Zambia: African Wild Dogs

And the last and most important post from Zambia and the last post of the year… African Wild Dogs. It took me 10 years and 4 trips to Africa to finally find these animals. The wild dogs have been known to live in 39 African countries but the habitat destruction and diseases from domestic animals have almost annihilated the population in the wild, only 13 countries claim to still have them (reality is more like 4). It’s estimated that there are only about 600 adults remaining on the whole continent (and about double that of juveniles, but the mortality is very high). South Luangwa National Park is known for healthy several healthy packs of dogs flourishing here but I didn’t get a chance to see them until the very last game drive on the very last day in Zambia! A pack of 10 dogs – 5 adults and 5 pups – in full action-packed hunt for baby impala. The parents chased and took down the unlucky antelope and then gave it to pups to devour. Then the action was repeated again, with pups following the chase but still not sure how to do it. When pups where done, the adults picked up the feast where the pups left it off. Another lifelong bucketlist item checked off!