African Wildcat Hunts

The African Wildcat (Felis Silvestris Libyca) is known as a “vaalboskat” (grey bush cat) in the local South African language Afrikaans, and found throughout the country. Weighing 7-9 pounds and measuring 29 inches without its 15-inch tail, this nocturnal creature is extremely shy and avoids human contact whenever possible, making game hunting for this species an exhilarating challenge!

They live on the edges of open sand deserts but require cover to rest under or trees as a safe haven. Many Southern African countries including, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Zambia have African wildcat populations. The African wildcat has a very broad habitat tolerance and found in deserts, semi-deserts, savannahs, scrub grasslands, open forests in hilly and rocky terrain, and mixed forests.

They are solitary nocturnal hunters and eat a varied diet, consuming mainly mice and rats, but also enjoy eating insects, birds, poultry, frogs, rabbits, and fish.

When on a hunting safari targeting African wildcats, note they become very fierce and aggressive when threatened or injured. Predators of the African wildcat include large birds of prey such as eagles, hawks, owls, other cats, foxes, and wolves. African wildcats are indeed well-named, as they successfully defend themselves against larger predators than themselves!

Mating occurs between July and January, with a gestation period of roughly 65 days. The young are born in September through to March. Litter sizes average around three kittens.