Thursday, September 25, 2008

Call of the Wild





Finally off to do some extended exploring around Samos by bicycle our first night found us tucked away from civilization under the above rock. So well tucked away were we that we went completely undetected by the pack of jackals that couldn't resist the hypnotic call of the waxing moon. Startled by their unearthly crooning some 10 meters from our feet, we both sat straight up unsure of what we should be feeling...danger, awe, honour.

Blamed for attacks on livestock, the golden jackal has been hunted to near extinction in most of Greece, but they are still heard and occasionally even seen in Samos. Unfortunately, the startled sounds of well-equipped Canadians jolted out of a dead slumber is even more scary than a pack of baying jackals and so our jackal friends scurried away as smoothly as they gave in to their call of the wild. In the end what we felt was deep regret that we didn't catch a glimpse of these increasingly rare critters that were so unwittingly close to us.

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