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Only ever seen 2 in the Wild, both in West Coast NP, late on an autumn afternoon, they ran across the road in front of us, stopped, then ran off. They were juveniles.

it seems to me that WCNP is Caracal hotspot!

@ dreamer: thank you for the pics! must have been wonderful to see him! I have spotted only one before but was in serengeti.

I have only seen this secretive cat once, as child (can’t remember it too well), near Olifants camp. I would love to someday see one again - it is a fascinating cat. It is a very satisfying sighting – one may say a game-lover’s red letter day! On the other side of the scale this magnificent cat is the still commonly targeted and killed by small to medium livestock farmers, especially sheep farmers.
I would appreciate some more reports on caracal sightings; particularly the habitat, season and conditions at the time of spotting the animal. I accept that it is a very difficult animal to spot – luck must play a huge part.
I am particularly fond of the caracal’s “long, tufted black ears, which also explain the origin of its name—"karakulak", Turkish for "black ear".” (Quote Wild@heart.)

Last year in April i had two caracal sightings in two days.We left Satara camp in the early morning and headed north on the main road. The first on was spotted near Ntomeni waterhole about 10m from the road but dissapeared into some bushes.The next morning we took the same route and we headed left on the S127 towards Timbivati picnic spot. Driving along i spotted their characteristic shillouette with their pointed ears from a distance, but with a closer inspection with my binoculars i spotted three of them together watching me. They didn't come any closer but was a great sighting to see them together, probably mom with two young ones....
Does anyone know if this is a good area to spot these animals?

Caracal near Pretoriuskop. It crossed the H1-1 in front of my car and then looked back for a few seconds.

Hey guys

The last time I remember seeing a caracal was about 2 years ago in the Kruger. We came across stax of cars all jousting for the best positions to see a so-called "lioness", when we eventually got close enough to see her, we discovered that our "lioness" was actually a caracal. Very pleasant surprise

Took my Mother in Law to Addo this morning through the new Colchester end Gate and 100 metres into the Game Area I stopped to take an impossible shot of a Kudu into the sun. After doing that I turned to look on the left hand side of the road and there was this beauty in much nicer light...Thanks for being so considerate Rooikat (Caracal)

Hi Yves,
Caracal are elusive everywhere. They are plentiful in the Eastern Cape and are dreadfully and cruelly persecuted by Stock farmers because these cats are killers deluxe. They get into a kraal at night and kill up to 40 Angora Goats and eat a bit of one. I have never seen Caracal in the Kalahari Park which is surprising as I go there often and they are most common there out of all our Parks. My first wild Caracal in Kruger was an amazing morning I spent Driving from Olifants camp down the Timbavati Road to Orpen Gate about 24 years ago. It was August and overcast and we had literally seen hundreds of steenbok on that trip. Between the Olifants bridge and the turn off to the right down the Timbavati road I saw at the side of the road (100 mtres in front) what was surely another steenbok when I only noticed it was "A lynx!!" as we drew along side It got a fright and ran back 40-50 metres and walked parallel with us for about a km!! The next animal I saw was at the first koppies on the left on the Timbavati Road where Klipspringers are often sited. It was a SERVAL!! amazing Caracal and Serval in quick succession and never again until this last trip when my wife and my one son saw what they are convinced was a Caracal Mother and young Kitten running like mad into far off bushes on the Shongololo Road when we were en route from Shingwedzi to Shimuwini. I never saw it it was so quick.

In November last year it was drizzling quite heavily as I approached the game area of Addo one Saturday morning when a scraggy looking Caracal stalked off the road as I came around the corner. I stopped where he had disappeared and there was nothing not even a russle in the grass. Then literally not more than a Km further on and now in the game area proper I picked up this beaut. I was very lucky and got about 15 pics which are even nicer than this one which was amazing considering there was no time, or so I thought at the time, to change the setting on the camera to something more appropriate. By having the engine off for my long to take shot of the kudu where I changed the settings then for the kudu and hadnt changed back...I was able to win the cats confidence as he would have bolted. He was looking intently in front of him as he slowly stalked up the little incline. I wanted to take those cruel cold eyes so softly I started to talk to her by calmly saying pet cat stuff like "kitty Kitty Ssk ssk" and she turned to peer down the 70-200 long enough for me to take 15 individual shots before she continued on her stalk into the bush.
Nigel Dennis took some brilliant Caracal pics but he told me at Nossob one night that he took those of the tame one at Augrabies in very controlled circumstances so this one although not nearly as good was probably more satisfying because it was a wild RooiKat, although it wasnt nearly as satisfying as my S114 leopard 2 weeks ago. Yves I am not aware of anybody else seeing a Caracal in Addo but obviously they have been seen and I reckon there are quite a few there as there are in all of E Cape

Amazing caracal footage on 50/50 last night.
Caracal killing an African Wildcat in KTP - in the middle of the road!! The Wildcat put up a tremendous fight but it stood no chance.
And in Kruger, near Shingwidzi, one catching a Water Mongoose. The person who sent in this footage was photographing the mongoose when all of a sudden the caracal appeared and snatched it!!
Caracal is top of my wishlist - have never seen one in the wild.

Have only seen them in WCNP. We held a meet there for prings from Oz in August, and wanderw saw one coming in and going out

The park in which I have seen the most caracal is West Coast National Park. The Postberg section in particular. The Strandveld Fynbos supports large numbers of rodents which I imagine has a effect on higher order predators such as caracal and African Wild Cat. It is also a good park to visit for snakes, especialy in November when the Cape Cobra is very active.

I just make a note to go there one day. Caracal is second on my wishlist and they fascinate me so much!

Thanks naomi thats very interesting, I have never before heard of a caracal killing another cat. :hms:

This in about 40 visits to NP's

Come to Addo....I have had 16 sightings there this year sofar

This little film shows you an amazing encounter with a Caracal on the S90 between Olifants and Satara. The Caracal stayed for about an hour with us and when there was a car coming, the Caracal disappeared but came back to us after the car had left. Then he started hunting and disappeared slowly into the grass.A beautiful experience.