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@@kittykat23uk @@egilio - There were 5 at the start I believe. 6 to ZRR, 5 to Somkhanda. I have not been to Somkhanda (yet) but saw all 11 in their original BOMA at Umphafa in 2014. :)

The shot of the warthog with her little piglets was the winner of that set also!

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Looking at this blog post,http://wildlifeact.com/blog/wild-dog-pups-somkhanda/

 

It seems there were three adults that raised the puppies! Chardonnay and Pino being the parents and Merlot being the other adult. The adult is therefore Chardonnay in the video if I am not mistaken.

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These tracks were seen on our walk:

 

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PC080562 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Anyone want to guess what they are?

 

My guess would be wild dog. :)

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@@kittykat23uk I am hugely impressed with this idea and this project. My hat's off to you for finding a way to contribute to conservation and have a safari that is perhaps more authentic as a result! You may have stopped less frequently for other game, but so far your photos haven't suffered for it. :)

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These tracks were seen on our walk:

 

Anyone want to guess what they are?

My guess would be wild dog. :)

 

~ @@JohnR

 

I looked in my copy of ‘Game Ranger in Your Backpack’.

The wild dog spoor shown there does look like @@kittykat23uk's photograph.

Based on that, I'd say that you may well be right!

Tom K.

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@@kittykat23uk I am hugely impressed with this idea and this project. My hat's off to you for finding a way to contribute to conservation and have a safari that is perhaps more authentic as a result! You may have stopped less frequently for other game, but so far your photos haven't suffered for it. :)

 

~ @@Marks

 

You have a way with language. What you've written eloquently expresses my thoughts about @@kittykat23uk's volunteer service.

Thank you so much for posting that.

Tom K.

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@@kittykat23uk I am hugely impressed with this idea and this project. My hat's off to you for finding a way to contribute to conservation and have a safari that is perhaps more authentic as a result! You may have stopped less frequently for other game, but so far your photos haven't suffered for it. :)

Well, you know, anyone can book a placement. The cost of the two weeks, including food and board, but excluding all flights was around £750. The great thing is that you are giving both in terms of your time and your financial contribution and getting a safariesque experience. So you don't have to be completely altruistic in your intentions, I mean, people will pay big bucks to have so much time with wild dogs, and a reserve to themselves! So I definitely think it's worth doing.

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Thursday 10th December

Today we had Graeme, who became affectionately known as “Graemmy” by the French contingent, after one of the Somkhanda reserve staff mispronounced his name. He was more hands on and got us using the telemetry straight away. We set off and discovered that the dogs had moved a long way from where they had been, to the other end of the reserve in a much more scenic and hillier area. It therefore took a lot of scratching of heads and scanning to finally locate them.

 

They were feeding on a very stinky wildebeest that had died, presumably whilst trying to give birth. The puppies were very playful, jumping and biting at each other.

 

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PC090681 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC090698 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC090761 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC090762 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC090806 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC090819 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC090868 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

23414720894_2ab997f366_b.jpg

PC090882 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

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A few more!

 

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PC090941 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC090943 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC090950 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC090963 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC090968 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC090965 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC090964 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

After allowing the puppies to play for a while the adults led the pack along the winding road that was cut into the hillside. The then dropped down over the edge of the hill and disappeared into thicker cover, where they seemed to rest up. At this point we left them to it and went to see how Battie was doing.

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There was no sign of the jackals, so we drove to a nice viewpoint for a much needed cuppa before taking a nice slow drive back.

Here's some shots of the views:

 

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20151210_073259 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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20151210_073308 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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20151210_073313 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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20151210_075240 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

 

We spotted a nice crowned hornbill:

 

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PC091027 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

And a real treat! A Narina Trogon! I was on the wrong side of the vehicle to get a clear shot, but I pulled this from a rather shaky video:

 

23647816434_cf8350c237_c.jpg

narina trogon 2 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

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Really enjoying this report so far, Jo! Wonderful to get to spend so much time with dogs and at such a reasonable price, and be doing something to help out at the same time - sounds like a win-win and something I might consider in the future. Beautiful landscapes as well.

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Great stuff! And dogs scavenging...now that is interesting.

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Thanks everyone, so here's the video from the morning session:

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We also saw more giraffes, wildebeest and zebra as well as Eurasian golden oriole and African Hoopoe. Around camp, our water tank was overflowing, creating a little stream in which birds came to drink. So I decided to spend a bit of time there.

 

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PC115156 Spectacled weaver by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC105161 golden-breasted bunting by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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P1015145 yellow-fronted canary by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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P1015138 Yellow-fronted canary by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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P1015071 Brown-hooded Kingfisher. by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

I spotted a dung beetle rolling a large ball of dung.

 

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P1015053 dung beetle by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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P1014867 Dung beetle by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

There is a small gym that overlooks a dry, open depression, on the brick balcony was a frog:

 

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PC101736 frog by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Back at the stream, what's this bird (post your guess here please)?

 

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PC101726 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC101708 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC101635 Black-bellied starling by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

Hidden well, the red duiker didn't seem me..

 

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PC101669 Red duiker by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC101648 dark-capped bulbul by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC101644 Yellow-fronted canary by Jo Dale, on Flickr

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In the afternoon we searched for the dogs on the same winding hillside track where we had lost them in the morning. We passed some vervet monkeys on the way.

 

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PC101624 Vervet monleys by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

I thought the signal was stronger behind us, over the edge of the embankment, but I also got a strong signal ahead of us, so Graeme drove a bit further along with the intention of turning around. Just as well he did because we found Merlot relaxing out in the open and a bit of scanning picked up the rest of the pack hidden further away.

 

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PC091100 African Wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

The puppies soon started to get active and initiated a game of chase, sprinting around. They all piled past Merlot who was reluctant to get up it seemed. Pino arrived at the back of the pack and nudged Merlot into action, and with tail firmly tucked between his legs Merlot eventually got up and set off with the rest of them.


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PC091138 African Wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC091171 African wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC091211 African wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

The dogs trotted back along the track to the wildebeest carcass which was now incredibly pungent. This did not deter the dogs and they set about demolishing the carcass, at one point the puppies began pulling out incredibly long strings of intestines and running up the bank with them. The puppies enjoyed some games of tug-of-war with the innards. A little later on, Merlot showed what a disgusting dirty dog he was- check out the video to see what I mean by that!


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PC091262 African wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC091266 African wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC091279 African wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC091288 African wild dog by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

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PC091303 African wild dog by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC091305 Pinotage African wild dog by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC091378 African wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

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A few more piccies

 

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PC091404 African wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC091424 African wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC091428 African wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC091431 African wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

On the way back we collected some firewood so we could have a braai and I used my torch to spotlight as we drove along, picking out a couple of large-spotted genets. Once we finally got the fire going we had a lovely meal of steaks and butternut squash.

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Friday 11th December 2015

 

We searched the area where we'd left the dogs the previous night, but they got the better of us and doubled back behind us whilst we were looking for them. We finally caught up with them at a water trough.

 

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PC101471 Pinotage - African wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC101505 African wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC101514 African wild dogs by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC101532 African wild dog by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC101536 African wild dog by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC101541 African wild dog by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

 

After resting a while, the young pups all suddenly started focusing their attentions on the bush behind the water trough. They kept on staring intently and then all of a sudden shot off to the left. We reversed back to discover the pups were circling a large buck nyala.

 

The puppies would circle, dart in and then lose their nerve and back off, while the nyala slowly turned, stomping his hooves and making himself look as intimidating as possible. The adults were clearly unimpressed by this daring move as the nyala, was clearly too much of a mouthful for them to seriously consider taking down.

 

Eventually the puppies got bored and returned to the water trough, leaving the nyala in peace. In order to keep the pups contented, Merlot regurgitated a meal for them, which they all devoured hungrily.

 

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@@kittykat23uk

 

why would a nyala big too big for the dogs to bring down? I've seen them chase waterbucks and fully grown male kudus - or is it because that particular pack was too small, lacking numbers?

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Well I think numbers and age of the dogs will play a part. This pack were certainly more than capable of taking large female prey though as you will see later on. But this nyala was a buck and well armed too!

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Here's the video of the morning dog activity:

 

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@@kittykat23uk I am hugely impressed with this idea and this project. My hat's off to you for finding a way to contribute to conservation and have a safari that is perhaps more authentic as a result! You may have stopped less frequently for other game, but so far your photos haven't suffered for it. :)

Well, you know, anyone can book a placement. The cost of the two weeks, including food and board, but excluding all flights was around £750. The great thing is that you are giving both in terms of your time and your financial contribution and getting a safariesque experience. So you don't have to be completely altruistic in your intentions, I mean, people will pay big bucks to have so much time with wild dogs, and a reserve to themselves! So I definitely think it's worth doing.

 

 

That's quite affordable, actually. Thanks for this info and for the links in the original post!

 

The videos are a nice touch. I appreciate their length, too.

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Thank you @@Marks

 

After the dogs settled down we drove off to see Battie. She was fine, so we carried on to a spectacular viewpoint for our tea and rusks. Ants had got into the rusks, which added an extra bit of protein to our breakfast.

We received a radio call from the other researcher asking for any sightings of her wayward jackals. We tried scanning for them but couldn't get a signal. So we tried several other vantage points, but the best we could manage was a weak signal. Thankfully one of the wardens radioed to say that the jackals had been spotted that morning in a different location so she was able to catch up with them there. We had a slow drive back and were able to stop for some zebras, giraffes and a gymnogene.

 

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PC101552 Leopard tortoise by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC101560 Southern Giraffe by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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20151211_083119 View of Somkhanda by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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20151211_083147 View of Somkhanda by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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20151211_083151 View of Somkhanda by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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20151211_083226 View of Somkhanda by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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20151211_083258 View of Somkhanda by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC101594 Gymnogene (African harrier hawk) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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PC101605 Gymnogene (African harrier hawk) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

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Great stuff!
Nice to see a bit of domestic doggyness in Pinotage as he dragged his ass along the ground...
Lovely gymnogene too - they're everywhere in Zululand and I never tire of seeing them! Do I spy a bit of hormonal pink creeping in around his beak too?

@@ice - Have you seen them kill a waterbuck though? They're big antelopes and I've only read of them being taken regularly in Pilanesberg where dogs run them into fences. Kudu are more common kills though. But just because they didn't kill it on this occasion doesn't mean they can't. At ZRR we watched 6 adults do the same with a Nyala bull, but they left it. They had already eaten and though a small number (one team watched 2 - 3 adult dogs kill a big bull in HiP) can kill a adult nyala, sometimes they decide to go for something easier if they're not getting the maximum reward from the effort of killing it. :)

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At some point, possibly during the time we were resting up, one of the volunteers expressed some disappointment about not being able to have a big five experience in Somkhanda. This was the volunteer's first trip to Africa, so in some ways it was understandable that she was a little disappointed about the lack of opportunities to see lions and elephants. To be fair to Wildlife ACT, she had booked late and this was the only project available and she had been made fully aware that this was not a big five reserve. However, the price for each placement, whether big five or not, was the same so I guess she felt a little short-changed compared to the other projects.

Maya later asked Graeme if something could possibly be arranged, for example if we paid a little extra, could we perhaps visit Mkhuze or Zimanga, a neighbouring reserve where Graeme used to work? Graeme promised to broach the subject with management and see what could be done.

That afternoon started well, Graeme forgot the telemetry and only remembered after we had entered Somkhanda. So we had to double back, spotting a Solifuge scuttling across the track to take shelter from the baking heat. This is when we discovered that Graeme has a slight phobia of spiders!

As we were due to feed Battie we stopped in at the cold store expecting there to be a nice half of impala or nyala for us to pick up, but nothing had been arranged. The only thing in the cold store was the staff's Christmas dinner, and we couldn't take that! So we had the unfortunate task of sourcing her dinner ourselves. The office radioed the anti-poaching team and persuaded two of them to join us in the bakkie. We headed out to a remote area of the reserve looking for a nice buck impala.

It took quite a while, but the hunter finally located a likely target in a small herd and directed Graeme to position the vehicle. He raised his gun and let of one loud “CRACK!!” He and his partner chased after it. Three more shots rang out....then silence....then a final shot was sounded. We then heard a whistle, indicating to Graeme that he should drive round to the edge of the block of bush.

The guys were waiting by the track with the impala at their feet. Despite taking all five shots, including one to the head, some how the buck was still alive. It was not the clean kill we would have hoped for and it fell to Graeme to finish the poor thing off (I won't describe what happened next, it's too graphic). We took the impala back to the cold store to be gutted by Graeme, with our help, and there was a debate about whether to take the whole thing or halve it. In the end, Battie was going to eat well, as we took the whole impala, along with the choice bits of offal. She seemed grateful for her meal.

 

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20151211_174128 Feedbing Battie by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

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20151211_174135 Feedbing Battie by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We spotted the jackals while we were there.

 

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PC101741 Black-backed Jackal by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

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@@Big_Dog

 

no, the buck fled into a river where the dogs couldn't reach it; there is, however, a video of a pack killing a male kudu on youtube; I believe it was filmed in Kruger and afaik in Lagoon / Lebala they regularly hunt baby buffalos

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