It would be painful to leave Africa after all this time without seeing wild dogs. Their appeal is obvious, the beautiful colors of their coats, the giant ears, and just the fact that they are dogs makes seeing them a top priority. But finding them is the difficult part; as said, the Kruger is huge. Cursorial hunters, the dogs hunt by running down their prey and running is done early in the morning and evening. The rest of the time, they lay in shade; down in the grass they are nearly impossible to spot. What might give them away is the flicking of their white-tipped tails and their big ears.

And so it was that we came upon a vehicle parked beside a main tar road at about 1pm on a very hot day. We coasted up behind them and turned the engine off. (BTW, there should be a special place in hell for those who leave their engine running at sightings). Not 100 feet off the road, laying under a thorn bush, there is something . . . and the flick of ears and tails gives it away. Wild dogs. OK, now yes, we can say we saw wild dogs – but as you can imagine, just seeing them laying on the ground is not exactly optimal. They aren’t doing anything. We watched and waited but it is so hot – we take a chance and head back to camp for lunch after marking the sighting on the GPS. We’ll come back soon, with any luck they will still be here.

Afternoon drives are tough. You can only go so far before you must turn around in order to make your gate before it closes. The dogs are at the far end of the distance we can travel. We park in same spot and patience pays off. As the air cools and the shadows lengthen the dogs perk up – it is action time. The two groups of animals, about 20 feet apart, burst into a frenzy of greetings as though they hadn’t seen each other in years. Yipping, laughing, running circles around each other, they are a joy to watch. Their posturing and submissive behavior comes across as hugs and kisses, to anthrophomorphise (again). They shove and tackle one another for a time then drop to the ground apparently exhausted by all the sociality. What a sighting for us dog-lovers, one we will never forget. To top off our efforts, as we drove back to camp (with just enough time to make the gate) Jim spotted two Honey Badgers in the grass! Another creature we so wanted to watch. We are the last vehicle to pass into camp, fully satisfied with a spectacular day in the Kruger.