New Life, Brighter Futures
A lot has been happening in the Waterberg since my last post. Then the focus was on building support amongst the stakeholders to the idea that it was valuable and important to invest in the future of the wild dog pack that have made this region their home. Not just any wild dog pack — this is the last truly free roaming pack in the whole of South Africa, a fact that still creates a spectrum of emotions for me.
At the time of my last post the pack were very active, moving across different properties and hunting regularly. The communications network was very active with alerts going out to game owners with particular concerns and challenges and the (now) common mix of feelings amongst the network.
And then they started the Denning process and things got very interesting!
This happens once a year and is the sign that the Alpha female has mated and is expecting pups. Naturally for such a special pack this was fantastic news — at least from the perspective of conservationists and supporters of this iconic species. It was pretty alarming news for game owners, especially those whose land was in close proximity to the den site. During denning — which lasts around 3 months — the dogs are static. That means they hunt in the same area every day, and wild dogs are very good hunters. So instead of enduring passing visits now and then, suddenly a few unfortunate game owners are going to be providing nourishment to the pack for a prolonged period. It’s quite hard to get excited about the arrival of pups. when faced with an onslaught on your property.
An amazing thing happened.
Thanks to the efforts that had gone into building this network to this point there is now a strong and engaged group of game and land owners actively discussing this situation. And that discussion led to a solution — the contribution of game to the site from other owners, basically a sharing out of the problem. The dogs get fed without having too much human contact and the investment in livestock is shared more evenly. So far it’s worked incredibly well.
The Interest continues to grow
The idea of an eco tourism model has always been at the heart of the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s model and this is starting to take shape now. The Waterberg is home to many privately owned game reserves and while it may be less well known that (say) the Kruger — it still attracts lots of guests. And those guests are hearing about the wild dogs and being invited to go to see them — and to get relatively close to them on foot, an amazing experience that will not happen in many places. While the dogs are denning the opportunities are nearly always going to lead to a fantastic sighting and judging by the feedback from the reserve owners the guests would agree completely. It’s been an outstanding success!
All of this is in turn creating a much more positive — and protective — attitude to these dogs. And as you can imagine everyone has been waiting with bated breath for the arrival of the pups. During this period things have got a lot more organised — this is now recognised as a community project working with strategic partners to ensure the future of this pack.
This has resulted in a more ‘formal’ presence that in turn has led to the involvement of professional photographers and an online presence. And that of course means some amazing footage to share now!!
The Anticipation is Building
And then the news that we had been waiting for — the Alpha female had given birth to her pups. They stay inside the den for some time so to begin with we just knew they had arrived. And then the camera trap gave us a first grainy sighting — they were starting to emerge from the den.
Finally, this week we were rewarded with the first real sighting and some truly stunning video. Here they are — the latest additions to the Waterberg pack, bundles of cuteness and our hopes for the future of a pack that is capturing the imagination and attention of so many now. Long may this continue
