The Endless Plains, Chapter 5: In Search of the Elusive Caracal part 2

 Tuesday Afternoon 16th September

We had only been on safari twenty-four hours, but had already seen more than many safari-goers see in a week or more. Incredible. 

However, enough bragging, let's get back to our search around this part of eastern Serengeti. 

There were several Kopjes (rocky outcroppings) which we knew the Caracal liked. As did the lions. As did the leopards. I was quite fond of them too.

We searched for caracal but found this larger version of cat instead.

This mother leopard had two cubs in a nearby bush, but it was impossible to see them well. We would try our luck again tomorrow.

We continued our search.

We did see much wildlife that I will not bore you with here. I will bore you elsewhere...

Suffice to say that the ubiquitous hyenas were ubiquitous.

The Jackals, not so much. 

Golden Jackal

And of course, wherever you look, one of these is looking at you, in the hope that the last greasy chapati wrap you ate for breakfast will actually be your last greasy chapati wrap.

Upon these outcroppings you will always spot the odd lizard. And these lizards are definitely odd.

Mwanza flat-headed rock agama

And don't forget the birdlife.

Magpie Shrike

Verreaux's Eagle Owl

We also, strangely, saw two cows grazing on the savanna. These animals would have been from a Maasai tribe just outside the border of the National Park. They are strictly not allowed to graze here, but the Maasai often try it on. In this case they had wandered way too far, and thus had no protection, making them easy meat for the lions. We told the rangers in the hope that they would return them, but apparently the usual result was the rangers taking them for their own culinary delights.

Then, as we were giving up our search (we had six days, so no panic) and were heading back to camp. 

This:

The cat that we had been searching for, for over ten years.

There. 

Right in front of us.

None of us could believe it, standing just there looking at us, as if asking "Where have you been?"

There were tears.

This cat is without doubt a work of art. These photos have not been manipulated by artificial intelligence. They haven't even been manipulated by non-artificial intelligence (me, on a good day). These cats are simply perfection.

They are very rarely seen as they normally hide in beauty parlours all day.

Bigger than the average cat, longer legs than the average cat, with ears that can rotate in all directions.

It was not there long for us to see, so each photo was precious. 

She may not look real, but she is 100 percent caracal.

She glanced at us as if to say farewell.

We knew that we would probably never see her like again.

Short but oh so sweet. True, it would have been better if we could have spent more time with her. But that wasn't going to happen. 

Was it?