I am sooo excited to report that I have had 2 very special sightings of wild dogs recently! (My first proper sighting of them was in February this year in Samburu Reserve).
The first sighting was on the 9th of September and was about 10 minutes away from camp in the Conservation Area in West Gate Community Conservancy. The second sighting was on the 13th of October and it was so close to camp! In September we saw a pack of 7 dogs and in October we saw only 2 dogs, however later on a pack of 12 were reported nearby at the Sasaab lodge.
The wild dogs looked in great shape and sent the guinea-fowl and dikdiks into a frenzy. I always enjoy seeing them – it is so rare to see the endangered wild dogs and considering they are not really resident in the area, I feel extremely fortunate to have seen them.
Wild dogs on the 9th of September
Pack of 7 move in the Conservation Area
One of the wild dogs seen on the 13th of October with Mt Kenya in the background
Unfortunately, I do not have a photo of this, but on the 4th of September, I was driving at night in Sasaab and at around 8:00 pm, I literally bumped into an aardvark! This is my first time to see one and funnily enough it was only a few days before that I had mentioned that the one animal I would love to see is an aardvark. This one walked across the road slowly and gave us a great showing. It really is the coolest creature to see! The Samburu people believe that it is very good luck to see an aardvark. I was thrilled!
Donations made here are
Mar 15th Margot S USD 115.00
3 Comments
Very very cool and congratulations on all of your sightings!! seeing the aardvark must have been such an awesome sight!!
the african geographic is having a safari in kenya and the guests will spend nine days studying the lions in samburu/buffalo springs/shaba. during these nine days, the guests will meet our lion expert Shivani Bhalla and learning the issues and threats lions face. what a treat! i just wish i had known it sooner so that i could join this group and meet you Shivani and my most favorite animals, the lions. unfortunately i have already made plan to go to kalahari and okavango around the same time next year. i sure hope there will be another one a year after so that i will be one of the lucky guests. one more great thing about this safari is a percentage of this will go to the Ewaso Lion Project. so if any of you want to help and enjoy the beautiful African wilderness and her lions, please join in. this safari is limited to only six people.
Thank you Sauwah!
We are having our first safari in January and the Africa Geog one is scheduled in February. However, you can book anytime with Gamewatchers who are running the lion research safari so I hope one day you will make it out to Samburu and we will get to meet.
Enjoy Okavango and the Kalahari!