This will be my last post for a few weeks as I’m finally on my way back to Africa tomorrow morning. I’ll be guiding a twelve day tour to Kenya and Uganda. This will be my first experience as a tour leader — hopefully the first of many more. Near the top of most everyone’s “to-see” list is the leopard. This image was captured back in 2012 in the Masai Mara. I’ll be taking the group to this same spot so hopefully we’ll have similar luck. See you all in two weeks with new images to share. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/160th of a second.

Warthogs are one of those species that most East African tour guides quickly pass by. After all, they’re very common. And they look like… well warthogs. I happen to be a big fan of these underdogs of the savanna. And I love when the babies are around. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/6.3 at 1/1250th of a second.

I’ll be leading a tour to Kenya and Uganda in early January and am really looking forward to getting back to the Masai Mara and showing all the richness of life to my clients. The variety of large mammals is unrivaled (at least by anyplace that I’ve been). Topi are one of those creatures that sort of get lost in the excitement of all the big cats, hippos, giraffes, and on and on. This mother and her two calves were running from a hungry hyena. They were in no real danger as they can easily outpace the more scavenger-minded predator. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/250th of a second.

Cheetahs, or any big cats for that matter, can suddenly get very intense when they spot potential prey. In this case, the cheetah spotted a group (or dazzle) of zebras and started concentrating with a laser focus. Photographed in Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/1600th of a second.

A mother and her calf forage as they walk through the green landscape of Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya. Female elephants are at their most fertile between the ages of 25 and 45 and they have a gestation period of almost two years. Once born, the calves are cared for by not only their biological mother, but also other adult and young females in the group. This is know as allomothering. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/3.5 at 1/400th of a second.

A white rhino grazes at the end of the day in Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya. The main difference between the white rhino and the black rhino (other than there are a lot more of the white in existence) is the shape of the mouth. The black rhino has more of a pointed lip for picking fruit off of bushes, whereas the white rhino has a flat, wide lip more suited for grass feeding. In fact, another name for the white rhino is the square-lipped rhinoceros. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 310mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/250th of a second.

A bit late on my post today, but hopefully I can make up for it with a lion cub. This guy was relaxing with his siblings while mom was resting in the bushes. Photographed in the Ol Pajeta Conservancy in Laikipia, Kenya. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 1600, f/3.5 at 1/200th of a second.

Not great light on this one, but not terrible either. This little guy was feeling a bit adventurous and strayed from his mother and sibling to get a better look at the two humans staring back at him — probably a bit emboldened by the tall grass providing a sense of cover. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/7.1 at 1/500th of a second.

Few sightings on an African safari bring as much excitement as a leopard. On my last trip to Kenya, we hadn’t seen any until the final two days when we had two separate sightings of two different leopards. This was the final game drive of that trip and I decided to use a slow shutter to capture the movement of the leopard through the grass. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/11 at 1/20th of a second.

This serval encounter was pretty amusing — like a little kid holding his hands in front of his face thinking that we couldn’t see him — those blades of grass, not quite enough to hide behind. Eventually, he realized that we could, in fact, see him so he slowly got up from his crouching position, took a few cautious steps, and then ran away into the vast grasslands of the Masai Mara in Kenya. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 1600, f/2.8 at 1/80th of a second.