The Lower Zambezi, with its extensive winter thorn trees, some of which grow to be 30m tall, is one of the most beautiful places in the world where you can go on a safari!
The park is also home to an incredibly diverse range of wildlife, and it is easy to understand why some of the best safari operators in the world tour the park frequently.
Experts in wildlife and photographic safaris: Wild Eye, recently set out on one of their first tours in the Lower Zambezi. Michael Appalsamy, a lead guide for Wild Eye, took charge of the trip and with years of experience, described it as being one of his best excursions ever.
“Having hosted my first trip to Zambia and specifically The Lower Zambezi National Park, I can confidently say that this destination has become a highlight of my guiding career.”
Parts of the Lower Zambezi are known particularly for their wild dog sightings. Michael and his guest found out just how special these sightings can be!
The camps from Classic Zambia, where Michael and his guests stayed, are known not only for their resident wild dog pack’s size but also for their ability to hunt large game, including buffalo.
Yes, that’s right! These wild dogs are known for taking down prey weighing several hundred kilograms! We covered a few such accounts in the past:
Wild Dogs Pop Huge Pimple on Buffalo
Or
Lions Steal Buffalo from Wild Dogs After Intense Chase
After finding the pack for the fourth time during their trip, Michael had already developed an understanding of how the wild dog family operated. However, it was on the 5th sighting and final drive of the tour that such an incredible scene unfolded; no one could have predicted it.
The group searched for the wild dog pack the evening before. However, with reports that the dogs had made a catch earlier that afternoon, it wasn’t too surprising that they weren’t successful.
Rather than letting this be a worry, Michael took it as a positive. They now had a good chance of spotting the pack on their final morning safari. The odds were that they would be hungry again!
Michael describes what happens next as being ‘absolutely as good as it can get!’
It was early into the final morning drive, and everyone had high hopes for finding the wild dog pack again. Michael and his guests arrived at the Jeki Plains, and there the pack was! Not only were the dogs there, but there was also a massive herd of buffalo!
Their timing was perfect; the dogs were already in hunting mode, and with the pack’s track record with buffalo, this was extremely exciting! Then, the situation turned chaotic!
The wild dogs gave chase, and having experienced being hunted by wild dogs before, the buffalo weren’t sticking around for the challenge. The herd scattered in all directions in total panic.
In and amongst the disarray, two of the buffalo babies were separated from their moms and, ultimately, from the safety of the herd. Being so helpless, the wild dogs didn’t bother expending any energy on chasing the adult buffalo. Instead, they set their sights on the calves.
Taking nothing away from how incredible this sighting was, Michael describes this next scene as being one of the hardest moments in nature that he has witnessed as a professional.
“I can say that this was one of the toughest sightings I have ever experienced. The same can be said for my two guests. The reason being was that the dogs were unable to finish the buffalo calves off as they normally would, like they would with an impala. For those of you who have seen a wild dog hunt before, you would know that it is often over in seconds, let alone minutes. However, even though these were just babies, the wild dogs were unable to break through the hides of the buffalos. For that reason, they were unable to put the buffalos out of their misery.”
“This back-and-forth between the wild dogs and the buffalo calves went on for about twenty minutes. It was intense! It was right by the vehicles! The bellowing of the buffalo was absolutely heartbreaking!”
As we have seen in previous sightings of this pack on a buffalo hunt, the noise that Michael described attracted the attention of two nearby male lions. Typically, lions meeting prey would never be described as a fortunate encounter for their prey. In the case of these buffalo babies, however, it was sadly the best thing that could have happened in the moment.
The lions came in and crashed the wild dogs’ party. Michael says, “It was very interesting for us to have the opportunity to photograph the interaction between the wild dogs and lions. One lion in particular was chasing the wild dogs around. It was unbelievable behaviour that we got to experience, and such a special way to end the sighting.”
Once the lions had the baby buffalos to themselves, they put them down in a matter of seconds. The wild dogs, still hungry, split up into two groups. Half headed down into the valley, and six or seven stayed on the planes and ended up catching an impala.