By: Thandiwe Mweetwa, ZCP’s Luangwa Valley Project Manager

The Manzi Pack has been the resident wild dog group in the main game viewing area of South Luangwa National Park (SLNP) for nearly a decade. Over the years, their range has stretched from the Kapamba River in the south to Puku Plain in the north. In the early years, the pack used to den and spend the dry season in the south of Chichele Hill and then come up north during the rains and mating season. For a long time, the Manzi Pack was one of the most successful wild dog groups in our intensive study area. When it came to size and reproductive success, they were rivaled only by the Hot Springs Pack from Nsefu Sector. Descendants from this legendary group have spread across the Luangwa Valley with dispersal groups and their offspring documented using eastern Zambia’s vast network of National Parks, Game Management Areas (GMAs) and Forest Reserves.

Earlier this year, a catastrophic incident befell the Manzi Pack. The alpha female Wild Dog 1350 suffered fatal injuries following a crocodile attack in Wamilombe. To make this tragedy worse, she was the only unrelated adult female in the group and was suspected to be pregnant at the time. This sad incident threw the pack into disarray as they sought to find a new alpha female to take Wild Dog 1350’s place.

The past few months have been a time of transition for the pack, with family ties severed and new bonds formed. They have covered the length of SLNP and even ventured into some of its GMAs. Five young sisters split from the group and formed a dispersal group in mid-August (Between the age of 1 and 2 years, wild dogs usually leave their natal pack to go and form their own breeding groups, either from meeting other dispersing dogs of the opposite sex, or by taking over an existing pack and chasing out the same sex dogs). At around the same time, the rest of the pack eventually entered Luamfwa Pack territory in Lupande GMA and managed to steal away one of the females from the small pack (which is currently denning in the Nchindeni Hills). Soon after that, the Manzi Pack made an epic crossing back in to SLNP. They swam through the dangerous, murky waters of the Luangwa with a hungry crocodile hot on their tails! This hair-raising event was captured on camera by Robin Pope Safaris guide, Perry Nyama and can be viewed here.

Since their search for a new alpha female had seemingly been successful, we expected the pack to settle back in their usual territory as they waited for the next breeding season. To our surprise, the group hasn’t slowed down! In recent weeks, they have continued making big movements along the Luangwa River as if the search is still on-going. The dogs spent some time in the Muphamadzi area along the northern boundary of SLNP after having moved into Munyamadzi GMA.

After the pack split, we had only been following the movements of the dispersal group of sisters through citizen science reports. A few days ago, they were sighted from the air by ZCP/CSL Pilot Gareth Broekhuizen and one of our field teams immediately followed up for a visual on the ground. The team managed to deploy a satellite collar on one of the dogs to enable us to better monitor their movements.

Although the main Manzi Pack’s future as one of South Luangwa’s Super Packs seems uncertain as yet, we wish these dogs the best! We hope to catch up with the group in the coming weeks to get more information on the composition of the pack and make sure all dogs are ok. These long distance movements, especially though GMAs, can put animals at a higher risk of encountering and being caught in wire snares. Our collaborative long-term wild dog monitoring and conservation work is supported by Tusk, Gemfields, Dazzle Africa, National Science Foundation, Lion Recovery Fund, National Geographic, Milkywire, WWF, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Wildlife Crime Prevention, Painted Dog Conservation Inc., Flatdogs Camp, Bushcamp Company/Mfuwe Lodge, Sungani, Robin Pope Safaris, and Puku Ridge.