Day 6 – Jackals

Good morning Botswana! Lara and I didn’t have the best sleep because of the roaring lions, but we couldn’t wait to get up and tell our story to the others at breakfast.

At 6am, Mpho was waking us up with some fresh tea. We were excited to put on our riding gear and start a new adventure in between the wild animals. At 6.30am breakfast was served, so that we could already jump unto our horses at 7-7.15am. As the sun sets early at 6.15am, we had already a good chance to see many animals waking up as well.

All horses were nicely prepared for us, waiting next to their big ball of hay in between the trees. We could notice that the horses were slightly bigger here in Botswana as compared to the Horizon camp in South-Africa. Probably because they need to be more fierce and stronger in this robust environment, with long canters in case animals are chasing us. So off we went with the first morning sunlight.

For the morning ride, de bumped into a dead carcass leftover from the night. An unfortunate impala had to give away his life to the wilderness, as part of the life cycle. The head and neck were still intact, but the rest of the body was eating and ripped apart. A bit lurid to see, but that also confirmed this wilderness was the real deal.

According to Mpho the kill was made by cheetahs in the early evening and finished by other predators. Cheetahs tend to make the most kills because of their efficiency and agile body speed, but they don’t consume the whole carcass because that’s simply too much for them. So other carnivores benefit from these kills, such as small jackals. These animals are too small to make a kill themselves on the bigger antelopes, but they love to gather as a herd and “steal” away the meat once it’s killed. It’s interesting to know that these animals are solitaire and usually by themselves, but when the need calls to feed themselves and a dead (or nearly dead) pray has been found, the jackals call each other for support.

Indeed, it didn’t take us long to notice that the pray was being surveyed by a small group of jackals. They were scared of our impressive herd of horses, so they were hiding. But as soon as we walked away from the pray, they started to gather again and fight over the meat.

Funny fact: Jackals move the tails just like dogs, but not for happiness or joy. In fact, it’s the opposite: they do that when they feel endanger and turn into angry mode. Indeed, we noticed the group of jackals was doing these movements to each other to win over the meat from the others. We were so close by to watch this. Amazing!

Finally, we ended the ride with a nice view on the African bush eagle on top of a tree. Its head is brown, as contrary to the African fish eagle that can also be found in the area. The wings can reach up a width of 2 meters, very impressive.Read more