Saturday the 20th April was a memorable day indeed. Two of the wild dogs had been seen in the morning but had later disappeared into the Tambotie forest area. We left for our drive at 16:30 and made our way out down Thabo’s loop. Ruan from Lodge #2 called in the sighting of the wild dogs hunting a waterbuck at whistle pan, which fortunately for us was just down the road. We were the second vehicle to arrive at the sighting so were able to get a prime position.
There were two individuals, a dog and a bitch and they had chased the young waterbuck cow into the water and were swimming out to her, latching on to her ears and trying to drag her out the water. After several attempts, the bitch swam out and grabbed the waterbuck by the ear and pulled her head under the water. By now the waterbuck did not have the strength to fight off the attack and eventually, the bitch managed to drown the waterbuck.
After all, went quiet, the bitch proceeded to swim back to the bank dragging the drowned waterbuck by the ear. I never realised what good swimmers these dogs are and watched in amazement as the waterbuck was hauled out the water onto the bank and the bitch began to feed on her quarry.