With a feeling of great satisfaction and gratitude, after spending two full days with the Painted Wolves, we departed Splash, taking a short game drive on our way to the airstrip. At the airstrip, while waiting in the “VIP lounge”, we saw two Wild Dogs running across the runway just as the plane came in to land.
A 10 minute flight to 4 Rivers with a 20 minute drive to camp, saw us arrive just in time for brunch, after which we settled into our luxury tents. In the afternoon, our guide, Clifford and tracker James picked us up for a game drive. Soon they spotted two male lions, fast asleep in the shade of a tree.
Moving along, we saw a beautiful Bateleur, which unfortunately turned away from us when taking off, as a result we could not get any in-flight photos of it.
A kite flew up out of the long grass with a snake clutched in its talons
A small herd of Roan Antelope, unusually, stayed still long enough for us to get some nice photos.
By this time the sun was low above the horizon
We decided to return to the sleeping lion brothers, finding them waking up and starting to move around
Look at the video with sound on. These guys roared ferociously.
With the lions’ roaring shaking the ground, Liana still getting great video of them, but the light becoming too low for photographing them, I turned to the sunset for one last photo of the day.
Once again we made an early start, driving east to the crossing, onto the island and then starting the search. We eventually found the Painted Dogs on the western side of the island, almost directly opposite Splash camp, but still only accessible via the long route to the crossing on the eastern side of the island.
When we found them, they had already concluded a highly successful hunt and their bellies were clearly full. They were starting to settle down for their daytime nap.
Some were still nibbling on the leftovers, but the hyenas were also starting to approach carefully, hoping to get a share.
Some Wild Dogs remained alert and a few token attempts were made to chase the hyenas away, but eventually they got their share.
Another visitor who managed to get a share, was a Kite (need birders here to tell me whether this is a Yellow-billed or Black Kite, since my apps give different opinions)
Some of the Wild Dogs were still playing around and nibbling on a tree stump, while others were clearly ready to go to sleep.
When they finally settled down, we departed for the long drive back to camp. As we were driving away, we also saw vultures approaching, looking for their share.
Still on the island, we saw a lioness with three subadult cubs and were told the amazing story that these were her younger siblings who she had been taking care of since their mother died from a snake bite.
In the afternoon we made an early start again, hoping to find the Painted Wolves where we left them in the morning.
Along the way, we saw a Side-striped Jackal
When we arrived, the Dogs were still fast asleep, but a few Hooded Vultures were moving around. These Hooded Vultures are know to follow the Dogs around, cleaning up after them.
Soon the pups started to wake up and look around.
With their bellies full, the Dogs were clearly relaxed, with a less frenzied greeting than the previous day, some rolling around in the grass.
There was no urgency to start the hunt and they seemed to be going on a stroll, exploring the countryside. We drove past and parked up ahead of them, managing to get some really nice low level shots of some curious Dogs as they approached.
Having spent as much time as possible with the Painted Wolves, we drove back to camp in the dark. This had been a magical two days, finding the Painted Wolves, seeing them at play and hunting. These are such amazing animals and it is such a tragedy that this species is at risk of extinction. If you want to learn more about them and support their conservation, please have a look at The Painted Wolf Foundation website.
Just before reaching camp, we spotted a male lion in the dark.
Liana managed to get great video footage during these two days with the Painted Wolves. Have a look at her video here, or if you want to watch it in full screen mode, follow the link to watch on YouTube.
As planned, we left slightly earlier than usual, since we had a long drive ahead of us to the place where ST suspected we might find the Wild Dogs. Fortunately I had fully recovered from the side effects of the malaria prophylaxis and was feeling ready for the day. We drove in a westerly direction from Splash camp, almost to the boundary with the Khwai concession.
After about 90 minutes drive we reached the crossing onto an island where the Wild Dogs had previously denned. We started exploring the island. Almost 2 hours 30 minutes after leaving camp, we first spotted the Wild Dogs, who were in the middle of a hunt, which turned out to be successful. However, before all of them could eat, a lioness came storming out of the bushes, chasing them away and stealing their food. Warnings were sounded and the Painted Dogs were on full alert. We did get some good photo and video opportunities.
We followed them until they settled down for their midday nap. We counted 28 of them, an unusually large pack, including 9 pups, around 5-6 months old. Apparently these 9 pups were the survivors from an original 13 that were born in June/July.
Returning to camp for brunch, we decided to make an early start in the afternoon, hoping that they would not move off while we were away.
In the afternoon, we skipped high tea and left an hour early, for the long drive back to where we had left the Painted Wolves. Along the way we spotted a male leopard resting under a bush in the midday heat.
We were very happy to find the Wild Dogs where we had left them, still fast asleep. Soon we got word that several other vehicles were on their way from Splash and Kwara camps, having been informed that we had found the Wild Dogs. This was bad news to us, as there is a limit to the number of vehicles allowed at a sighting and, since we were there first, we could potentially be forced to leave in order to make way for latecomers, which could result in us missing the greeting ceremony when they woke up, and the subsequent hunt. Fortunately our guide, ST, managed to convince some of the other guides to combine their guests in one vehicle, resulting in us being able to stay.
As the Painted Wolves started waking up, yawning and moving around, there was much excitement. The youngsters started playing.
After a while they started moving off, intent on hunting, since some of the pack had not eaten in the morning and were still hungry.
Soon they made a kill, which was given to the pups to feed on, while the adults continued the hunt. Since the sun was setting, we had to leave them at this point and return to camp, exhausted after a long, but very satisfying day. We had achieved success, finding the Painted Wolves and spending time with them, having an awesome experience.
As an aside, I have had some enquiries about the exact locations of the places we visited, so found these maps on the internet, indicating the position of the Okavango delta in Botswana and the various concessions and camps within the Okavango
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On this morning we again went out early, looking for the Painted Dogs in the region where another guide had told Ryder that he had seen their tracks recently. I had stopped taking malaria prophylaxis and was starting to recover from the side effects.
Although I am not a true “birder”, more of an occasional opportunistic bird photographer, I did enjoy photographing this beautiful African Hawk Eagle in flight.
Soon we came upon two beautiful cheetahs, who were rather shy and not overly keen to be photographed. We managed to get some long range photos of them, but when we tried to approach closer, they moved away and we decided not to disturb them further.
Moving further in our search of the Wild Dogs, we found a leopard cub in a tree, happily eating a young impala. The cub’s mother was nearby, eyeing an adult impala for the kill, possibly even the mother of the one being eaten by her cub. One is reminded that nature, in all its beauty, can be harsh.
We returned to camp, still not having found the Wild Dogs. After brunch, it was time to depart Pom Pom, on our way to Splash camp. We flew across Moremi Game Reserve, from South-west to North-east, landing at Kwara landing strip. Flying across the Okavango delta, one cannot help but to be impressed by the beauty of the flood plains below. At this time of year, there is very little water and the areas which are covered by water in the flood season, are seen as large green, grass covered plains.
Landing at Kwara, we saw an elephant next to the landing strip and were later told that the guides had to chase it away from the landing strip just before our arrival.
We were met by our guide ST (who jokingly told me that ST stands for “Serious Trouble”) and tracker SB.
After settling in to our accommodation, we went for an afternoon drive. ST told us that the large pack of Wild Dogs had moved to neighboring Khwai around 4 or 5 days earlier, but could be expected back in the Kwara concession soon. We explored in the direction of Khwai, up to the boundary between the concessions, without finding their tracks. ST indicated that he thought they could be on an island, to which the only vehicle access was a crossing in the Kwara concession, close to the Khwai boundary. Due to the distance from our camp, we could not explore this in the late afternoon, but would return in the morning.
On our way back to camp, we stopped for sundowners and to appreciate another beautiful sunset.
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By now we were into our routine of an early wake-up, light breakfast and being out of camp before any of the other guests. On this, our last full day at Pom Pom we traveled a long way in search of the wild dogs, spending little time on other sightings. This was also the day on which I realised that my system was not reacting well to the malaria prophylaxis I was taking, resulting in a hard day for me.
Our first sighting of the day, was a hyena in the long grass.
We did spend some time with a leopard along the way. This one had a few wounds, possibly having been in a fight. Since the light quickly became very harsh, I decided to experiment with some black and white photos.
I also managed to photograph my nemesis, the Lilac-breasted Roller. One day, I will get the perfect shot of this bird, but until then, I have to keep trying.
Having found no Wild Dogs, we returned to camp for brunch and a siesta. In the afternoon, we again went all out in search of the Wild Dogs, once more without success. We did not have too many photo opportunities either on this afternoon. However, when we stopped for sundowners, we did get some surprise visitors joining us for a drink.
This was perhaps our least successful day of the trip from a photographic perspective and also a very hard day for me personally due to side effects from the malaria prophylaxis, but still an excellent day spent in the beautiful nature of the Okavango region.
Liana managed to get some beautiful video while at Pom Pom. Look at them on YouTube and also subscribe to her channel to see when she posts new content from our travels.
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Etienne's Camera 