2013-10-14 Maasai Mara, Kenya

Another beautiful encounter just out of camp before sunrise, a family of Elephants with a very playful tiny calf. Thanks to our specially configured vehicle for low angle we could take some nice images of the Elephants crossing the plains with the sunrise behind. The rest of the day was amazing, as we found a young Caracal and we saw it catching a mouse before he retreated to the shade of some bushes. As we were parked nearby the Caracal we could hear loud Jackals’ barkings from the gulley just beyond the hill. So we headed there, as I was sure there could be a predator. And indeed, we found a male Leopard, sitting on a termite mound but as he saw us he headed to the safety of some bushes. As we kept our distance he eventually climbed a tree and rested there for a while, until another vehicle came along and he quickly disappeared. In the afternoon we found him again on a nearby tree, but we left him to spend more time with the Caracal. Some days in the Mara are just unbelieavable, as you have more than one excellent situation to chose from. In most other parks of Africa any of the sightings we had today would be extremely rare, while here they are almost the norm!