The 1957 dry season in the Luangwa Valley was an extended one and the rains were almost a month overdue, when at the end of November a visit was paid to a salt pan in the Nsefu Game Reserve. Because the pan provided the only water, over approximately 20 square miles of arid country, there should have been as in former seasons, a constant coming and going of various species, such as impala, hartebeeste, zebra and warthog. But although there were signs of these, only the larger animals such as buffalo, elephant and rhino appeared to be visiting the pan in their usual numbers. The reason for the lack of smaller ungulates was obvious: a pack of twenty-four hunting dogs was in residence—three adult females, four adult males and seventeen young—all of which were capable of hunting.