Recently we featured a Kwando Safaris Wild Dog Update at the Kwando Camps in Botswana and listed a few other wild dog hotspots that we were tracking. Well great news as another of our known African Wild Dog locations has puppies! This time in the Selous Game Reserve of Tanzania.

Pregnant dominant female of the Selous Impala area wild dog pack.
Photo courtesy of Adventure Camps of Tanzania

Tanzania African Wild Dog Pups On the Way

The African wild dog pack of 10 dogs that denned near Lake Manze Tented Camp last year is now denning near the neighboring Selous Impala Camp. Puppies were detected inside the den on June 19th and typically within four to five weeks they should emerge so I expect a count of the new puppies should occur in the second half of July.

Two Litters of African Wild Dog Puppies!

It appears there will be a bonus with this pack as a subordinate female is also pregnant. Generally, if a subordinate female gives birth it will be three or four weeks later than the dominant female and usually the dominant female will then crèche the new puppies into the den with her own and raise them herself. This is a great evolutionary strategy as if food is plentiful then all the puppies have a chance at success but if times are hard the dominant females puppies have a huge developmental advantage with a 3 to 4 week head start so there’s a better chance of always raising at least a few strong puppies rather than losing them all. Packs with 10 or more adults have been shown to have much higher success rates in raising young then smaller packs so things are setting up well for this pack as well as for visitors who are sure to be thrilled over the next couple months in this area of the Selous.

   

African wild dog puppies emerge from the den when they are about 4 weeks old.
Photo courtesy of Kwando Safaris

Kwando Lagoon Camp = African Wild Dogs

Whenever I get inquiries about seeing African wild dogs the first place I mention for an itinerary is always the Kwando Concession with Lagoon Camp and Lebala Camp. Visiting Kwando Lagoon Camp during the denning season has proven to be as close to guaranteed African wild dog sightings as one can find as they have regularly denned there year after year.

African Wild Dogs at Kwando Lebala Too

Because the wild dogs are so far ranging, sightings are frequent in the Lebala area as well but this year Lebala has a den too! Fortunately, later this month and in the coming two months we have quite a few clients on their way to the Kwando concession camps and they should get to enjoy the incredible interactions between wild dog puppies and the members of their pack.

Lebala has puppies and Kwando Lagoon’s look to be on the way.
Photo courtesy of Kwando Safaris

Kwando Lebala Camp African Wild Dog Den

There is currently a wild dog den located close to Lebala Camp. This is a small pack of four adult dogs but they currently have nine pups that are estimated to be ten weeks old.

African Wild Dog Den at Kwando Lagoon Camp

The pregnant dominant female of the Lagoon Pack has denned and not been seen for over a week now indicating that she has likely given birth and the puppies should emerge above ground in the next 3 to 4 weeks. This den is north of the airstrip, only about 15 minutes from the camp.Other African Wild Dog Dens.

Other African Wild Dog Dens

As we are getting into the heart of the denning season in many locations more news on dens should come to light soon. A few areas of note that we are keeping tabs on:

• Mapula Lodge, Okavango Delta, Botswana – Has had four litters in the last three years and reportedly had dens for years before those when it was known as Modumo Lodge. I was fortunate to be at Mapula when there was two different litters four months apart in age leading to some fascinating behaviors that I chronicled in Africa Geographic.
• Chitabe/Sandibe, Okavano Delta, Botswana – There have been many dens in this area over the last decade. I was able to see a large litter of puppies here last year and with excellent recruitment from that litter the pack now numbers 22 dogs.
• Lake Manze Camp, Selous, Tanzania - The Selous is known for a large wild dog population but reliability of sightings has not been on par with Botswana. Last year denning dogs thrilled visitors to Lake Manze and Selous Impala Camps and I’m hoping this becomes a consistent den area.
• Sosian Ranch, Laikipia, Kenya - Most people do not realize there is excellent wild dog viewing in Kenya since they are extremely rare in the Masai Mara area. For those willing to travel a little further afield, wild dogs have denned in the Sosian area during July the last two years and based on frequent sightings in the area I expect this year will be the third in a row. There are actually two packs currently around Sosian, 18 and 26! dogs respectively.

   

In December we featured an extraordinary zebra pictorial provided by clients of The Wild Source of a zebra being born, standing and taking its first steps followed by drama with African wild dogs but a happy ending.

Marc Mol is an outstanding photographer and one of his photos of this amazing sequence was recently published in Africa Geographic. While Marc snaps the photos Rossana shoots video and they have now shared with us all the incredible live view of the event. All I can really say is WOW.

   

Encounter with an African Wild Dog at Grassland Bushman Lodge

Unique Predator Encounters Available at Grassland Bushman Lodge

Grassland Bushman Lodge (also known as Grasslands Safaris) provides a unique opportunity for visitors to learn about predator/livestock conflict in a very dramatic way – up close and personal.

An Eye to Eye Look at an African Wild Dog

At Grassland Bushman Lodge, Guests are able to walk in with a pack of 19 highly endangered African wild dogs, quite an interesting experience to be so close to these highly elusive predators and allowing for observation of some of their typical behaviors and energetic character. It is also possible to drive into a similar enclosure of approximately 40 acres that houses an impressive pride of lions.

A Captive Lion at Grassland Bushman Lodge

How Predators End Up at Grassland Bushman Lodge

All of these predators were destined to be shot on neighboring cattle ranches, but the Grasslands Lodge owners, the DeGraff family, were requested by the Wildlife Department to capture and rescue these animals. Early on animals were caught and released back into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve but most quickly returned to the cattle farms and that has sentenced them to a life in captivity.

There are quite a few captive lions that have very limited interaction with people and they will be subjects in my Conditioned Taste Aversion (CTA) research. With success we might be able to release some of these animals (each must be carefully evaluated) and without a doubt work with these captives can help us advance the CTA methodology to the benefit of the remaining wild predator populations.

Two Cheetah Outside Grassland Bushman Lodge

Grassland Bushman Lodge Wildlife Sighting

Interestingly, our group had a very unusual sighting of a family of 4 cheetah very close to the Grassland Bushman Lodge. Due to dangers of interacting with livestock, predators are very wary in this area and rarely sighted so we had some extreme luck. A blog entry from later in this trip will detail that 2 cheetah captured on the cattle farms in this region will be released later this year in the Selinda Reserve.

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The Wild Source's Africa Video Channel - safari videos taken by The Wild Source founder Bill Given

   

Kwando Lebala Camp

Lebala Camp has been teeming with wildlife all month providing predator interactions rarely seen on such a consistent basis. The sight of Hyenas challenging Wild Dogs on a kill is a frequent occurrence. The clans of Hyenas consistently follow the packs of Wild Dogs in hope of scavenging some of the dog’s hard work.

Photo of a leopard in a tree - just like the one you'll read about below
Photo © Bill Given

On another occasion a party of guests and guides came across a stranded Leopard in a tree set upon by three lionesses who were intent on stealing the freshly predated Impala hanging from an overhead branch. The lionesses were not particularly enthusiastic on ascending the vertical tree trunk and so eventually lost interest and wandered off. After several minutes the Leopard gingerly climbed down and sped off in the other direction!

Once again we have been spoilt by consistent sightings of the three brother Cheetahs at Lebala Camp and have seen them make two successful kills on an Impala and newly born wildebeest. A large number of Elephants and Buffalos can still be seen in the floodplains although increasing numbers are heading west to the fresh vegetation of the Mopane forests. Plains game is also abundant in all areas explaining the large number of predators in the area. Zebra, Giraffe, Wildebeest, Tsesebe, Impala, Red Lechwe, Waterbuck to name but a few!

An interesting sighting took place earlier this month when a game drive game across a 3 metre long Egyptian (Snouted) Cobra that was eating a giant Bull Frog.

Tau Pan Camp

The first big rains have arrived at Tau Pan Camp bringing with them large densities of plains game to graze the fresh grasses that have sprung into life in the area. Water is more readily available and predators are appearing in greater numbers.

Kalahari Lions have developed a technique to flip and eat porcupines
Photo © Bill Given

Guests at Tau Camp were treated to an array of cat species during the last month. The two resident male Lions were active in the area as well as fourlionesses with a three months old cub at San Pan. Lions will not usually predate porcupines but while tracking this month we discovered signs that they are doing so in the Central Kalahari. Fresh leftovers and surrounding spoor suggest that the Lions are flipping the Porcupines over onto their backs to get to the soft underbelly and avoid the sharp quills protecting the upper body.

Nxai Pan Camp

Elephants are coping with the onset of the upcoming dry season
Photo © Bill Given

The rain has seen the first Elephant herd back at Nxai Pan Camp in addition to the bachelors that reside in the area. They were seen passing towards the Nxai Pan Camp water hole. During the dry season they leave the area in search of permanent waters for their young.

Additionally, the first returning Zebras of the migration are appearing in the south towards Baines Baobabs and are expected back on the Pan itself within a few weeks.

We are pleased to see that there is a new young Cheetah and mother in the area. They are very mobile and have been seen at different points throughout the area. This indicates that they are very skittish as a reaction to Lion activity in the area and so are reluctant to settle in one place.

A new female Leopard has been sited west of the camp towards the airstrip. She is a small specimen and also very skittish, normally scurrying off into the bush within seconds of being photographed. Elsewhere, the rare sighting of an African Rock Python was well received by Guide and guest. These giant constrictors are normally associated with the floodplains of the Okavango but lie in semi-hibernation for months after a large meal.