Taken at Thanda Private Game Reserve, South Africa
We had turned down the road to see if the buffalo were in the same position they were in that morning and as we saw them in the distance, we see a jackal in the road. “Oh, that’s lovely” I thought, but as they were common to see for short periods of time, I didn’t initially get my camera out… then it stayed on the road, completely ignoring our vehicle.
We even moved closer and its response – not a care in the world. This was the closest sighting of a Black-Backed Jackal, in fact any jackal, I have had. Eventually, it even lay down and went to sleep next to our car. It looked up every now and then to chack where far off sounds might be coming from but other than that, it simply wasn’t bothered with our presence.
In the end, it was us who had to move. After all, we did actually have work to do (though it was hard pulling ourselves away from our new friend).
–
Alex Tweedie
