Safari is just awesome!

Our Wild dog couple has made their appearance several times the last few days. Confirmed this week they have been successful in catching a Common duiker in one hunt and they were chased by Zebras for kilometres on another hunt! We saw them start their hunt for the Duiker however to keep up with these swift hunting dogs can be very challenging.

Female Wild Dog sleeping

 

Recently we had the Feiten group all the way from the US of A. Don & Pam, Dave & Lorin, Kerry & Suzie.

 

They arrived not knowing what to expect as this was their first Safari. On our first morning we were met on the air strip by 2 resident Wild dogs that Darren has written about on previous blogs.

 

As sometimes the case when a particular species of animal is not known, reactions could be different from what a guide may expect. “They are dogs, right?" was one question. Answer: "Yes, they are in the Dog family!" however they're no ordinary dogs...

 

They have a much higher success rate in their hunting attempts than lion and leopard put together...

 

They not only care for their young, they also care for old and injured individuals unlike other carnivores who mostly only care for young of their species...

 

They are the 2nd most endangered carnivore in Africa and the most endangered large carnivore in Southern Africa. Only about 180 African Wilds Dog survives in the Kruger and Greater Kruger area including the Manyeleti Game Reserve as the 2012 count indicates.

 

So yes, a dog, very unique named, Lycaon pictus meaning "The Painted Wolf” of Africa!"

 

 

Wild Dogs being Wild Dogs

 

The Sizinanis also have been very busy with the 3 Koppies females. In 7 days they killed 5 Cape Buffalo. Not bad if you take into account that the one Sizinani brother for the past three years only walks on three legs and the one koppies female is recovering from serious injuries she picked-up a few weeks ago. Most recently the Matimba male coalition fought the Sizinani males and took the Koppies females as their spoils of war.

 

 

Probable last video of Sizinanis with Koppoes females

 

I would like to officially introduce to our readers our resident male Hippo.

 

He is a very large hippo probable close to 3 tons. This hippo was attacked by several lion few years ago and survived the ordeal. It took his wounds about 8 months to heal. Today he struggles to walk. A slow paced meander is the order of the day and this provides for excellent photographic opportunities often outside his water hole, Ingwe Manzi.

 

Big male Hippo

During the Feitens safari we also caught some classic elephant behaviour on video.
 

Elephant doing what they do best 

 

Fritz Breytenbach