A couple Jackal sightings

While guiding here at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge I have had a few sightings of interest.  Two recent sightings involve Jackals. 

The first was a sighting on the main road heading south from the lodge.  We were on our way to an area called Draaihoek and one of my guests spotted a couple Jackals by the road.  When we stopped we noticed that there were many Jackals. 

Normally Jackals are found in pairs, sometimes with a few young ones.  At times when they have a good potential food source, such as an injured Springbok that they would be able to kill they might tolerate neighbors so that they could work together to increase the chance of success.  However on this occasion there were more than I had ever seen together and we couldn't make out what they were looking at.  All of them looked off in one direction and they were clearly bothered by what they saw.  They didn't worry to much about us.

We never did see what they were watching, but perhaps it may have been a Cheetah (which have been re-introduced onto NamibRand) or Leopard.  I didn't see any tracks near the road to give it away, and so we will never know.

The second interesting sighting to me was a Jackal kill in the dunes.  While doing a walk in the dunes near some 11 km  from the lodge with a family of guests, we found an area in the dunes where all the grass was covered by feathers.  On inspection we managed to find a carcass of a Ludwig's Bustard.  What was interesting was that it was buried by Jackals (seen from the tracks) under the sand.  This is a large prey item for Jackals and I would guess that they buried it so that it would not be seen by Vultures flying overhead.

Guiding in the Namib is always a treat and often these small interesting things pop up.  For more sightings from Sossusvlei Desert Lodge, visit the their wildwatch website.

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