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The African wild dogs are one of the most endangered mammals in the planet!arth" human acti#ity and diseases were the main threats to its sur#i#al" 2t is estimated that there are only 1%%61$% dogs left in the park"
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Killing Machines of Wild Africa-The African Wild Dogs –
The African wild dogs are one of the most endangered mammals in the planet!arth" human acti#ity and diseases were the main threats to its sur#i#al" 2t is estimated that there are only 1%%61$% dogs left in the park"
The African wild dogs are one of the most endangered mammals in the planet!arth" human acti#ity and diseases were the main threats to its sur#i#al" 2t is estimated that there are only 1%%61$% dogs left in the park"
October 23, 2014, 8:23 pm Text and Pictures by B A Mahipala The African wild dog, sometimes known as the African Hunting dog or the Painted dog (due to its beautiful coloured skin pattern in the African continent are today classified as one of the most endangered mammals in the Planet !arth"According to the information a#ailable, once there were about $%,%%%% wild dogs, but today, the numbers ha#e been drastically reduced to &,%%% in Africa" Human acti#ity and diseases were the main threats to its sur#i#al" My first sighting of the wild dogs was in '(() at *ruger +ational Park in ,outh Africa" ,ubse-uently, +ational parks in Botswana and .imbabwe" during recent #acation of our grand /hildren in August 0%'1, 2 together with 3ilani along with our daughter, 4ushani, her husband and their four sons #isited *ruger +P for se#en nights mainly to see the big fi#e and in search for the wild dogs" 5ith my past tra#el experience to *ruger, 2 was confident in spotting the big fi#e at the park" But finding the 5ild dogs, need a lot of luck and search" 2t is estimated that there are only 1%%61$% dogs left in the park and finding them in an area of the si7e e-ui#alent to that ,ri 3anka was not an easy task" 5e spent our first two nights from the 0&th August, in the south off at ,abie camp facing the beautiful ,abie 8i#er" Thereafter, we dro#e towards the north of the park for the next two nights at 9lifants camp o#erlooking the 9lifants ri#er which was the best look6out point of the camps that 2 ha#e stayed at *+P, while the last three nights were at the ,atara camp, where the surrounding bush and the sa#annah are famous for the big cats" Also the sightings of 5ild dogs are possible in ,atara especially in the early morning hours when they are acti#e in hunting" 4uring our se#en nights stay at *ruger, we managed to see the big fi#e and there was an instance in one morning ,afari at ,atara, within an hour we saw the big fi#e ie: 3ion, 3eopard, 8hino, Buffalo and the !lephant" ;rand children were busy with their cameras" Although, 2 dro#e the <5, ( seater on many routes of *ruger in search of the wild dogs, my attempts were unsuccessful" 9n our last day at *ruger, we were out of ,atara camp by = a"m> while dri#ing towards Paul *ruger gate,suddenly a pack of 5ild dogs were sighted far away on the road mo#ing towards our direction" 5hat a great exciting moment for the rest of us when 2 #oiced dogs, dogs?" The dogs were in a hunting mood running on the road looking for a prey" They can run up to a maximum of 11 miles per hour" ,uddenly, a dog from the pack ran off the road and caught an 2mpala by surprise from the back of the prey" The antelope could not escape when the rest of the pack @oined for a good breakfast" 2t was not a happy moment to watch when the killing machines of Africa were using their ra7or sharped teeth to tear off the Prey while it was ali#e"2t lasted only a few minutes when the dogs mo#ed away after a good meal" ;enerally, the wild dog always feed on a fresh kill" They are highly social animals while there were times when the pack si7es were from A% to =%, but today, 2 ha#e not heard of sighting a a pack si7e exceeding thirty" The pack we saw was se#en"4uring our stay at *ruger, we also had many sightings of the endangered white rhino apart from the sightings of a few prides of 3ions, fi#e leopards and three cheetahs" After *ruger, we boarded a domestic flight from *ruger Mpumalanga 2nternational Airport to /apetown for four nights with a night in Hermanus>the famous whales city where the sightings of ,outhern 8ight whales at #ery close proximity from land could be obser#ed" Thereafter, 4ushani and her family returned to ,ri 3anka from /apetown, while 3ilani and 2 extended our expedition on wildlife to ;reater *ruger at two pri#ate /amps, *irkmanBs and Mala Mala for ,e#en +ights followed by further four nights at Phinda Pri#ate ;ame 8eser#e in *wa.ulu6+atalin of ,outh Africa" The guideCdri#er from *irkmanBs who came to pick us up from ,kuku7a airport ga#e us exciting bush news of the sightings at *irkmanBs concession which included wild dogs which 2 did not expect" 4uring the four nights stay at the camp, we had two great sightings of the dogs, the first was in the morning of the )th ,eptember where a pack of '0 including & puppies feeding on a female 2mpala on the ,and 8i#er while the other was in the late e#ening of the following day on the same ri#er but different location of the same pack" 9ur @eep was @ust in time when the pack killed an 2mpala in the late e#ening on the ,and 8i#er bank, but the puppies were not there" 5hile keeping the prey on the ri#er bed, the dogs ran to the bush to call the puppies" 5hat a surprise? A leopard from the other side of the ri#er saw the prey crossing the ri#er hurriedly to grab the kill" But the dogs came back running and chased the leopard that ran for its life and climbed a nearby tree" 5hat an exciting moment of action in the wildD The following day, we found that the same leopard on the same tree with the carcass that was killed by the wild dogs" 4uring our stay at *irkmanBs we also had great sightings of eight 3eopards at close encounters including a mother with a tiny /ub of one month" 4uring the three nights at Mala Mala, once again we had a sighting of a pack of wild dogs of '%, which was different from the one we sighted at the *irkmanBs" These hunters tra#el almost an area of 'A% s- km in search of food when necessary" ,ighting of leopards were fre-uent in Mala Mala" 5hen compared to the two camps, the *irkmanEs *amp would seem to be better managed with personalised ser#ice" 9n the '1th ,eptember, 5e were transported to Phinda ;8 by air from Mala Mala airstrip" 4uring our four nights stay at Phinda, the sightings of white rhinos were more fre-uent"5e also had the luck to see a black rhino with a calf of an year old" 2t was surprising to note that the lions fa#ourite prey in the south of the park were the warthogs, while in the north were the +yala belong to the antelope family, where we witnessed on two occasion of their chase on the prey that were successful" This may be due to small number of bigger prey such as wildebeest and buffalo in the park" ,ince off road was permitted at the pri#ate camps concessions in both ;reater *ruger and Phinda, 2 managed to capture excellent images, especially the big cats and the wild dogs during my expedition into the ,outh African wild" 5e spent further two nights in Fohannesburg before retuning to ,ri 3anka"There is a bird sanctuary named Marie#ale, one6hour dri#e from the Tampo airport where we spent a few hours in bird photography on both days, especially on the water birds" Posted by Thavam