NIght Life in the Sahara

Greetings Everyone,

My quest to see all the wild cat species in the world has brought us to an unlikely place, Western Sahara. One would not necessarily equate the Sahara as good habitat for cats or any mammal for that matter but after dark, the desert comes alive with a myriad of life. We began our journey in Marrakech, Morocco where we spent one night before flying to Dakhla in Western Sahara, a disputed territory currently administered by Morocco. Occupied by Spain since the 1700s and made a colony in 1884, control of Western Sahara was relinquished in 1975 to Morocco and Mauritania. A war broke out between the two countries which lasted until 1991 when the United Nations sponsored a ceasefire. Two-thirds of the territory, including most of the Atlantic coastline and the area we were to visit, is currently administered by the Moroccan government. Today Dakhla has been invaded again by Europeans in the form of kitesurfers who flock here to be pulled across Dakhla Bay by strong northeasterly winds.

Kitesurfers Near Dakhla

We had arranged a tour with Martina and Nico, founders of Dakhla Rovers, to take us out into the desert in search of mammals, birds, and other wildlife. After spending the night in Dakhla, Nico picked us up the next morning to take us birding in the area. We visited a place known as the “White Dune”. While looking for shorebirds, I noticed tiny tracks in the sand leading to some bushes. I trained my binoculars on the spot and saw a rodent sitting there. We tried to get a closer view but it disappeared. We later identified it as a Fat Sand Rat, the first mammal of the trip.

Fat Sand Rat

A horde of weekend tourists from Marrakech had descended on the White Dune so we drove to a Ramsar site on the eastern side of the bay to look for more birds. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance was signed in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran hence the name. There were a few birds around such as Greater Flamingoes, Whimbrel, Grey Heron, Great Cormorant, various plovers and thousands of West African Fiddler Crabs.

West African Fiddler Crab

We drove to the end of the peninsula where a ramshackle fishing village had been set up. I was astounded at the number of wooden fishing boats that had been dragged ashore by a tractor to await the next fishing foray. Next to kitesurfing tourism, fishing and oyster farming are the main economic activities of Dakhla.

Fishing Boats on Dakhla Bay

The next day Nico picked us up in his 4x4 for the drive southwest to Aousserd. We were accompanied by a second vehicle driven by Sidi who was with our cook Amina. We made a few stops along the way to look for birds. The first was an agricultural farm where Nico said Crowned Sandgrouse frequented. We spotted them near a water source and got some nice views and photos. 

Crowned Sandgrouse

The next stop was a massive agricultural farm called Mijk. It’s surprising that tomatoes and other vegetables are grown on a large scale in the Sahara Desert and exported to Europe. Large plastic covered greenhouses with irrigation are used. 

Marc and Nico at Mijk

We did a bit of birding and had lunch here before resuming our drive toward Aousserd. The plan was to stop at a wadi near the Bougouffa Trail and rest up for our first night drive along this track. We took a short walk spotting a family of Fulvous Chatterers and a lizard later identified as a Dumerils’s Fringe-fingered Lizard before taking a nap.

Fulvous Chatterer

We woke and had dinner before driving back to the main road. We could see a tower on a hill and headed off along the Bougouffa Trail for it. The sunset was around 8:30 and we went into spotlighting mode. Sidi radioed that he had found our first mammal which turned out to be a hare. Both African Savannah and Cape Hares are found here and are impossible to tell apart without looking at the grooves in their teeth. 

Hare

On two occasions we spotted eye shine which turned out to be a Rüppell’s Fox but they kept running away and we couldn’t get a good view or photos. We had better luck with the smaller mammals. We saw many Lesser Egyptian Jerboas, two Fat-tailed Gerbil with a short tail and at least one other gerbil species with a long, white-tipped tail, most likely an Egyptian Lesser Gerbil. We also saw three adorable Desert Hedgehogs. We spotlighted in the area until 1:30 am! 

Lesser Egyptian Jerboa

Fat-tailed Gerbil

Desert Hedgehog

We continued to spotlight along the main road to Aousserd not seeing many mammals but we did encounter a stunning Desert Horned Viper. It moved with a side-winding motion off the road. 

Desert Horned Viper

It was getting late or should I say very early. We stopped spotlighting and picked up speed toward Aousserd. We didn’t arrive until 4:30 am! We drove into a small compound and entered a new and very large house. It would be a very comfortable place to spend the next four nights. 

Our House in Aousserd

We slept until 11:30 the next morning and brunch with scrambled eggs and mushroom wraps was served at 1:00 PM. Around 3:00 PM we drove to the nearby Laglat Massif. Along the way, we spotted at least 6 Sudan Mastigures or spiny-tailed lizards basking outside their burrows.

Sudan Mastigure

We drove to a valley at the base of the massif and climbed on foot above a sandy wash to the confluence of three drainages. Torrential rains two years ago had caused a lot of erosion. It was hot and very dry so we didn’t see much. We reached a pool where the water was fast evaporating and saw fresh canid tracks, maybe wolf or jackal but possibly dog. 

Desert Pool

We drove back to Aousserd for dinner before heading out on our second night drive. We took a short detour to the Derraman Massif to look for African Golden Wolf. An adult and a pup had been spotted here just a week ago but we weren’t so lucky. We returned to the main road to set up for spotlighting. I was scanning out the right side of the vehicle when I spotted a cat sitting next to the road!  We had to back up to see it and it took off. It looked like an African Wildcat. We continued on and Sidi and I saw another mammal at the same time. It was a Honey Badger! Nico raced off on foot to try and get a photo but the badger was too fast. We all saw it but sadly we don’t have a photo record of what could be the first sighting in this area in 25 years! Not a bad start to the evening but we had few sightings thereafter and returned to Aousserd around 3 AM.

We decided not to do any daytime activities to rest up for our third night drive. We left around 6:40 PM and decided to check out the Derraman Massif which we dubbed “Wolf Mountain”. At first, we didn’t see anything so Nico and Sidi got out of the car to scan. Sidi shouts “Nico!”. We rush out of the car and I caught a glimpse of the wolf on the top of a rocky outcrop. Nico saw it but Marc missed it completely. The wolf disappeared behind the rocks and we drove around to search for her to no avail. We gave up and resumed our drive. Around 10:30 PM Sidi spotted the eyeshine of an animal in a tree. We went out to investigate and could make out what appeared to be a cat’s ear but it didn’t move at all. We tried different angles for a better look through the branches but I wasn’t convinced that it was a Sand Cat. Finally, the animal moved to verify that it was indeed a Sand Cat!  Not the sighting I was hoping for but at least we could say we saw one. We had read a report by J. M. Bompar who was here last Oct./Nov. that Sand Cats had been seen resting in abandoned ravens’ nests and our observation seemed to support that this is the case.

Sandcat in Raven's Nest

We resumed our drive turning around at 1:30 AM. Nico spotted a Desert Hedgehog eating a viper! It appeared that the hedgehog had killed it rather than it being roadkill as it wasn’t flattened. We got back to Aousserd around 3:30 AM. Although I got two new species, a Sand Cat and an African Golden Wolf, they were marginal sightings at best and I hoped our final night in Aousserd would yield better results.

Desert Hedgehog and Viper

On our final night drive in the Aousserd area, we had a second frustrating encounter with the African Golden Wolf. Sidi spotted her from a high vantage point but we could not see her from below. When we got to the spot she had been resting she had already moved off. We didn’t find another Sand Cat but spotted three more African Wildcats. We got our best views and photos yet of this species from which domestic cats evolved.

African Wildcat

The next day we packed up and left our comfortable abode in Aousserd to return to Dakhla for the night. We’d resume our search for Sand Cats and other wildlife in the Bir Anzarine area east of Dakhla. Stay tuned to see if we are successful.

We hope all is well with everyone,

Peggy and Marc

Our route map: