Zimbabwe Wild Dogs

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 23 2008 | By: admin

Howzit guys,

Can you believe it? A ZWD blog that isn’t about failure, hoping to find the dogs next week, unsuitable weather conditions, or other feeble excuses.

Yes, we have actually found dogs… for three days in a row! Ok, it’s all the same pack, but it’s the one we’ve been looking for for weeks. We had been patrolling their area for ages but we just couldn’t find spoor. As we were just about to stop using that route, we found some. Then came the rain, which didn’t help, but a few days later we picked them up again. The first time, they were lying up in tyre-and-paintwork-punishing mopane scrub and we couldn’t get to them in the car. We tried to get close on foot but they always saw us before we saw them.

Yesterday, we found them resting in the shade, on a bank of the Mokore River. They were on the opposite side of the river, but this gave us a better view of them. The coat patterns matched those from older photos, which confirms this as the Jacana Pack.

A day at the beach.

Bath time.

This morning, I received a radio call telling me that they had just been seen around the same area. With Reuben and Misheck searching for packs elsewhere, I set out on my own, hoping the dogs hadn’t gone too far as I doubted an attempt at tracking would be successful. By luck, they were visible from the road, lying around a pan. The area was open and so I could drive closer to them. I kept my distance at first, to let them get used to the vehicle, before creeping closer in a wide zig-zag (a direct approach normally unnerves them).
My reward was to spend a couple of hours relaxing in their company, listening to the birds and watching the dogs as they dozed. God, it’s Hell in Africa!

How many dogs in this picture?

Only two days left to vote before a name is decided for the new pack. It looks like ‘Humani’ is winning hands down so far. Sorry for that, Reuben!

Sarai zvakanaka,

Mike

Tags: 1121, 1122, 189, 46, 698

8 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 18 2008 | By: admin

Howzit guys,

Hmmm, I see that our blog’s comment sections have been targeted by spammers. I’ll continue purging their ever-so-interesting comments whenever I can.

Not much happening on the dog front at the moment. I hope this doesn’t keep up, or I’ll be forced to regale (read as: bore) you with off-topic stories of previous experiences in Africa.

We have had a light smattering of rain over the past few days. This usually stops the dogs from ranging too far (they don’t like the wet grass) but it also obscures or erases their tracks. We were hoping they would use the roads more but, if they are, they aren’t the roads we’re looking on.

If only we saw these more often. No, not pens.

The scouts have just moved base, slightly ahead of schedule, to the ranch in the north and I plan to follow them as soon as my accommodation there is ready. We’ve managed to get our hands on a motorbike, which means we can search different areas simultaneously, greatly increasing our coverage.

We still need to decide the name for the new pack. I am using ‘Humani’, after the ranch they inhabit, but Reuben wants to be more specific and suggests ‘Gomo’, the ChiShona word for hill/mountain, as he says they prefer to frequent that habitat.
Therefore, I am opening up this decision to you guys. Whichever of these two names has the most votes by next Tuesday (25th March) will be the winner. Feel free to get your friends, relatives, lovers, parole officers, etc. to sign on and vote too.

Sarai zvakanaka,

Mike

Tags: 1121, 1122, 189, 46, 698

3 responses so far