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After I had decided for myself that I wanted to focus my trips on seeing all the wild cats of the world I had all kinds of big plans, but hadn’t actually seen any. It was time to change that! The Iberian lynx is the rarest cat species in the world and is threatened by extinction. Luckily things are looking better now for the species. Still the number of individuals is around 500, so they are not yet out of the danger zone. Despite the low numbers this cat is much more easy to see than the Eurasian lynx. Just go to the Sierrra de Andujar in Spain and with a bit of luck you will see it. So that’s also my plan, but instead of driving up and down the road over there and scanning the area in the hope of bumping into one, I want to have it really close. That’s why I’ve booked a photo hide for three days in the area, hoping for a close view. After my flight from Amsterdam to Malaga, I picked up my rental car and drove to Andujar. There I spent the night in my car. The next morning I’m taken with a 4×4 to one of the hides. Then the waiting starts…
It’s my third day now. In the previous two days I haven’t seen what I wanted to see yet. Granted, a lynx did come by on the first day at a very close range (about six meters!), but I was only able to see it from behind. So I’ve seen my first cat, but I’m still a bit disappointed. I did enjoy myself with the birds that sometimes visit the hide.
European Crested Tit
A Crested Lark and Red Partridges come very close.
Crested Lark
Red Partridge
Nice, but not what I came for! So now it’s the third day and this time it’s really foggy. So it takes a while before there is enough light to put on my teleconverter. For the first time in three days I see a rabbit. That is the favourite food of the lynx, so hopefully it is promising.
Then around 11 am suddenly a lynx walks out of the bushes! Like some kind of ghost in the fog she walks soundlessly in front of the hide. I immediately start taking pictures.
Iberian Lynx
She hears the sound of my shutter and looks at me briefly. She keeps on walking and disappears. I don’t see her again. I remain behind being very, very happy. To get to this moment I’ve had to spend about thirty hours sitting in a hide and on the last day I was cutting it close. So this success feels very good! I can happily board the plan the next morning: the first cat is in the bag!
For some pictures of the lynx’s habitat at night click here!
For a full trip report, have a look at Mammalwatching.com.
