Arrival of a New Painted Pack!

A sure way to turn a relaxing game drive into one of frantic excitement is for one of the top 3 most endangered mammals in Africa to arrive on the scene! The other morning a pack of African Wild Dogs appeared out of nowhere and came charging through our traversing area, turning the bush in to chaos.

It was surely the good luck brought by our regular guests Arnold and Joan Kalan who are here for 10 days with their granddaughter Rachel on her first safari. We haven‘t seen the painted pack of 9 that denned here last year for a few months so we weren‘t too optimistic of a visit…

Well not only did we get a visit but were treated to a new pack of 5 dogs exploring the area while calling and investigating every scent to see if there is another pack around. Listen on the video to the characteristic hoooo hoooo call which is one of the classic sounds of Africa but rarely heard! (Turn up the volume)
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The Alpha female has a very characteristic notch out of her ear (See image below) and we think it was the Alpha male doing most of the calling as he was one of the younger males. This is most likely a new pack formed quite recently as they are not breeding yet, very exciting! They have disappeared in the last few days but we hope they liked what they found and return here soon.