About Us

The Waterberg Wild Dog Initiative (WWDI) is a community-driven, non-profit project aiming to conserve the free-roaming African Wild Dog population in the Waterberg Biosphere, Limpopo. The WWDI works alongside the community to collect accurate information on the Waterberg Wild Dogs, understand and mitigate human-wildlife conflict, raise awareness, provide education, and leverage the ecotourism potential of the dogs.

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The WWDI works alongside the Waterberg community and other relevant stakeholders to:

• monitor the Waterberg Wild Dogs;

• understand and mitigate human-wildlife conflict;

• collect accurate data;

• spread awareness;

• provide education; and

• boost the dogs' ecotourism potential.

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By engaging the community with the conservation efforts, the WWDI hopes to foster a sense of community ownership and responsibility for the dogs - changing views, increasing tolerances, and creating a sustainably safe environment for the Waterberg Wild Dogs.

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The WWDI has made huge strides in conserving the Waterberg Wild Dogs since its inception in August 2020. The WWDI has placed tracking collars on two free-roaming packs, providing valuable information about the packs and giving an extra layer of protection to the dogs by being able to monitor their movements. Information from these collars is relayed to community members in the area, providing an early-warning system for landowners as the pack moves through private lands.

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When dogs travel too close to livestock farms or breeding camps, the WWDI team assists landowners with husbandry tools that deter predation. By reducing the high-value game and livestock species lost to wild dogs through these efforts, WWDI is fostering a more tolerant and sustainable environment for the dogs to thrive.

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During the 2021 and 2022 Denning Seasons, the WWDI coordinated ecotourism projects that generated funds from visitors paying to see the wild dog pack and distributed the funds back to the landowners impacted by the TOOG Area pack denning on their property and the surrounding properties. This model leverages the opportunity to observe free-roaming wild dogs while they are relatively stationary during the denning season and uses the funds generated to mitigate the impact of the wild dogs on the properties around the chosen den site. These periods also provided an opportunity to increase awareness and appreciation for the Waterberg Wild Dogs and to learn new information about them that can be shared with the local community and interested researchers.

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In September 2022, the WWDI partnered with the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment, and Tourism (LEDET) to facilitate a donation of 75 impalas back to the three private properties that hosted the TOOG Area pack during their recent denning seasons. This exciting project aimed to offset increased stock losses on the private farms that resulted in the pack remaining stationary in the area for an extended period of time while they raised their pups. As a way of saying thank-you to the private landowners and acknowledging the responsibility placed on private properties to conserve the free-roaming African wild dogs, LEDET agreed to donate the 75 impalas from one of the provincial reserves in the province.

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By inviting the community to participate in the initiative, the WWDI inspires community members to take ownership of the dogs, become citizen scientists, and conserve them.

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These efforts and successes show that a community-driven initiative and a co-existence framework is an effective way to conserve the Waterberg Wild Dogs.