David Fisher, a 43-year-old Chief Operating Officer in Information Technology, caught this incredible sighting on camera during his visit to the Madikwe Game Reserve, close to the Kalahari Desert on the Botswana border.
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He told Latest Sightings that they were on a “game drive in Madikwe heading towards Tau dam” on Father’s day, 16 June 2019, keeping an eye out for a herd of buffalo in the area.
En route to the buffalo, they were diverted as “Wild dog tracks had been spotted in the vicinity around lunch time”. Not entirely sure what to expect, they set off to see if they could spot some dogs.
Slim Pickings For Sightings
As it turned out, David and his group were lucky enough not only to see plenty of wild dogs, but to see them in the middle of hunting an impala. It was a delayed sighting, however, as the dogs remained hidden from the group at first.
They thought they were going to have an unsuccessful evening, as David said they “could not find tracks or any signs of either the buffalo or the wild dogs”, and so they enjoyed the spectacle of the sunset instead.
It was lucky they were already filming the sunset, as when the wild dogs did appear it was so suddenly that David and his group “didn’t even have time to digest” their arrival.
Wild Dogs In Action
These wild dogs weren’t wasting any time either, as from the moment they appeared they’d locked on to a nearby impala, and the hunt had already started.
Wild dogs are excellent runners, so this impala was going to have its work cut out for it if it was going to survive the evening. It ran instantly, and the dogs gave chase, pursuing the impala into the beautiful backdrop of the sunset.
A Tense Pursuit
African wild dogs aren’t sprinters as they specialize more in long-distance running, but they can still reach speeds of 45mph when the occasion calls for it. This pack showed that speed as they raced to catch the impala.
Watching them spread out around David’s vehicle to approach the impala from multiple angles shows just how much trouble the impala was in, and it must have felt the pressure as it made a quick decision to flee towards the dam.
Unfortunately, this decision proved to be a fatal one, as the impala passed quickly from solid ground into deep mud which clung to its legs and held it fast after only a few moments.
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Completely Trapped
The mud had trapped the impala so effectively that the wild dogs could approach it at their leisure while avoiding the thick mud that had caught it.
Surrounding the impala on the solid land, the dogs probed at the water, perhaps testing their own weight, or as David believed, “hesitant due to crocodiles or the cold water”.
Soon though, one had found its way to the trapped impala, and then a second, and then the whole pack moved in to feed.
The Art Of The Hunt
David said that their “drive had not been too adventurous to that point, after being in the bush for 3 days already”, and that the sunset was the highlight until the dogs appeared.
Silhouetted against the beautiful sunset, the hunt of the wild dogs, and the impala’s last moments took on a surprising beauty. Having nature come together in this way made for a really special sighting, and one that must have been the highlight of David’s trip.