African Wild Dogs on the move

Posted on Mon May 27, 2019.

Early morning sighting of two African Wild Dogs

On the way to the lodge early one morning we were greeted by a rather pleasant surprise! Two African Wild Dogs were running up and down our reserve entrance road. These two dogs are more than likely from the local pack of wild dogs whose home range includes our reserve.

Wild dogs have huge home ranges that can span between 250 and 950 square kilometers here in the Greater Kruger National Park area! With such a large home range it is extremely difficult for Wild dogs to find suitable space to live, which often creates risk when they come into contact with human habitation.

The Wild dogs are persecuted by farmers and livestock owners, as well as the ever-present threat of contracting diseases from domesticated dogs. These are some of the main reasons why wild dogs are the most endangered of the large carnivores in Southern Africa. With only an estimated 3000 – 5000 left in the wild, it is always a privilege to bump into these beautiful animals.

Luckily for these two Wild Dogs their visit to the other side of the fence was on friendly territory and it seems like they were trying to find their way back under the fence and possibly reunite with the rest of the pack after an early morning hunting expedition.

As we move into the winter months the wild dogs will be denning and hopefully this will be located in close proximity to our lodge. if this does happen then we might be able to enjoy regular sightings of these amazing animals in the coming months.