Best wild dog sightings -southern Africa

well, I've seen them once in Kruger... As far as I know the park contains the only viable South African population of Wild Dogs!

seb

Wild Dogs are one of my special interests. Tanzania is where the largest population is located c.a. 1900 remaining. Selinda in Botswana has a resident pack and I have also seen them in the Chobe. In Namibia they are few in numbers and are either kept in captivity or in private game/conservation reserves.Yes Madikwe has a resident population also.

I had been to several game parks in Eastern and Southern Africa, and had never seen wild dogs. But then I went to Hluhluwe-Umfolozi park in South Africa, and saw a group of wild dogs from very close, only two minutes after the park entrance. Very impressive. I have seen more variety of animals in that park than in Kruger.
http://www.game-reserve.com/south-africa_hluhluwe-umfolozi.html

My best wild dog sightings have been in Botswana- a couple of years ago I went on a 10 day mobile safari from Chobe-Savuti-Khwai-Moremi and had 4 sightings- the same pack twice in Chobe, another pack in Khwai and another in Savuti. Last year I spent 3 months working in safari lodges in Botswana, including a month in Savuti and 2 weeks in Moremi and people were pretty consistently seeing dogs in both areas. Guests coming from Chobe were also reporting good sightings. I think a mobile safari is a great way to see them, though, as dog have very big ranges and packs move around quite a lot so at a lodge they might see dogs every day for a couple of weeks, then not at all for the next couple.

I also went to the Linyanti concession and visited a den, saw 6 week old puppies and followed the pack hunting all the way to a kill. It cost a fortune but is definitely the most exciting thing I've ever done in Africa.

I have only glimpsed dogs once in Kruger but SA actually has quite a decent population due to a very successful introduction program. Hluhluwe-Umfolozi has a particularly healthy population, and there are dogs in Madikwe and Mkuze and a pack has recently been released in Tembe. I think they are still hard to see, though.

I know South Luangwa very well and there are dogs there but I wouldn't rate your chances- I spent 3 months there last year without a sighting (although I wasn't in the best part of the park for dogs).

After Botswana my next best experience has been Selous in Tanzania. I've been twice and saw them the second time and was just a bit unlucky the first time (other vehicles saw them but not me :( )

Recently found out that Lagoon Lodge in Botswana has a resident pack of wild dogs. www.kwando.co.bw
You need to fly in to the camp. You can also link with Lebala Lodge to experience two different parts of this area.

Lagoon camp is the one I mentioned above in the Linyanti where I visited the den. I think they pretty consistently have the dogs denning there every year. I was there in July which is the best time.

It does, however, cost about $800 a night.

I also went to Lebala and for the two days I was at Lebala we didn't see a huge amount except when we drove all the way down to Lagoon's area where there were good cheetah sightings as well as wild dogs, and we also visited a hyena den (I never thought hyenas could be so cute!).

On the whole, though, whilst the wild dog experience at Lagoon was worth it I found overall the service and food was not up to scratch for the prices they were charging so I wouldn't visit any of their other lodges. I spent 3 months working in other lodges in Botswana so I do have something to compare it to. A lot of people on other forums rave about Kwando and the game viewing in their concessions but I got the impression they were somewhat "resting on their laurels". When you consider the game viewing costs them nothing, I think for $800 a night they could make a bit more effort with the other stuff (food especially). And when I was there, even the game viewing didn't deliver at Lebala.

Interesting comments Stokeygirl. USD 800 however seems extremely high, unless you are including the flight as well or maybe this is for 2 persons per night. In general I find the food in Botswana on the whole 'average', but this is clearly not designed to be the highlight of any trip. I think Edos Camp near Ghanzi is probably the best food I have had so far in BOTS.

$800 is indeed extremely high, but that is the price and it doesn't include flights. Flights aren't actually too bad- I think you'd pay about $120 per flight. Take a look at Africa Travel Resource's website- they are an agent but unlike some they actually list the prices per night. In fact I think the prices they list are even a little on the low side as I think they take an average between high and low season prices. I wouldn't be surprised if the high season price wasn't more like $850.

Lodges in Botswana are extremely expensive. Wilderness lodges, for example, will range from $750 to $1400 a night.

By the way, I got a slightly cheaper deal as I booked only a couple of weeks ahead- most lodges will give Botswana residents rates (about half the international rate) for last minute bookings. I just went to an agent in Maun to organise.

Worth knowing if you live in Namibia as your handle suggests!