Page 58 - Discover Botswana 2021

Top: A very near miss as this jackal ends his run with a jump towards the water. He makes a snatch at his target but comes up with only a mouthful of tail feathers. Doves are not easy to catch!
Above: As he makes the final turn around the edge of the waterhole, the jackal starts to isolate a slower target from amongst the chaotic feathers.
Facing Page: A Black Backed Jackal lowers his head for a drink at a Kalahari waterhole in the early hours of the morning.
wildlife photographer, this is my home country, and a morning like this is what I dream of. The atmosphere here is extraordinary, and the myriad photographic opportunities are as vast as its beautiful grasslands. And all right here, in our own backyard.
A couple of hours drive from Maun is Ker & Downey Botswana’s Dinaka Camp. This is where I am sitting, hugging my mug of coffee and double checking my camera settings. Thanks to the prevailing Covid crisis we have the whole place to ourselves.
Our solitary jackal knew exactly what he was waiting for, and at the chosen moment he transformed into a flying predator, running low and hard at the flock of unsuspecting doves. The doves flushed into the air. The jackal leapt, snapping his jaws. A chaotic scene! Sadly all he snagged this time was a mouthful of feathers, but undeterred, he spat out the feathers and changed his approach. This was clearly not the first time this had happened, and he repeated his attack on the flock at the other end of the pan.
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