WATCH: Wild dog sighting worth the wait in Kruger

On an early and chilly October morning, Robby Holmwood and his wife in one car and his son in another came across a pack of wild dogs.

After thinking the sighting to be a hallucination at first, they were pleasantly surprised to see ear twitches behind a bush. They decided to switch off the engines and wait the dogs out.

“Many passers-by were convinced we were nuts. Even after much pointing and explaining what we were looking at, they had a quick look, saw nothing, and drove off,” said Holmwood.

While waiting in anticipation, suddenly, some adult dogs arrived back from the hunt and pandemonium broke loose; adult and wild dog puppies appeared from nowhere.

“After a feed, the playful games began, and we realised that, by chance, we parked over the culvert where the pups want to play, as seen in the video.

“Some adult dogs then crossed the road and hunted the herd of wildebeest in the distant open field, where, due to the short recently burned grass, visibility was good. Then suddenly the roles were reversed, and it was wildebeest charging after wild dogs, which soon passed on that hunt, and returned to the pack.

“After spending five hours at this sighting, it was the call of nature dictating that we depart, urgently heading to Phabeni Gate for personal relief and a hot cuppa.”

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Being retired, the Holmwoods are able to visit the park three to four times a year. “Due to the distance from home, we stay for at least a week to 10 days at a time.”

They were originally booked at Crocodile Bridge, Berg en Dal and Lower Sabie. Lower Sabie was, however, cancelled, which is how they ended up at Pretoriuskop.

“Had it not been for that, we would not have experienced this sighting. Our plan that morning was to drive the H1-1, S65, S1 and S3.”

Holmwood is a Barbertonian by birth, but has now retired in Klerksdorp after a career in the mining industry.