Happy New Year everyone, we hope most of your dreams are realised this year and that you manage to keep most of your resolutions. One of our resolutions is to be better at keeping this Blog up to date as we have been told by some that they prefer the detail of the Blog to FaceBook. So starting the year with a bang, African Wild Dogs..... We are just back from hanging around a pack of African wild dogs up in the north of Kenya. We stayed at the Laikipia Wilderness Camp, owned and run by Annabelle and Steve who really gave us a great bush experience, and with their fantastic Samburu staff, helped us to spend alot of our time looking for and watching the dogs who continue to den nearby. Why do we love Wild Dogs so much? * Well, they are terrific socialisers and get very excited and affectionate toward each other when they greet, before they go hunting, when they return. * They then morph into efficient killing machines. They are quick, they hunt in small packs, they devour pretty much everything, bones included, within minutes, trying to beat hyenas or anything else wanting to nick their kill. * The adults regurgitate what they have eaten to feed the puppies or other dogs in the pack that haven't eaten. * It's adrenaline filled full-on exhilaration speeding around in an open safari vehicle, clinging to your camera gear with one hand to protect it and clinging to anything solid to protect yourself, as you try to keep up with the dogs as they are hunting. Too much fun! * And Wild Dogs don't grow on trees so whenever we can, we invest the time to get really good sightings of them. If you're interested in Wild Dog behaviour, we highly recommend staying at the Laikipia Wilderness Camp in Kenya where you will also be very well fed and watered, (possibly the best food in the bush!), and you will enjoy a very genuine, real bush experience as in this part of Kenya you have ranchers collaborating with small safari camps, cooperating with local communities, all on the same land. Quite a different experience.
