The Endless Plains, Chapter 4: In Search of the Elusive Caracal - Intermission

Tuesday Morning 16th September

Ok, so these are not Caracals. I'm sorry to disappoint you.

Incredibly, we had come across a second family of cheetahs, this time with three even younger cubs. 

We were to see several more cheetahs during our sojourn, but these two sightings were the best for seeing cubs at play, so fear not, these blogs will not just be about cheetahs.

This family was on the move. The mother has a constant fear that her cubs will be lost to predators. 

I guess all species have fears for their children. Thankfully being eaten by hyenas is not high on our list.

Hyenas, lions, leopards, all these big predators and scavengers will eat these little adorable kittens. Just a tasty snack for them.

Despite being the fastest land animal on earth, they are sadly racing towards extinction. This is because of their high mortality rate as cubs, from predation, habitat loss and poaching.

Cheetahs are not territorial. There are too many dangers around for them to stay in one place.

Hyenas probably pose the greatest risk, and not just because they are big ugly brutes (although other opinions are available) but because there are so damned many of them. 

Cheetahs will know how to avoid lions, as they are territorial, but hyenas spread far and wide. 

More of them later.

We were to spend a whole hour with these cubs and their punk hair style.

Their play is identical to that of the domestic moggy.

Although, as an adult, they do move considerably faster than our's do.

As usual, cheetahs show no fear of humans, and will come very close to us without aggression. 

In fact, they were once kept as house pets. Notably in ancient Egypt. Surprisingly, that was even before I was born.

Unusually for cats, they cannot fully retract their claws.

We were to have first-hand experience of this later in the week.

Sometimes they come too close...

Cheetahs are not the only ones like this, as we were to find out the next day.

This typical pose is the mother watching for two things. Predators and food.

The food doesn't come in a delivery van, but has to be fetched fresh and kicking.

She's off on a hunt, leaving the cubs behind as she hunts.

Or so she thought...

We, on the other hand, are still on our own hunt. So let's get back to it.

The Endless Plains, Chapter 3: In Search of the Elusive Caracal part 1

Tuesday Morning 16th Sept

 These are our first twilight photos.

Dawn in the Serengeti. The first taken at 6am, the next, half an hour later.

Our previous evening had lacked any sunset colours, apart from a muddy shade of grey. This morning there were only a few small few clouds. More would appear later to shed their torrential rain. Mostly, lucky for us, deposited on the Maasai Mara to our north.

A fundamental reason for us visiting this area of the Serengeti was to search for a Caracal. These cats are, as we have found out, extremely difficult to find. They may not be an endangered species, but they are not very big (large domestic cat size with longer legs) and they simply just don't want to be seen. The slightest hint of humans and they're gone. We had been trying to find one for years and we knew that our chances were slim.

The Eastern Serengeti is an ideal environment for them. The grass at the end of the dry season is short and looks dead, making it easier to spot our prey. Easier verging on impossible. This week would be our greatest chance, but asking around many other guides, few had ever seen one. We had six days to test our luck. Spin the coin.

We had not gone very far in our search when, instead of Caracal, we found other cats. At about 7am we came across part of a pride of lions. The youngest cubs were very thin. At this stage of the Serengeti seasons, food is is more difficult to come by. This was part of the normal cycle of life here and soon the food supply would be replenished as the great migration of wildebeest approached.

This young male posed well in the rising sunlight. Posing for a 'golden hour' portrait.

Posing, yes. Hunting, no. I tried to explain that we were after some of the blood and guts included in the deal...

This Tawny Eagle was after very much the same thing.

Sadly, waiting for him to take off for some acrobatic photography was too hard on my trigger finger. He carefully waited until the moment I put my camera down with finger fatigue before flying off. 

These nest-making Secretary Birds looked on whilst a male lion arrived.

And it was still only 7:45am

A handsome beast, but no way was he doing any hunting today. That's women's work.

Giving up on waiting for bloodshed, we came across this handsome beast freshly dried out from a luxurious mud-pack therapy session. 

It certainly brought out his better features...

And then... guess what.

And it was still only eight o'clock in the morning...

And all is well

The Endless Plains. Chapter 2. A Highlight in Low Light.

Monday Afternoon 15th Sept

It was getting late on our first afternoon in the Serengeti. We needed showers, food and wine, but not necessarily in that order. 

As we were heading to the camp we spotted these cheetahs. A family of five, a mother and four cubs. The father, as usual, was absent without leave. In fact, you never see a male and female together unless they are undergoing marriage guidance counselling. 

It was a quarter to six and the sun was very low (sunrise at 6:30am, sunset at 6:30pm) and behind clouds.

Yes, they have clouds in Africa.

It was meant to be the dry season, but everything was out of kilter.

The season of 'small rains' (Mvuli) had started two months early. This is being blamed on human caused climate change. On the other hand it could be God's way of showing his contempt for unbelievers...

This had totally confused the wildebeest, who, let's face it, live a life of continual confusion anyway.

We were told that they had already crossed the river Mara into the Maasai Mara, and had already returned back into the Serengeti! There were none left on the Kenyan side, therefore we would see no Mara crossings. The whole point of us being there. Apart from all the other stuff of course.

They were, thankfully, talking bulls**t.

Anyway, I seem to have drifted away from the point of this blog. What about the cheetahs?

As the 'small rains' season was starting, the clouds were interfering with my photography.

This was meant to be 'the golden hour'. The best time to take photos.

Not today. Shooting a moving target in the near dark is a little tricky. 

You do know I mean with a camera don't you?

Anyway, these guys played close to the van. They could care less about us.

It was a privileged experience. 

For us I mean.

There are a few tricks to wildlife photography. You've got to be in the right place at the right time. This would normally mean hanging around for hours waiting for the sleeping predator to yawn. You need the right guide. You need to understand your camera's settings. You need a good lens that sucks in as much light as possible. And you need luck. 

We were lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time with the right guide on our very first day. We only lacked adequate light. And flashes are not allowed. Predators can get very angry if flashes are used. They may well direct their anger at you. That is quite a good deterrent.

Tricky huh?

Therefore I took as many pictures as I could in the random hope that some of them would look ok. I knew that this opportunity might never happen again. What are the chances of us seeing another family of cheetahs? 

Well, as it turns out...

After half an hour with these stunning creature, the lighting had reduced to that of a dull candle. So we headed off to the Olmara camp, arriving, as we always did, late.

Every day we arrived late. There was always that one last thing to do.

A delicious meal later, a few glasses of wine, then collapse into a coma for the night.

Except for the occasional pee....

Next: Chapter 3: In Search of the Elusive Caracal