My encounter with the Golden Jackal

Golden Jackals was the goal for the four days I spent in Bulgaria with five fellow photographers. We spent long hours in two different hides where we had the chance of getting the Golden Jackal in front of our tele lenses.

I had thought about this workshop since I came back from Bulgaria in April last year when I had the pleasure to meet the different Vultures there. I have seen both the Black-backed and Side-striped Jackal in Africa so when I realized there was a potential to actually take photos of the Golden Jackal in Bulgaria I had to give it a try.

Despite its name, the Golden Jackal is not closely related to Black-backed and Side-striped Jackals, being instead more closely related to the Grey Wolf, Coyote, and Ethiopian Wolf.

We had to split the group into two 3-man teams as we used two different hides in the Haskovo province of Bulgaria. Unfortunately we only got the Golden Jackals in front of one of the hides which wasn´t so surprising as the weather was too warm and the new hide just had been in use for a couple of months. I suspect that the new hide would have produced pictures of the Golden Jackal if there would have been snow and temperatures below zero.

My group got the opportunity to take photos of the Golden Jackal twice, even if we saw Jackals every day either in front of the hide or along the way to the hide.

The first time was in bright sunshine in the middle of the day. I can´t say that I don´t like those pictures, but I don´t think they represent the Golden Jackal as species. They are hunted in Bulgaria, we even heard that they shot 12 individuals the first day we were in the hides, so they are secretive and moves around mostly during the nights.

Golden Jackal look Bulgaria — Golden Jackal look 140219

This is a picture from the second time we got to take photos of the Golden Jackals. As you see the mood is much better with the fog in the background. We were really fortunate this time as the fog had lifted and made it possible to take photos of this shy animal.

I like the picture as I find it a little regal where it stands with its eyes fixed on something in the horizon. I suspect it saw its mate as this individual left the clearing and came back with another Jackal a couple of minutes later. Sadly I couldn´t get any good pictures of the pair so hopefully I will get another chance in the future.

Please enjoy the pictures of the Golden Jackal and feel free to visit my Photo Album: Bulgaria 2014 where you can see more pictures from the days in the Jackal hides.