The African Wild Dog

Africa Imagery - Photographs of Africa, it's People and its Wildlife

We've uploaded the 1st Chapter of our book on the African Wild Dog here so that you can easily and quickly get information about these critically endangered predators: In Search of Africa’s Wild Dogs.
We sat cross-legged on the grass mat in Emmanuel Pele’s consulting room. Emmanuel is a Tswana traditional healer who lives in the village of Molatedi, some 6kms from the Madikwe Game Reserve in North West Province, South Africa. Only 25 years old and recently graduated as a sangoma or diviner, he already has considerable knowledge of the natural world and the use of various animal parts and plant products in the treatment of illness and the interpretation of misfortune and the future. Called to his profession by the ancestors, Emmanuel employs various methods of mediationwith the spiritual world to help members of his community who consult him regarding their problems. As with most sangomas his favourite procedure is to ‘throw the bones’ and according to Emmanuel the origin of the bones or objects he uses is immaterial, as during the process these items assume whatever shape his client wants.
It seemed appropriate at this point to ask him whether the African wild dog played any part in his divinations or in the concoction of his traditional medicine or muthi. To our amazement he shook his head, saying that he had never seen or heard of the animal before. Seriously thrown by this admission we showed him a photograph of a group of wild dogs we had recently taken and waited in silence as he studied the image. After several minutes Emmanuel announced that he noticed that they were pack animals and was therefore confident that their scats, placed at the entrance to a cattle kraal, would prevent the herd from dispersing when let out to graze. Greatly impressed with his quick improvisation we placed his consulting fee on the ground at his feet – the usual way to appease the ancestral spirits – and headed back to our vehicle. We thought, at first, that it may have been Emmanuel’s relative youth that accounted for his ignorance of these amazing creatures, but, after several visits to other sangomas in the area it became obvious that any traditional knowledge of the wild dog had long since been forgotten. We extended our search to the general community for myths, legends or stories - anything - that may have been handed down through the generations about these animals, but met with little success. It was hugely sobering to realise the extent to which they had so completely disappeared from the lives of rural people in the area, but we soon found out as we worked through our project on the wild dogs in the coming months, that this was the case in other parts of the country as well. Next page

Africa Imagery - Photographs of Africa, it's People and its Wildlife

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