Jackal in the Tent

This is a still from a video shot in 1983 on my first vulture watching trip to Collywobbles in South Africa. It was an annual count of the Cape vulture (Gyps coprotheres) colony on the cliffs of the Mbashe river. The Cape vulture is only found in southern Africa and its population is threatened by human activity such as land use change, as well as deliberate poisonings by farmers who believe these magnificent birds will kill their livestock. These spectacular scavengers are nature's clean-up crew - they pick already dead animal carcasses clean.

It was a thrilling and fascinating trip. The rest of the group had done this expedition many times before, but I had no clue how things worked, and was in continual learning mode. We pitched tents on the hilltop and brought our own water tank and food; there were no ablution facilities, no communication network and barely a road to speak of - it was wild, resourceful camping. On this, my maiden trip to the remote area, I found out I was a little 'on edge,' though in my youthful exuberance and bravado, I would not have admitted it at the time. 

When Dale and I were settling into our tent one night, he found a lump under his sleeping bag after a little while, and asked,

"What's this lump under my bed? ... Oh, it must be part of my jack ...."

I automatically and instantaneously finished the sentence in my head ... "Jackal ... I'd better get out of here," and started rushing around and around in the tent, trying to stay as far away from the jackal as possible. I was panicked!

I didn't stop to question HOW it might have got into the tent, nor how it had miraculously managed to stay hidden in the tent without us noticing until now. Dale was obviously perplexed and confused about my sudden frenetic movements, and eventually managed to calm me down, to explain that it was the hard plastic bobble on the pull string of his jackET that he'd noticed under his sleeping bag. 

My panicked reaction, though funny in hindsight, clearly showed how highly strung and nervous I must have been. My reaction clearly gave me away - my senses were super-piqued, ready to react at any sign of danger, even to the point of acting before the danger had been fully identified.

I don't know that I'll ever be able to live that one down, and we still laugh and giggle over this memory.