Is Gorongosa really a Hot Spot for Wild Dogs?
Hi there,
I recently read in a trip report (on a different forum / community) that Gorongosa NP allegedly is home to appr. 20 different wild dog packs.
To be honest, I find that hard to believe: Kruger NP in ZA is five times the size of Gorongosa and also has about 20 packs. Nevertheless, I’d like to hear from folks here on TA, ideally from people who have recently visited Gorongosa.
thanks
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Pictus Safaris
Hi Klaus,
I know we’ve corresponded elsewhere, but others may be interested, so I’ll post here too. There are currently 11 packs of dogs in Gorongosa, including dispersals. I don’t have the latest total numbers of dogs in the park, but including pups it will be between 150 and 200. Between 2017 and 2020, the population grew from 0 to 100 despite the loss of some early litters, aided by relatively low lion densities and a ridiculous abundance of prey. I expect the population will begin to level off as the dogs begin to make a dent in the waterbuck population, and now that spotted hyena have been introduced, but there is no doubt that the density of dogs in GNP is impressive and much greater than in the Greater Kruger. It is worth noting that only a small portion of GNP has a road network, and so most packs are rarely accessible – the most common pack around the road network is the Beira pack. But, regardless, your chances of visiting GNP for a week and not seeing dogs are slim.
Tom
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Pictus Safaris
Hi Klaus,
I know we have already corresponded separately, but will respond here should anyone else be curious. There are currently 11 packs of wild dog in GNP, including dispersal groups. If we include pups, the population is likely just under 200 dogs, although I don’t have the very latest figures. This is a high density, and GNP deserves its reputation as one of the best places to see wild dogs in Africa at the moment. Two packs were brought into the park from the SA metapopulation, and two of the first three breeding seasons were extremely productive as the dogs benefited from a low lion density and abundance of prey. One litter was lost to a python, but the following season one pack alone produced nearly 30 pups as three females bore young – total population went from 14 to over 100 in three years. It goes to show that, when left alone, wild dog populations can and do grow very fast indeed.
The expectation is that population growth will taper off as prey populations become less ridiculously abundant, and now that spotted hyena have been introduced. But, for now, Gorongosa has a density of wild dogs equivalent to their traditional strongholds elsewhere on the continent.
Hope this helps,
Tom