wild dogs update Botswana
 

Hi!!! Pl.chk the current selinda newsletter at www.linyanti.com (click current news).

They doubt that the wild dogs are going to den in their concession. They dont have any idea at the moment. Perhaps deep in the mopane or another concession, perhaps. This is due to the very high population of lions in the area.

I am hoping for Kwando area. But, who knows?

Hari

Yes, I saw that, Hari. It's not so much that the lion population is high close to Zibalianja (it's not yet back up to the 2000-2002 levels, of around 20 in each pride) but that it is growing and activity is high, indicating a possible return to stable big prides. The Selinda people usually know where the den is by this time of year.

It's interesting how changes in lion activity affect the dogs: 2000, both the Selinda and the nearby Bridge prides were big and stable with lots of cubs, and the dogs were absent from the Zib area;

2002, Selinda pride still big and fairly stable close to Zib, yet we saw the dogs denning nearby too;

2004, prides fragmented, yet the dogs went away to Duma Tau. Perhaps they felt less safe with the prides broken up and spread out;

2005, pride activity starting to pick up again, but the dogs returned to Zib, using the same den as in 2002.

My mistake, not the same den site in 02 and 05, but not far apart.

Thanks for posting this Hari. It will be interesting to see where the dogs end up. I wish every camp would post reports on a regular basis with that level of detail, that was great.

John/Pred,

Yes, i agree.....we all await with baited breath.....

I have my own doubts about the Kwando, Lebala area for the dogs to be denning as the hyena population there is huge.

Hari

Hari

I will be at Little Kwara 8-11 July and then Lebala 11-15 July followed by some days in Jo`burg visiting friends.
I will give you an update around the 19th.
I am ofcourse hoping to see all 3 packs:
Kwara 3 adults + 8 puppies
Lagoon 3 adults, 3 at 9 months old. Hopefully they will have started denning though the puppies will be to young for me to see them.
Lebala: Just like you I hope they will be denning in the Lebala concession.
cross your fingers.
Michael

Michael,

Hi! I hope you see all the 3 packs, along with the wide assortment of animal and bird life in Botswana this trip. I will lookforward to your update after your return. But, then....even after your return on July 19.......i will still have a whole month before my trip.......so, who knows the dogs may switch dens by that time.

Hari

Hari

yes, the dogs will probably shift the dens. However at Lagoon and Lebala the puppies will be so young that the new den will be very close. At Kwara however they may just be done denning and the puppies will be able to move more. I am quite sure that you will get some action from the dogs!
Michael

Ok, Michael........now my hunger to get this trip kick-started grows by the second.........however, i still hv to wait out a month and a bit.....i'm hoping the days roll by quickly.

Hari

John,

Hi! I just went back to the selinda website. Did note a mention in the newsletter about you, and a link to ur website. Good to read!!!

Hari

I just spent a 4 days with my digital photo group at DumaTau and went across to see Zib and the progress on the building at Selinda.

The channel is phenominal right now, with water pushing 3.5k down into the channel from Zib lagoon. Raptors everywhere.

We saw the Selinda pack on 3 occassions on the Zib side of the water - I counted only 12 dogs each time.

We saw the pack in nearly the same spot 3 days in a row and so I feel fairly sure that they have denned along the channel on the Zib side. This was maybe a half-kilometer down from the lagoon.

As for the lions, the Savuti pride is now nearly kaput. Our third day there (about nine days ago), we saw two nomadic males (3+ years of age) in the channel.

The next morning, one of the remaining 4 lionesses of the Savuti pride was found dead; apparently of a mauling - maybe by these two males? Later that morning, we found a second lioness from the pride looking very badly injured at Dish Pan. We watched her drink and then left. Later that afternoon, she had died from her injuries at the pan where we had seen her that morning.

The long and sad saga of the Savuti pride (beginning after the staff incident and the shooting of three of the pride by BWD) seems now to be at an end. Too sad really.

Lions in the channel are now nearly gone other than the resident males. The remaining two females both had cubs and their future looks bleak. The only possible bright side is that the dogs and any cheetahs may have a bit of an easier time with such a small lion population.

I will be back in November/December with another digital group and so will report back again then.

James

Jim

Thanks for the update. I'm really glad we didn't hang around with the injured lioness too long, even more so in view of her sad end.

I hear you are now recommending American Airlines >:-) for all air travel.

James: thanks for the update. Can you give the background story on the staff incident and shooting of lions. I am not familiar with this history and would like to hear more. I have often argued that hunting lions can really destablize the social structure and it sounds like this has occured with the Savuti pride although I am assuming females were shot rather than males. Any details you can share are appreciated. Thanks!

PB,

One of the staff at Savuti walked into the pride in the camp and was killed a couple years back. The Wildlife Dept. then took out 2 females and a male I believe (not 100% on the ratio, so don't quote me).

The pride had been hanging around the borehole in front of camp for a couple days and was apparently stressed from interactions with the elie's and hyenas.

(Those who say they dislike elevated walking platforms in the camps may want to rethink in light of these incidents.)

After that, the pride was not seen for some time. They returned, but having lost 2 of their strongest females, they have never quite recovered. Alas, this last occurence has likely done the pride in now.

Similar incident at Chitabe last year too.

James

Hari,

Yes, the Selinda website has only recently recovered from a pretty severe beating by cyber vandals who got at the discussion board...LE has dumped the board and rejuvenated the rest of the site. As the lion situation at Selinda has been so fluid and interesting, and I've a collection of lion images from there going back six years, we agreed to exchange links, at least for a while. My pics supplement their assessment (in camp news) of the quite confusing lion situation, and their up-to-date detail fills out the necessarily thin text on my site.

John

James: thanks for providing the details -- tragic! You make a great point that raised walkways are an easy way to help protect people and wildlife. Was the incident at Chitabe the reason for redesigning C. Trails?

Raised walkways might also help with reducing the number of snakes that have to be killed - a real pet peeve of mine. I'm not supportive of leaving habitat right up to camp if its going to lead to the destruction of wildlife. I'm all for proactive design wherever possible.

John, Sounds good!!!

Pred and james,

Wow!!! Really sad......didnt know about it......fascinating discussion

Hari

We heard about this incident not long after it happened. We were told the staff member tried to hide under a safari vehicle loaded with clients, but I don't know how accurate that is.

James,

I didn't know that a similar thing happened at Chitabe last year. Do you know which time of year it was?

Best regards,

Johan

Well, not quite...

The lions were on him in the car park and the guide (Benson, if I recall) had to drive his vehicle (with guests) over the dead body to get the lions off.

Quite a nightmare.