Caracal (Felis caracal)

Very few things give us more pleasure than finding something special, be it bird, plant or animal. In this case it was a caracal. Only seen by us and another couple, before it disappeared again on that day at least, we were pretty excited. We saw one a few years back, fleetingly, and we saw a couple in breeding facilities, but to see it in the wild, something special. It is the biggest of the African small cats, males being just over 1 meter in length, 45 cm at shoulder and males weighing around 13 kg. The markings around face and base whiskers are distinctive. Lovely long tassels on the tips of the ears. This one had a tick on the forehead too. But the eyes, I loved the eyes. They take mammals up to 40 kg, like small antelope, hares, rodents, birds, like the spurfowls and guineafowl we saw earlier. Also reptiles form part of the menu. Interestingly they do not have long tails either, shortened to such a point one may think it had an accident, but that is one of the animals traits. The luck part was emphasized by the fact that it stood up, because it just awoke, and in the process gave a nice yawn for the camera. They are nocturnal, so to see this one was a great gift indeed, and usually alone. These are moments that will be edged in my mind, I will always remember this occasion without question.