Richard Millar has won a bush blind that is perfect for birdwatching for his letter in the December 2010/January 2011 issue of Africa Geographic. Congratulations Richard!

Buffalo bullies
As safari guides in the Manyeleti Game Reserve near the Kruger National Park in South Africa, my colleagues and I had become used to observing the activities of this pack of African wild dogs. But when four months passed without a sighting of them, we began to wonder if they had forgotten about us. One night they returned out of nowhere and one of the guides saw them bringing down an impala right in front of his vehicle. The pack consisted of about 32 dogs, including three heavily pregnant females.

Early the following morning we went out to look for them and found them relaxing at a pan. It looked as though they had just made a kill: their bellies were extremely full and some of them were covered in blood. As we watched, two old buffalo bulls came down to drink, but clearly didn’t like the presence of the dogs and began to chase them around. The dogs ran away but soon returned, only to be pursued again by the buffaloes. This carried on for about 20 minutes until the buffaloes had finished drinking and moved away. Unfortunately we haven’t seen the wild dogs since then.

Richard Millar, Limpopo Province, South Africa