Page 20 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #11
P. 20
“ orry, but there are no painted Naturalistshavelongbeen Above: lean and
rangy, painted
wolves in this sector of the park
wolves have
frustratedandcharmedby
at the moment,” said guide
phenomenal
Nkosi Ndlovu, when I drove
stamina, roaming
into a camp known as ‘The
of square
Hide’ one afternoon. “They howeasilyapaintedwolf over hundreds
S range so far afield that you pack vanishes without trace. kilometres.
can never tell where they might turn up.”
Nkosi was half right. The wolves do indeed
range over vast distances… but by sheer
coincidence I spent much of that night wide
awake while a pack of them squabbled with a shouldn’t be hard to find. But by the time I I wasn’t surprised. Naturalists have long
herd of elephants right in front of my tent. arrived at The Hide, I’d scoured an area the been both frustrated and charmed by how
Later that evening, a pack of 10 painted size of Devon without even finding canine easily even a large painted wolf pack – which
wolves bounded up to the waterhole by the spoor from anything larger than a jackal. in parts of southern Africa have reached up
camp. The white tips of their tails flashed to 50 strong – can vanish without a trace.
like beacons in the spotlight as even the older Adisappearing act Hwange forms part of the Kavango-
ones rolled playfully with endearing puppy Painted wolves are most active at dusk and Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area
energy. During the past week, I had driven dawn (though occasionally hunt during a full (KAZA), incorporating an area about twice
800km through Hwange National Park moon), so before first light the next morning the size of Britain. Stretching from western
hoping for a sighting like this. Zimbabwe’s Nkosi and I headed out of camp in search Zimbabwe through Botswana, Zambia,
biggest national park (it measures 14,650 of the pack. Within half an hour we’d come Namibia and north into Angola, KAZA allows
km²) is justly famous for the density of its across a scrabble of tracks where what Nkosi ample space for wolf packs, each of which
wildlife – I had seen four leopards and no recognised as the Makwa Pack had fanned may roam across more than 1,200km².
fewer than 22 lions in a single morning out in the hope of scaring prey out of hiding. Formerly hunted to near-extinction as
– but, until now, the wolves had eluded me. We followed until the tracks disappeared into livestock killers and perceived pests, painted
Painted wolves here typically run in packs a tangle of teak trees. The sun was already wolves are classed as Endangered by the
of around 16 individuals and I was aware – climbing high when we noticed an agitated IUCN and these days face a barrage of other
having tracked them successfully several times herd of impala. Nkosi accelerated his Land threats. Among them are competition for
in Kenya and Botswana – that their tracks Cruiser but, yet again, the hunters had gone. territory with expanding human populations,
20 BBC Wildlife November 2018
