Those of you on Cape Cod may have had this experience. Come nose to nose with a Cape Cod coyote who appears to be pretty much unconcerned to meet you and then continues undeterred on its merry way. This beautiful female found me fortunately with camera. Looks way more like wolf to me.

Eastern coyote encounter

Thought we would share some additional images from this adventure. In particular our time with a pack of Wild Dogs, the most endangered species in Africa was particularly memorable. These critters are actually more closely related to wolves. An up to date description is Painted Wolf. They live in very structured packs of 10 – 25 animals and follow very strict codes of behavior within the pack to ensure survival. The pack we found had 19 dogs, nine of which were “puppies” less than a year old but already pretty much full size as you can see. This pack was also a bit in disarray as the dominant female of the pack (and pack leader ) had disappeared (presumably killed) only days before we found them on the trail. The kudu kill we witnessed was remarkable in its efficiency and especially the ritual of how the kill was divided and devoured by the pack members. By code of conduct the young puppies eat their fill at every meal first! Only after the puppies are satiated will the adults move in to get their share. This is done quite practically to ensure that the pack young survive through their first year to become full fledged members and contribute to the daily hunts. Typically the pack of this size will need to make a kill twice a day.

Botswana afternoon heat

Rest before the hunt

Young male kudu before the attack

Baby impala falls prey to the young pack too.

The first rains of the season fell within a few hours

Young Wild Dogs rest before an afternoon hunt

The pack took down a young kudu.

Circle of life and death

Tawny Eagle eats

On the River - Elephants cross ahead

Carmine Bee-eater

The Selinda Spillway

Openbill Storks

Afternoon on the Selinda

Sunset on the river

Linyanti Concession, we make camp

Zebras watch briefly before bolting, incredible sight...we snuck up on them on the river

Great Egret, south for the summer

Water Buffaloe storm across our path on the river

Coordinates

Hippos !

Close encounter of the elephant kind

The Iconic Giraffe, my personal favorite

Sundown near Selinda Camp

The Linyanti Swamp on the Namibian border

Fastest animal on the planet

Leopard protecting a kill, incredible!

The winner and still King of the territory, this guy was licking his wounds after a galactic struggle

A fight to the death resulted in.....death for this male lion. The carcass was just three days old and already pretty picked over by the vultures.

We recently returned from an epic experience in the Botswana bush in Southern Africa. This part of Africa is dry forest and depends on seasonal rains in neighboring countries (Angola & DRC) to fill the Okavango River delta and nourish the northern reaches of the Kalahari Desert. We were fortunate to make a river journey in canoes down a stretch of the Okavango system that only floods once every thirty years and therefore is very wild. We camped on the side of the river each night. Incredible scenery and exotic African wildlife truly in in its natural habitat.