Big cats were obviously high on my list when I went to Kenya's Masai Mara. Large numbers of lion, cheetah and leopard are all present in large numbers and we had very good sightings of all three species.
The cats I really wanted to see and photograph were caracal and serval though.
Wow. Were we lucky with our caracal!
I can't really remember how we came across this female caracal. The excitement quickly took over as we watched and followed her as she stalked the long grass and tree thickets of her territory for small prey.
The guides said she was a young female and her mother was probably not far away. Occasionally she we would let out a calling 'meow'.
The caracal looks similar to a lynx. They certainly share those distinctive ear tufts that the lynx is well known for, but scientists believe they are more closely related to golden cats and servals.
We must have spent nearly an hour with this beautiful creature. It was a privilege to be there. I wasn't the only person who felt that way. Some of the seasoned safari travellers with me had not seen caracal at all or sightings as good as this.
At one point she dashed off after a scrub hare, but it was not a successful hunt.
As time passed we were nearing the end of the day. The sun started to set and light turned golden. The grass turned gold and the light filtered through the caracals fur to give a nice back lighting look.
Eventually the mother caracal turned up, but too far away to photograph.
A nice caracal was on my list, but it was much more than a tick. A wonderful experience.
And the serval? Aaahhhh... I had a camera malfunction at the time. Nothing would work. Turns out the memory card door was open. Better to fix with a quick click, than a repair!
No comments:
Post a Comment