Wild Dogs at Kruger National Park, South Africa

I'm heading to Sharks International in Durban next week, an international conference on... sharks.But you probably figured that out.

So, for the last week, Gemma and https://plus.google.com/+KrugerNationalPark I were in Africawithout any particular place to be. Unsurprisingly, I pitched a quick trip north to Kruger NationalPark. Because we booked only a few days in advance, our accommodation options were limited, butthere are no 'bad' places to stay in Kruger. The whole park is amazing.

We both had work to do, so this wasn't a photography trip. We were behind our laptops during the

day, then went for quick morning and afternoon drives. Our rationale was simply that, if you haveto hang out somewhere, it might as well be in a spectacular http://www.kwamadwala.net/bookingsnational park. Made sense to me!

We were able to get a cheap hut in Pretoriuskop (nice camp, but not a great area for animalsightings) the first night but, thanks to the limited accommodation choices, we had to book 'safaritents' in Skukuza and Crocodile Bridge camps. This was a concern. Some people (Gemma) findcamping intrinsically fun. To me, it's okay... but I avoid it if an option is available. Any option. Ineedn't have been worried though, safari tents are great! They're big fixed canvas tents with a deck,a fridge, power outlets and real beds. I can totally live with that.

Because we didn't do many drives during good light, I didn't do much photography. I took twocameras:Â Panasonic GX1 bodies (US/UK) with a 100-300 mm (US/UK) and 45-150 mm lens(US/UK), respectively. That meant we could both take photos. Quite a few of the best ones were fromGemma, which is slightly worrying.

We saw a few elephants...

... including one with freakin' enormous tusks...

... although 'elephant vs idiot' situations are, sadly, all-too-common. Elephants need respect, peeps.If they don't get it, you'd better have good car insurance.

On our last morning we managed to rouse ourselves before sunrise to set up at Lake Panic bird hide,a beautiful spot near Skukuza camp. The lighting was rich, golden and stunning.

But really, this trip was all about the wild dogs.

Wild dogs, also known as painted dogs (gorgeous name!) or hunting dogs, are one of the mostendangered carnivores in Africa. They are already extinct in 23 of the countries where they werehistorically found. Although Kruger supports the only self-sustaining population in South Africa, evenin this huge protected area (Kruger is similar to Wales or Israel in size) the latest populationsurveys only estimated around 151 in the entire park. In about 30 trips to Kruger, I hadn't seenthem.

We had two different encounters this week!

Wild dogs are interesting. They are the second largest 'dog' (canid) in the world, behind the graywolf, and like them they are highly social. Unusually for mammals, wild dog society is based aroundpacks of related males: females leave their pack upon adulthood to find another. Only the dominantpair in each pack can normally raise pups. This is thought to be a mechanism for ensuring that packsdon't over-extend http://www.kwamadwala.net/safaris/kwamadwala-game-drives themselves, as thepups aren't proficient hunters and rely on the adults' successes to survive.

Relationships within the pack are surprisingly civilised. Adults defer to the young at kills, allowingthem to eat first, and choose to beg energetically for food rather than fight. If there isn't enoughfood to go around, they just start another hunt. Even dominance, the right to breed, is normallyestablished without overt aggression.

Their hunting strategy reflects this social cohesion. They pursue prey (normally impala) in a long,fast, open chase at speeds reaching over 60 km per hour. If they separate out an individual to chase,80-90% of the time they kill it. In comparison, lion hunts are successful about 30% of the time.Afterwards, the hunters will regurgitate meat for any dogs that were looking after pups in the den(and the pups themselves), older pack members, or any that couldn't keep up due to sickness orinjury. Basically, wild dogs are total dudes. Okay, they disembowel their prey alive, but lets justignore that.

It was a real privilege to see them, particularly as they were just relaxing on the road both times wecame across them.

Then, at sunset, they took off for a hunt...

Finally, because no Kruger safari would be complete without baboons doing something random,here's a monkey eating poo. Hey kids, welcome to nature.

http://www.simonjpierce.com/wild-dogs-kruger-national-park-south-africa/