10 September 2026

Trip Report – Western Sahara’s Rare Mammals Tour – Royle Safaris – December 2025

This is the second trip report from the two Royle Safaris trips run to the Western Sahara in 2025. The reports document our very popular Western Sahara’s Rare Mammals Tour.

This December tour was a little different than past trips, as all but one client (who was the son of one the clients) had been here on this trip at least once before and had failed to see the main target – the sand cat. So we were a very focused group, everyone had already seen the other species here and it was all go for sand cat. We didn’t pay particular attention to many of the smaller species and certainly didn’t stop for photography of the rodents and hares, so the trip report is not full of the usual pictures.

However we were very successful with some exceptional sightings of Sand Cat (including on the first night of the trip – which was a great way to start – pressure off immediately and we could all relax), as well as African Wild Cat, Ruppell’s Fox, Fennec Fox, African Golden Wolf and the usual variety of rodents and lagomorphs in the deserts of Western Sahara. The trip was for 4 clients and was lead by Martin Royle and the overall trip resulted in sightings of 11 species of mammals as well as 66 species of birds which is very successful for this habitat.

We love visiting this part of the world and have been so lucky in the last few years with some great sightings of very sought after species. Being such a popular tour we have already sold out our November 2026 trip and also our January 2027 tour (as well as having a private tour also booked for this winter season), however we will be looking to run another trip in late 2027 and again in early 2028. So if you would like to join the trip and search for fennec foxes, sand cats, Libyan striped polecats and many other species then please get in touch (info@royle-safaris.co.uk) for more info.

Picture courtesy of Michele.

Post Views: 421
Trip Report – Western Sahara’s Rare Mammals Tour – Royle Safaris – December 2025

Post author

roylesafaris
Post Views: 421

1 Comment

  • 12 September 2026
    Sebastian Kennerknecht

    Fantastic report and sightings, Martin! I really enjoyed reading it.

    One thing that caught my attention was the use of squeaking noises to encourage animals to come closer or look toward the observers. Personally, I’m very uncomfortable with that practice and don’t think it’s necessary. To me, deliberately using sound to elicit a response crosses an ethical line because we’re intentionally altering an animal’s natural behavior for the sake of a sighting or photograph.

    I think there’s an important distinction between being fortunate enough to observe an animal behaving naturally in its environment and actively trying to influence what that animal does for our benefit. For me, part of the privilege of wildlife watching is accepting the encounter the animal gives us — whether that means it comes close, stays far away, looks at us, or completely ignores us.

    I’d genuinely be interested in having a discussion about this and hearing how others view it!

    Thanks,
    Sebastian

Leave a Reply