We were on our evening game drive in Madikwe and headed towards Tlou dam. A large herd of Buffalo were seen near the dam the previous day, and the dam is always a great spot at this time of year. While en-route to the dam, it was mentioned on the radio that Wild Dog tracks had been spotted in the vicinity around lunch time. This seemed a little odd to all on our vehicle, as we had just stopped to talk to another vehicle who had been out for the entire day looking for the dogs and did not make any mention of such a sighting.
On arrival at the dam it was relatively quiet and picturesque, a white rhino was drinking and a lone Kudu bull stood tall on the dam wall blocking another vehicle. We watched for about 20 minutes but moved on to see if we could find the buffalo or see any dog tracks for ourselves. We scoured the surrounding area but could not find tracks or signs of either and decided to stop for early sundowners as it was a beautiful evening.
After sundowners we headed straight back to Tlou dam, where we parked near the water inlet to the dam with mountains and sunset in front of us. It was the most beautiful setting and all were pulling out our cameras to capture the sunset with lone Buffalo dagga bull walking off. At this point, Leigh shouted ‘dogs’… 7 dogs skimmed around the left of our vehicle in a trot heading to the water inlet to drink. We did not even have time to digest as we all tried to get glances of them and take photos.
Within seconds of arriving and starting to drink, they took off at full pace in the same direction they arrived. We knew something was up, as they reached our vehicle we spotted an Impala which had clearly made a fatal choice. The dogs pursued the Impala around our vehicle and back towards the dam. The Impala in an attempt to save itself lunged into the dam. The dogs were hesitant initially due to crocodiles or the cold water, but that was short-lived and two dogs were soon onto the Impala.
The kill was quick with the full pack of dogs swarming the Impala, biting and pulling in all directions. The entire event lasted around 10 minutes with nothing left behind to hint of a kill.
The magnitude of what we had just experienced, the absolute beauty and the sequence of events, still mesmerises. I’m consumed by questions on how lucky we actually were, everything was perfect… How lucky we were to stop where we did? How the sunset was so red? How the dogs appeared besides us? How we all had our cameras out? Why the Impala came out when he did? How could the Impala have chosen such an amazing fatal spot for such beautiful silhouettes?
The bush is all about timing and luck, but we all know some people make their own luck. In our case, as can be heard on the video, we owe a huge amount of our luck to our ranger Brett, whose knowledge and experience enabled us to script this experience.
On arrival at the dam it was relatively quiet and picturesque, a white rhino was drinking and a lone Kudu bull stood tall on the dam wall blocking another vehicle. We watched for about 20 minutes but moved on to see if we could find the buffalo or see any dog tracks for ourselves. We scoured the surrounding area but could not find tracks or signs of either and decided to stop for early sundowners as it was a beautiful evening.
After sundowners we headed straight back to Tlou dam, where we parked near the water inlet to the dam with mountains and sunset in front of us. It was the most beautiful setting and all were pulling out our cameras to capture the sunset with lone Buffalo dagga bull walking off. At this point, Leigh shouted ‘dogs’… 7 dogs skimmed around the left of our vehicle in a trot heading to the water inlet to drink. We did not even have time to digest as we all tried to get glances of them and take photos.
Within seconds of arriving and starting to drink, they took off at full pace in the same direction they arrived. We knew something was up, as they reached our vehicle we spotted an Impala which had clearly made a fatal choice. The dogs pursued the Impala around our vehicle and back towards the dam. The Impala in an attempt to save itself lunged into the dam. The dogs were hesitant initially due to crocodiles or the cold water, but that was short-lived and two dogs were soon onto the Impala.
The kill was quick with the full pack of dogs swarming the Impala, biting and pulling in all directions. The entire event lasted around 10 minutes with nothing left behind to hint of a kill.
The magnitude of what we had just experienced, the absolute beauty and the sequence of events, still mesmerises. I’m consumed by questions on how lucky we actually were, everything was perfect… How lucky we were to stop where we did? How the sunset was so red? How the dogs appeared besides us? How we all had our cameras out? Why the Impala came out when he did? How could the Impala have chosen such an amazing fatal spot for such beautiful silhouettes?
The bush is all about timing and luck, but we all know some people make their own luck. In our case, as can be heard on the video, we owe a huge amount of our luck to our ranger Brett, whose knowledge and experience enabled us to script this experience.
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Animals