August update: Notable changes in the wild dog population

The beautiful month of August showed a lot of sunshine and thus a wonderful safari experience for all our guests. But the end of the winter season brought us also dry and dusty days. The highlight: We make a sensational announcement regarding the wild dogs, known as the characteristic animal for Madikwe. Welcome to our monthly report from the bush.

Last month, there was some significant movement in the wild dog area, where previously two packs divided the reserve into 2 territories. Without going into too much detail, the park administration made some exchanges, with the goal that enough different genes will be present for future breeding. Five males from Tswalu and three females from Hluhluwe/Umfolozi made their way to our reserve. This makes Madikwe unique in that we are the only Game Reserve with a pool of four sets of genetics. This is a decisive step to secure the future of wild dogs in the park.

In addition to this highlight, we have great hopes to admire soon young cheetah cubs for the first time in Madikwe. We have reported on the recent rendez-vous of the female with the Phinda Males (see here).

Like in every month also in August there were many surprises on our daily safaris. Once a leopard visited our waterhole right at the lodge, so we could see it from the lounge. Another day we were so lucky to see a lion killing a warthog. In the north of the park we found an animal that we rarely see: a springbok.

Finally: what is the likelihood of success to find the Big 5 on a 3-hour game drive? Our rangers, who record statistics on a daily base, noted the following: Elephant 92%, White Rhino 69%, Lion 56%, Buffalo 40%, Leopard 3%.