Hungry Jackal in Etosha National Park, Namibia

by Rietje Bulthuis

Hungry Jackal in Etosha National Park, Namibia.
Jackals are slender, medium sized dogfish with long legs. With their well-developed hearing and sense of smell, they can find food from far away. Although they have a reputation as scavengers, they also hunt small mammals up to the size of a hare or an antelope calf, birds and reptiles, and are not dependent on bait. They even eat fruits and insects. During the hunt they can cooperate with other jackals, especially their partners. They are mainly active at dusk and at night.
The Etosha National Park in Namibia is one of the largest nature parks in southern Africa. Already in 1907, after the war between the Germans and the Herero's, the park was founded.
Etosha consists for a large part of a huge salt pan, surrounded by dry bushveld.
Gemsbok on Fisher's Pan, one of Etosha's eastern salt pans.
Typical for Etosha are the large amounts of game that can be 'spotted', elephants, zebras, lions, different kinds of antelopes, etc. Natural and artificial water drinking places help the game population to survive in the dry season. The large flow of tourists that visits Etosha every year makes a substantial contribution to the GDP of Namibia.