs. I hadn’t been up for about a month and with all the rain I was expecting some stunning landscapes. But it just wasn’t that yet.
The trees had their new leaf but even after the last 4 days of rain, the grass still hadn’t managed to throw its green carpet across the bushveld, which still remained its drab dry self.
The eagles eye vantage point proved rather beneficial today. A herd of elephant were moving around Ganyani using the little pans that had filled with water, to play and wallow in.
A White Rhino cow and calf were doing the same and I flushed a couple of Black Rhino as they lay resting in shade. Sable, buffalo, Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and impala all made appearances below my wings.
AND even the wild dogs. They were resting up in the north towards the Mhangula triangle.
It was a bargain to pick them up in the late afternoon. The whole pack looks really well, and judging by their tummies, they’d probably fed this morning.
Lying up in little mud wallows to keep cool, the pack awoke to greet and hassle each other before moving off on the hunt at sunset. It was dark when I left them slowly on the move sniffing at anything they could, ever hopeful to come across the scent of some delicacy.
Good to see the hounds again - what size pack to you think they will get to…and do you think that there is an opportunity for a ’split off’ group (2nd pack) in the reserve.
When mom and dad have a new litter, will this group of pups let the new ones eat first? Or will they still be whining to eat all the food themselves?
I am happy to see the dogs in action once again. I missed them.
Who knows what size they could get to. if the prey base is good they could stay together for years and form a pack of up to about 40 dogs.
the pack as it is now probably won’t split for a good 2 or 3 years.
Other dogs could still come in to the reserve from outlying areas.
the new litter always get preference over everybody when feeding. These pups will soon, and already in a slight way, are letting the adults feed with them. i think when they start making their own kills, this all falls away.