As if seeing the rare African wild dog isn’t exciting enough, just this morning guests at Ezulwini River Lodge caught sight of a pack of 6, PLUS, they were seen chasing a leopard! Unfortunately, the speed of the chase meant there was too little time for photos, but after the cheeky dogs managed to scare the leopard up a tree they continued to trot up the main Olifants Road in Balule, and guests managed to get a good look at the unique “painted wolves”.
Notoriously elusive leopards are rarely found in an area where there are many more powerful predators, such as lions, or humans. In the Balule, where 4 lion prides actively operate, it is more likely that predator sightings will be of big lion prides than of the shy leopard. However, with the healthy habituation of the wildlife with Ezulwini’s safari vehicles, guests regularly enjoy sightings of Chavaluthu, the blue-eyed male leopard, plus a couple of other familiar faces. And over the last 2 game drives, Ezulwini caught sight of 2 unknown leopards – one of which was being chased up a tree by the wild dogs this morning!
African wild dogs operate highly successfully in packs that vary in size (a Kruger National Park pack is famous for its large membership of 30 individual dogs!), yet they are the second most endangered large carnivore on the African continent. Sadly, this is due to unethical hunting of the dogs, plus diseases such as rabies, all due to the burgeoning growth of the human population. The dogs – also known as Cape hunting dogs or painted wolves – are listed as endangered, and are protected in environments such as the Kruger, so guests are lucky enough to catch a glimpse of them sometimes.
This is the second sighting of the dogs in a couple of months, so we counted ourselves lucky this morning! The high population of lions, plus a number of known leopards makes this dangerous territory for the vulnerable wild dogs, and in addition to this, it is in their behaviour to keep moving unless they settle down briefly to rear newborn pups. Fantastic couple of days here at Ezulwini with lions, leopards, and now wild dogs on the sightings list!
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