Nocturnal Wildlife and What Comes Out at Night

Most safari-goers see only half the story. When the sun drops and the day animals bed down, a completely different cast takes the stage: shy, strange and rarely photographed creatures that spend daylight underground or in dense cover. A night drive, where permitted, is the only way to meet them, and it turns a familiar landscape into something eerie and thrilling. The stars of the night are not the lions everyone hopes for — though big cats are indeed more active after dark — but the odd specialists: an aardvark shuffling between termite mounds, a pangolin curling into an armoured ball, a genet flowing along a branch like liquid. These are the sightings seasoned guides get most excited about, precisely because they are so hard to get. This guide explains who the night shift are, how a spotlight and eyeshine reveal them, the etiquette that keeps both animals and your sightings intact, and where in Africa you can actually do a night drive.

Key things to know

• ➜ Night drives reveal species you'll almost never see by day: aardvark, pangolin, genet, civet, bushbaby, porcupine and more.
• ➜ Eyeshine comes from the tapetum lucidum, a reflective layer behind the retina; different species glow different colours.
• ➜ Use a red or filtered spotlight beam, keep it off animals' eyes for long periods, and never spotlight for photos of sensitive species.
• ➜ Nocturnal cats — leopard, and sometimes lion and smaller cats like the caracal and African wildcat — hunt more actively after dark.
• ➜ Owls, nightjars and thick-knees are the common night birds; listen as much as you look.
• ➜ Night drives are allowed in private reserves and concessions but are often restricted inside national parks.
• ➜ Dress warm, keep noise and phone lights down, and let your eyes adjust; the best sightings come to the patient.
• ➜ A good spotter sweeps methodically and reads eyeshine height and colour to identify animals before you even see their shape.

Meet the night shift

The African night belongs to a wonderful cast of oddities. The aardvark, a solitary, long-snouted termite specialist, emerges after dark to dig, and is high on every guide's wish list because it is so seldom seen. The pangolin — scaly, ant-eating and heartbreakingly trafficked — is rarer still; a pangolin sighting can be the highlight of a whole career. Smaller carnivores own the branches and grass: the spotted genet, sleek and cat-like, and the larger, shaggier African civet, which trundles along regular pathways.

Then there are the ubiquitous but charming smaller players. Bushbabies (galagos) leap between trees with huge eyes and unnerving screams; porcupines rattle their quills along game paths; springhares bound like tiny kangaroos; and honey badgers go about their fearless business. Add the nocturnal cats and you have a roster that rewards patience richly — even a single good night sighting can outshine a whole day of plains game.

• ➜ Aardvark: solitary termite-digger, prized and elusive.
• ➜ Pangolin: scaly anteater, extremely rare and heavily trafficked.
• ➜ Genet & civet: agile spotted carnivores of branch and trail.
• ➜ Bushbaby, porcupine, springhare, honey badger: the smaller night crew.

How eyeshine works

The magic of a night drive is eyeshine. Many nocturnal animals have a reflective layer behind the retina called the tapetum lucidum, which bounces light back through the eye to give the retina a second chance to catch it — superb for night vision, and the reason a spotlight makes their eyes glow. That glow is the first thing a good spotter looks for, long before the animal's shape resolves.

Experienced spotters read two things: the colour and the height of the eyeshine. Colour varies by species and the structure of the tapetum — many carnivores shine greenish, some ungulates more red or amber, and spiders famously glitter as tiny points low to the ground. Height above the ground and the spacing of the two eyes hint at size and species. With practice you can call 'genet' or 'hare' or 'buffalo' from the eyeshine alone, then confirm as the beam brings out the body.

• ➜ Tapetum lucidum: reflective layer that boosts night vision and causes eyeshine.
• ➜ Greenish shine: often cats and other carnivores.
• ➜ Reddish/amber shine: many antelope and ungulates.
• ➜ Read height and eye spacing to gauge size before you see the shape.

Spotlight etiquette

A spotlight is a powerful tool that must be used with care, both to protect the animals and to keep your sightings good. Handlers generally use a red filter or keep the beam's edge on an animal rather than blazing into its eyes, because prolonged bright light can dazzle nocturnal species and disrupt hunting or feeding. Well-run operations avoid spotlighting hunting predators at the critical moment, and never light up highly sensitive or endangered animals for a photograph.

Guests have a role too. Keep phone screens and flash off — a single bright white phone light undoes the guide's careful red beam and your own night vision. Talk quietly, keep still when an animal is close, and follow the guide's lead on when to switch the light away. Good etiquette is not just courtesy; it produces longer, calmer, better sightings, because a relaxed animal stays in view.

• ➜ Prefer red or filtered light; avoid holding a bright beam on the eyes.
• ➜ Never spotlight a predator at the moment of a hunt.
• ➜ Keep phone lights and camera flash off entirely.
• ➜ Stay quiet and let the guide decide when to move the beam.

Night birds and other sounds

Nights are as much about listening as looking. Owls are the headline: the giant Verreaux's eagle-owl with its pink eyelids, the widespread spotted eagle-owl, and the diminutive pearl-spotted owlet whose whistling call fools many small birds. Nightjars sit on tracks and flush up in the beam, their eyes glowing like embers, while the eerie, rising call of the water thick-knee drifts from riverbanks.

Beyond birds, the soundscape tells a story. The whooping of a spotted hyena, the sawing rasp of a leopard, the maniacal chorus of jackals and the deep territorial roar of a lion carry for kilometres in the still night air. A good guide will stop the vehicle, cut the engine and simply let you listen — often the most memorable minutes of the drive. Learning a few calls transforms the experience from watching to genuinely reading the bush.

Where you can do a night drive

Whether you can drive at night depends heavily on where you are. Most national parks in East and Southern Africa restrict or prohibit driving after dark inside park boundaries, because gates close and off-road, after-hours driving is controlled. The reliable places for night drives are private reserves, conservancies and concessions bordering the big parks, where operators have permission to run after-dark and off-road.

Good bets include South Africa's private reserves such as the Sabi Sand next to Kruger, private conservancies bordering the Masai Mara, community concessions around the Serengeti, and many camps in Zambia's Luangwa valleys, which practically pioneered the walking-and-night-drive style of safari. When you book, ask specifically whether night drives are included and whether they are run by the camp itself or a neighbouring concession. If seeing the night shift matters to you, choose your camp for that access, not just the daytime game.

• ➜ National parks: night driving usually restricted or not allowed.
• ➜ Private reserves & conservancies: night drives typically permitted.
• ➜ Zambia's Luangwa: a classic destination for night drives.
• ➜ Always confirm night-drive access with the camp before booking.

References & further reading

1. Sinclair, A. R. E., et al. (Eds.) (2015). Serengeti IV. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
2. Estes, R. D. (2012). The Behavior Guide to African Mammals. Berkeley: University of California Press.
3. Kingdon, J. (2015). The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (2nd ed.). London: Bloomsbury.
4. IUCN (2024). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Version 2024-1. www.iucnredlist.org.