SANParks.org Forums

welcome to the forum swob9
thank you for the link

Welcome to the forum and thanks for this most interesting link swob9
For me it was very interesting to read that there were 250 wild dogs in the North of Kruger in 1995
Does anyone know where in the North you could find them these days and why the numbers have dropped down so dramatically??
I also think if such a study is done in the park (I think everybody saw the posters in the park) SANParks should put a link to find the results to their homepage. I guess most of the people who are on the forum are very interested in studies and research programs and it would be wonderful to have link to get the outcome of those..

Encouraging though, that the central and southern populations increased from 2005-2009.

I wonder if anyone has any ideas on why the northern population has dropped so drastically? Or has seen them there recently?

The only thing I can possibly think of is artificial waterholes. I have no knowledge on the specifics but weren't they brought in a few years back? Possibly extending the ranges of competitors such as lions etc. Any ideas?!

Then again, the North has much wilderness without tourist access roads - so the dogs may be there, but not seen often by tourists.

Hi Swob, thanks for the input, to all Forum members I have been staying 45 mins from Punda gate for the past 15 years and have visited the Park every second weekend and have never had Wild Dog sightings between Punda and Shingwedzi since thats the only area of the park which I visit. I havent been to Pafuri lots and dont only visited the south of Kanniedood dam a few times as well. Over the past I have seen lots and lots of LIONS, I have also seen Leopard a few times and saw Cheetah a couple of times but never seen Wild Dogs, and just as a curious questions the wildebeest also decreased drastically because from seeing herds and herds of wildebeest to hardly seeing any now a days. There might be one wildebeest in a herd of Zebra but I dont really know if that could be a reason but could be a factor to take in concern.

So, you've probably been in 300+ times. Kallis! Strange no dogs - I know there used to be a pack around Punda and another around Shingwedzi. What could have happened to them. I wonder?

I'll say easy above the 300 mark especially with being Wild Card member Maybe I just dont have enough luck to see the WILD DOGS. but I did hear someone saw WILD DOGS in the Mahooni loop last year just cant find the thread anymore I am visiting the South and South central of Kruger for the first time for overnight visits, so hopefully I can see some WILD DOGZ

Had at least 15 of them on the Matjulu loop north of Berg en Dal this evening......too many and too much movement to be totally sure of number!

Kallis, interesting in what you have seen with the Wildebeest population. I also read that in the recent study on Botswana's wildlife numbers through an aerial survey, the Wildebeest population had virtually collapsed, especially in the Moremi Game Reserve. (Was published in Africa Georgaphic August 2011 I think...). I wonder if anyone has any more insight into this. Slightly worrying.

Probably the wrong thread though now I am off topic sorry about that!

I visited Pafuri often during the late nineties and there were virtual daily sightings of wild dogs, especially early-early round about sun rise and close to the Pafuri border post.

This then suggests that they might have operated into Mozambique which was sparsely populated North of the Limpopo. Those were the days Mozambique was fast returning to normal, so they might have settled there or moved to one of the adjacent parks - or as a worst case scenario, perished there.

In those days [ and again December 2004 ] we had several sightings on the flats of the Punda Maria - Punda Gate – Kloppers Pan triangle.

Great to see the dogs are back in the BnD area

Hey guys, I'm new here.

I'm considering studying wild dogs for my dissertation, if anyone know's of any reputable links could you please inform me? I live in the UK and have done a lot of research but still feel like I am missing a bit.

S114, January 29 and 30 2012. At that time, because of the flood, the H1-1 was closed after the junction with the S114. All the traffic to Berg & Dal and Pretoriuskop had to make a detour over the S114 so there was much more traffic than usual. The dogs didn't seem to mind. They were sleeping and playing on the road.



This dog is yawning. It was a cloudy morning but for a moment there was a bit of beautiful early sun light.