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My Goodness , so lucky they wern't injured.....gotta love the Wild Dogs. hopefully i will have the opportunity to see them in june.

I certainly hope you do Dog Lady
Where will you be staying?

Thanks Cheeta 2111,

I will be moving from camp to camp - lower sabie , croc bridge , skukuza and olifants. between 2nd june to 14th june. so hopefully i will be in luck. keep your fingers crossed for me.

Hi TDL,

Apart from BnD, you have chosen camps with the best chance of seeing the doggies.

@OWN, the doggies are worth chasing. They do something for me. In Kruger I will also 'chase' leopard, cheetah, and of course, serval.

On the H3 just before the S118, 28/3/13 at 6;38.

Hi Dog Lady,

Hope you have more dog sightings in Kruger!
While you are in Skukuza area, do yourself a favour and check ALL the sightings boards at Skukuza, Afsaal, Kruger Gate etc. That way you get a good idea where the dogs are moving to -- generally they love following roads, so if you see they were on the s114 near Skukuza, and the next day closer to Kruger gate, then your chances are good of seeing them on the S1 Phabeni road, s65, or back towards s114 again.
Do NOT ignore Pretoriuskop area -- they had pups there at the kopje last winter; also regular sighting from Phabeni to Skukuza on the s1, as well as Voortrekker road to Afsaal.
Do yourself another favour and daily check: www.wlsightings.blogspot.com for Wildwings and other visitors' daily sightings. That gives a VERY GOOD idea where wild dogs are moving to!
Have lots of fun and God bless,

Friedrich von Hörsten

Excellent advice, Friedrich.

We actually saw the pups and pack circling the Napi Road in November; was an amazing sighting as we had the privilege of following them all alone for three kilometres along the tar and then down the dirt road. Strangely, just as the lead dogs and trailing pups disappeared through the long grass near the koppie, three cars came into view around the rocks. Of course they did not believe that they had missed them by literally seconds. Makes me wonder how many times we've missed these elusive animals by the smallest of margins.

Hi OWN,

What a special experience that must have been!
Glad to hear you saw PUPS, which implies more than one??!

We spent 2 nights at Pretoriuskop in September, and were told the dogs had left the previous week and were no longer around... on the last evening 10 minutes before gate closing time, we turned off the H1-1 to Pretoriuskop, but via die DIRT road, and yes, 3 adults and 1 pup came trotting down the road and disappeared into the grass. We made a u-turn back to the tar road and waited. A car came by and we stopped them. "Wait for wild dogs" we said. They smiled and drove on. Ten seconds later the dogs were in the tar road. They slammed om brakes and came back, grinning sheepishly!
But only 1 pup.
Glad you saw the others too!
God bless,

Friedrich von Hörsten

I have seen over a hundred wild dogs in Kruger, but never pups.

Maybe next time.

How lovely, Friedrich. I've done that dirt road probably two or three dozen times and have never seen anything of great consequence on it, perhaps as the grass there is particularly high. I've noticed too how flippant people can be these days, probably because so many are impatient. Do you know how old the pup was?

As for our sighting, we were cruising the tar road towards Skukuza and had just passed the first Napi turnoff when I noticed shapes spread out on the slight rise about 400m distant. Even before I had trained the binocs on them, I knew it was wild dogs. Then I had to control my excitement as I moved steadily towards them, trying not to scare them off by being too frenetic. However, they were in easy trot mode and, as we closed on them, my spine almost shot through my head as the excitement levels climbed just as quickly: "PUPS," I yelled, as silently as possible. They were probably around five to six months old and there were five of them trailing the lead dogs. An adult stayed with them at the back and it was delightful to see the interplay between them. Every so often the lead dogs would stop and gaze off into the bush, fully alert, before continuing on their loping trot. I couldn't believe that there were no other cars and then we were doubly excited as they turned onto the second Napi road as we could still continue following them. As wild dogs often do, they split into two fronts and fanned out, always keeping their steady trot. Just before the great boulders the lead dogs veered off through the thick grass and sped up, causing a troop of baboons on top of the rocks to squeal and scramble higher. We never did see what prey they had spotted, but we didn't mind as the sighting itself had been so special: it's not often that one can get to follow these amazing predators so freely and without the hindrances of other cars. It will forever remain one of the greatest sightings that Kruger has dished up for us.

In all the years that I have been visiting Kruger, this was the first time that I had ever seen wild dog pups. Several times we've heard of dens, but have never had the privilege of finding any. My ultimate wild dog sightings would be (i) following a kill from beginning to end, and (ii) finding tiny pups at a den; however, one needs supreme circumstances for both of those to happen.

Found a pack of 12-15 dogs on the H1-2 somewhere between the H12 turn-off and the N'watindlopfu river on 02 July 2013. Not easy to photograph or count even as they were quite busy and on the move. Managed to get only a few shots.


Clicking on image will open original


Clicking on image will open original


Clicking on image will open original

Great sighting, Johann. What time did you see them?

Thanks OWN. It was at 08h30.