Zimbabwe’s Save Valley Conservancy

By: Leslie Nevison Photos: Leslie Nevison

Iprefer dogs to most people. A wild dog sighting while on safari is therefore as close as I come to a religious experience. I am not the only one who reacts this way. My guests cried after seeing wild dogs in Zimbabwe’s Savé Valley Conservancy. My guests and I were in Savé to see wild dogs. We knew there was a pack denning on the Chishakwe Ranch, one of the 14 private concessions which comprise the conservancy. We planned on going to the den the following morning with researchers from the Lowveld Wild Dog Project, which is provided housing and logistical support by Chishakwe. Mark, Chishakwe’s exclusive guide, suggested a game drive to the waterhole for sunset. I was out of the vehicle fiddling with camera settings when Josiah, Mark’s scout, said softly, ‘The dogs are coming.’ After 20 years of safaris, there are no sweeter words to me than ‘The dogs are coming’.

from across the water. The pup’s mother trotted forward to study us more carefully, stopping metres away. She gave a low growl. The anxious pup whined, calling her back. It was then that I looked up to see my two guests hugging each other in the back of the safari vehicle, one comforting the other who was in tears. Bless them – guests’ understanding of such a magical moment does not come any better.

We had sighted a different dog pack. The denning pack had 10 much younger pups and, as we learned over the next few days, seeing them was far from easy. We had to forget silly preconceptions that all we had to do was park the vehicle next to the den, while we snapped the best photos of our safari careers of pups tumbling in play. These pups were barricaded in thorny brush next to a high river bank. Their dens had been switched three times in the last few weeks after each was invaded by hyenas and lions, wild dogs’ enemies. By the time we arrived, the adults, who were denning for the first time, had learned from earlier mistakes and were taking no chances. The den was impossible to access. But, like the iconic roar of lions in the African night, the sound of crying pups was satisfying. And, since nature is gracious to those who are patient and accepting (or so I imagine), on our last night wild dogs

hunted impala in the dry Chishakwe River just below our rooms.

The Savé Valley Conservancy is not your typical Southern African safari destination. Located north of Gonarezhou National Park, the Savé River Valley started life as a collection of cattle ranches. Drought and tsetse fly made cattle untenable. In the 1980s, the owners joined together to form the Savé Valley Conservancy, a 3200-square-kilometre area, into which once eradicated wildlife was re-introduced. (For a sense of Savé’s size, compare it with Gonarezhou National Park’s 5000 square kilometres, Zimbabwe’s second largest national park.) Zimbabwe’s land reform programme became the next challenge for the conservancy, from which private owners are still emerging with varying amounts of confidence in the future. Many of the conservancy’s concessions have subsisted on hunting revenues, but others like Chishakwe hope to forge a path through tourism. Currently, Savé is home to all member species of the Big Five, and one of Africa’s highest densities of wild dog.

The Savé Valley Conservancy and Chishakwe Ranch are my new favourite destinations, and not just because of the increased chances of sighting the dogs. The conservancy is pretty bush, with kopjes and baobab trees, and scenic spots for relaxed picnic lunches, sunrises and sunsets. Activities include game drives, guided walks, night safaris, black rhino tracking, birding, fishing, and relaxing by the pool and campfire. The wildlife is skittish but this must be expected where hunting is permitted close by. Only one group of guests is accepted at a time. You don’t feel like the paying clients of a safari lodge. Rather, you feel like the privileged house guests of a close Zimbabwean friend.

Leslie Nevison is the director of Lusaka-based MTT Zambia Ltd, the East, West, Central and Southern African specialists. There is a possibility to see wild dogs all year round in the conservancy. Wild dog denning season runs from June through August. www.MTTSafaris.com / leslie@MTTSafaris.com