The clouds were low and the sky was painted grey, which often makes all the beautiful summer greens of the bush stand out even more. We had just spent short of half an hour with a breeding herd of elephants drinking and playing in a waterhole not far from camp. The scene was set for a tranquil afternoon. But I’m sure as some of you may know, you never know what the bush has in store for you and quite often it is the very opposite of what you expect.

That morning we had been with a pack of 12 wild dogs who had killed and finished eating an impala ram and had then found some mud wallows and some good shade to spend the remainder of the day resting their full bellies. Quite remarkably another pack of 9 wild dogs had been found to the west of the Londolozi camps that morning.

To see wild dogs is something very special as we can go for days and if not weeks without having a pack move through the reserve, so to have two packs spending time with us on a single day, we were really being spoilt. But what made this coincidence even more exceptional is that both packs settled up after their morning hunt within just over a kilometre of each other! One pack coming in from the west and the other moving in from the east.

As the afternoon went on, and as I had already been with the pack of 12 in the morning who were unlikely to be making any real big moves with their full stomachs, we decided to go and see if we could find the pack of 9. As predicted they were still hiding underneath a guarri bush where they where they were left in the morning. It was already late in the afternoon and they started showing signs of being active. Chattering and nudging each other to get up, chasing each other around in circles like playful pups.

Then the alpha male made a move towards the airstrip, running with intent, and the others followed quickly behind him. Knowing that there is often a large herd of impala and wildebeest on the airstrip we thought the hunt was on! We raced up ahead and saw a herd of impalas about 500 meters from the dogs. The impala caught sight of the wild dogs and set off away from them, stotting in all directions before disappearing out of sight.

The wild dogs then turned their nose to the wind, they had picked up the scent of something more important than dinner.

The other pack of 12 were still sleeping in the same spot as the morning with a few vehicles waiting with them in the hopes that they also set off for an evening of activity.

The pack of 9 were now making a beeline for that exact position. The suspense was rising! Back and forth on the radio between ourselves and the vehicles. The other pack had no idea of the approaching threat. And I too, had no clue what to expect! I had never seen two packs of wild dogs collide.

As we got closer the pack of 9 our pack started slowing down sniffing very carefully. They had to be cautious as they would not have known how big the other pack was and who they were up against. With only a small drainage line and a guarri thicket now separating the two packs, the 9 paused their pursuit, all stood together in a line, noses up in the air directly facing where the other pack were lying. We used this moment to quickly get around to the other pack to watch and see how this scene would unfold.

The pack of 9 came charging through the thickets. Chaos! An absolute explosion of wild dogs running frantically everywhere. The other pack of 12 were instantly on the defence and the wild dogs were chasing each other all around us. You didn’t know where to look, it felt like your head was on a swivel.

What was most spectacular in that moment though were the sounds! I still get goosebumps thinking back to it. We were surrounded by squeaks and twitters, chirps and yips. You felt it all, the energy was tangible. You lost track of which wild dog belonged to which pack. After about five minutes of chasing and pursuing one another all the dogs just scattered. We could only see three or four wild dogs trotting around in almost what seemed like a complete daze after this intense interaction.

In the distance, you could hear the distinctive hoo call from some of the dogs as they were looking for their lost pack members. Slowly more dogs started running in and retuning back to the spot where the first altercation happened. We worked out that we were now with the pack of 12 wild dogs and they had returned to their initial resting spot and were looking to settle there for the night. Another vehicle who chased the dogs after they scattered seemed to have followed the pack of 9 which had now regrouped and was steadily moving out of the area.

Packs of wild dogs normally keep out of each other’s way, respecting each other territories. Seeing a pack of wild dogs is special, having two packs on the Londolozi reserve on the same day was unusual but being able to witness these two packs coming together and interacting with one another was extraordinary.

For more content on this encounter watch Sean’s Virtual Safari.

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