Dog Day: Day 12 of our Awesome African Adventure.

The overnight stay in a mosquito net was not the most luxurious night in white satin that I’ve ever had, but it gave us a nearly three hour advantage to get to the most likely road crossing and maybe catch sight of the dogs there.

The best laid plans were however scuppered by our aging truck. It started to shudder and fade, eventually staggering to a halt in an area conveniently lacking in phone coverage. We slowly made our way to the main road where we flagged down some help. A guide came over with a handy pair of pliers and appeared to fix the problem. This worked well for about a hundred meters before grinding to a halt.

We were finished. 

Just at that precise moment another truck passed by. They were returning to camp because of a battery failure when they had been informed that dogs were spotted near their camp! 

DOGS! GO! GO! GO!

And there they were.

A pack of eight Painted Wolves. An alpha female (she da boss), three other adults and four crazy adolescents.

The kids played while the adults dozed.

We were guests on our rescuers truck. They now had a choice, watch the dogs or go for breakfast.

You have to be kidding me! Off we went to their camp....

We had finished our desperate search for the wild dogs, we now had a desperate search for a truck to take us back to the dogs.

A truck was requisitioned and of we went. The dogs were still there!

It was clear that these dogs were here for the day. All (including the adolescents) were flat out.

We again had to change trucks. We went back to the local camp where we awaited our replacement. Our lunch arrived, then soon after our truck. We were off again!

That day we spent about eight hours with the dogs. Phenomenal.

Much of the time they just lazed around, but we knew that, as evening approached, they would start to hunt.

However, waiting for them to start had detrimental effects on our bladders. We drove a short distance away to find a safe bush to pee behind. Annick and I went first to make sure all was safe, then our brave guides did the same.

As they were returning to the truck, A hyena leapt from the 'safe' bush and headed off at a rate of knots.

All hell broke loose.

These beautiful cuddly playful animals totally transformed into violent vicious super-fast killing machines.

The hurtled after the lone hyena engulfing it in a mass of flying bodies made invisible by the dust erupting all around them.

Finally the hyena, now wounded sought shelter in a thorn bush that allowed access from just one side. The dogs circled around but knew that it was too dangerous to enter the trap.

Instead they hung around the cornered hyena, clearly hyped up.

All seemed in the dogs favour. It was simply a waiting game.

But the hyena was not alone. Another appeared and was chased by the dogs.

And then another. And another. A total of six hyenas were now together. One or two hyenas the dogs could kill. But not six. It was now a Mexican stand-off, eight wild dogs against a bigger foe, six big hyenas, 

And herein lies the problem for the dogs. Wild dogs are very effective hunters with about a ninety percent success rate. The hyenas know this. The can and do hunt, but would much rather that someone else does it for them. They will track the dogs then steal their kill.

The dogs went off to hunt as the sun dipped below the horizon.

This was our last sight of them.

Next episode here