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Wild Dogs After the Chase
I thought this would fit in well with both this month's theme and Marc's recent post of the hyena and wild dogs. I think Steve and I have told of this sighting before but just in case. We had spent most of the afternoon drive at the wild dog den watching the puppies and their babysitter. Having enjoyed a more than satisfying afternoon drive, we decided to head down to the river for sundowners. Just as our ranger and tracker were setting up the table there was a flash of action on the opposite riverbank. We shouted wild dogs just as we saw one of the dogs take down the impala he or she was chasing right at the water's edge. We left everything on the riverbank and took off toward the kill as soon as everyone was back in the vehicle, crossing the river. Once there we watched as the dogs devoured the impala. During the process an inquisitive hyena drawn by the commotion appeared on the opposite bank near where our sundowners remained. The dogs in an instant dropped the impala and ran across the river chasing the hyena away. The sounds from this chase were absolutely amazing and we could only imagine what was happening because most of the action was out of our sight though it certainly sounded like the dogs were nipping at the hyena and that seemed to be what was happening whenever they crossed into view. Having chased the hyena off, the dogs crossed the river again, this time heading toward us and the rest of the impala kill and to chase the vultures away. By this time it was pretty dark but I took a few images as they ran through the water. You can see the blood from the kill on the face of the one on the right.
Btw when we crossed the river again to pick up the sundowner supplies and head back to camp, we encountered the hyena and the rest of his clan. I think we counted at least nine. With the spot we could clearly see that one was dragging its rear a little and had been bitten. We watched as the hyenas jumped in the water and crossed to the kill site to see if there were any scraps. It was while the hyenas were crossing that our tracker shined the spot about 50 feet down river on the crocodile slowly swimming towards the commotion.
Canon 5D3
300 II
1/1250
f5.6 (don't know why I didn't open it up more given the distance to the subjects and lack of light. Probably just the excitement of the moment.)
ISO 6400
HH from safari vehicle, small crop to remove some oof grasses in lrc, levels, curves, NR to bg, sharpened in CCPS.
C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,
Rachel