On the trail of the Iberian lynx

Explore the culture, food – and wildlife – of Extremadura on this stunning Spanish safari

Samuel Pla, the founder of Lynxperience, scanning the bush for Iberian lynx
Looking for lynx in Extremadura
(Image credit: Holden Frith)

The rehabilitation of the Iberian lynx is one of the great conservation success stories. In 2002, just 94 remained in a few isolated pockets of habitat, and only 25 of them were females of cub-bearing age. Extinction was a very real possibility. Now, more than 2,000 of these charismatic animals live across large swathes of Spain and Portugal.

Not that you would know it when trying to find one. An early glimpse of the distinctive pointed ears, far away on a high ridge, had lulled me into thinking they would be lurking behind every bush. But over two days we searched high and low, on hilltops and in deep river valleys, around old farm buildings and in haystacks – and for a long time we found nothing. Or rather, we found many things, but no lynx.

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Holden Frith is The Week’s digital director. He also makes regular appearances on “The Week Unwrapped”, speaking about subjects as diverse as vaccine development and bionic bomb-sniffing locusts. He joined The Week in 2013, spending five years editing the magazine’s website. Before that, he was deputy digital editor at The Sunday Times. He has also been TheTimes.co.uk’s technology editor and the launch editor of Wired magazine’s UK website. Holden has worked in journalism for nearly two decades, having started his professional career while completing an English literature degree at Cambridge University. He followed that with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. A keen photographer, he also writes travel features whenever he gets the chance.