Erindi - Wild dogs and dinosaurs

Wild dog playing with pup

In this 4th post on my wonderful trip to Erindi, I will show some of my photos of the wild dogs. These are the most effective predators in the bush, although the way that they kill the animal they are hunting is pretty bad. But I guess that it is nature. They can outrun any prey animal and they always hunt in a pack. There are not too many places left in the world where wild dogs can still be seen. They need a very large track of land if they are to be re-introduced into the wild. They also take a lot of game animals, so they are not very popular on private game reserves. I have seen them before in the Kruger National park, but only once in about 30 or so trips there. Not a common animal to see at all.

Pup in the den

At Erindi, there is a pack of wild dogs. They have made their den not very far from the main lodge and waterhole. In fact, with a good pair of binoculars you could see the den from the deck of the main lodge. Because they are such special animals, and there is a den so close by, all of the game drives visit the wild dog den.

We arrived at the den and the pack were moving around. Next thing, a tiny head popped up from the den. This was followed by about 12 pups, who came bounding out of the den, full on energy. Just seeing wild dogs in the wild is great, but visiting the den and seeing the very small pups is priceless. The pups were still very young and very small. All of the adults in the pack look after the pups as they are very venerable at this age. Any other predator which finds the den will try to kill the pups. This is pretty much a standard operating procedure in the bush with predators. If they can get hold of the young of another predator, it is fair game. Reduce the competition.

Anyway - enough of the sad stuff. Here were the pups and the adult dogs. Really great photo opportunities. The interaction between the pups and the adult dogs was amazing to watch. All of the adults play a pivotal part is raising the pups. Just like one big happy family of killers.

Really great opportunity to see and photograph the wild dogs.

Sunrise on the last morning.

Seeing hippo out of the water is not a common sight. With a baby is even less common.

All too soon it was time to head out of Erindi and head to my next destination. So what about the dinosaurs? Well - I had an amazing sighting of a Tyranosauraus rex during a storm. I even have the photo to prove it!

T. rex in a storm - all my photos - Altered reality photo

Don't believe everything you see in photos! I love doing altered reality photos and obviously this is such an altered reality photo. The T. rex was photographed in a toy shop on Time Square in New York (anther set of posts!). There was a massive moving, very life like dinosaur! I took a lot of photos of this T. rex in different poses to use in different altered reality photos. I even have a photo of a pod (who knows what the collective name is for T. rex) moving through the flowers in Namaqualand. They are all in different positions. 

But really, back to the dinosaurs. Along the route from Erindi (northern gate) to Otijwarongo there is a place were dinosaur footprints can be seen. These tracks are in sandstone from the 190 million year old Etjo Formation. There are some 30 dinosaur imprints in the sandstone in the area. From studies done on the prints, it has been concluded that these are hind leg prints of predators. Just can't get away from the predators. The smaller prints are believed to be from a Syntarsus species and the larger tracks from a Ceratosauria species. Well worth a short visit if you are in the area.

My visit to Erindi was a great way to spend three days. Really well worth a visit if you are in Namibia. It would also make an ideal stopover if you are on your way to Etosha, another of Africa's great game reserves and a good idea for a few more posts!.  

Dinosaur foot print in the rock