This week, Tina’s challenge is Cats and Dogs. She writes, “This week our challenge is focused on a subject near and dear to many of our hearts – cats and dogs.” You can find her entire challenge post here.

My opening photo is one of the few photos I took of our beloved Cairn Terrier, Tuffy. He was in our lives when cell phone cameras weren’t a thing and I wasn’t focusing on photography. I am disappointed that we don’t have more memories of Tuffy. My grandson now has a cat, a beautiful feline named “Cinnamon” due to her medium shade of brown with red and orange undertones. Unfortunately, I’m not in Fargo for the winter, so I can’t get a photo of Cinnamon for the challenge.

On our African journey, we saw a family of jackals making a home on a termite mound right outside our park gates. Google tells me the jackal belongs to the Canidae family, which includes dogs, wolves, foxes, and other related species. Though they might look similar to foxes, they are more closely related to wolves and dogs within the canine family. I hoped to see wild dogs on our photo safari, but they were not found during our travels through Kruger National Park.

Of course, I had to share a photo of these cute jackal pups exploring their new world. It appears they have already chosen a leader. Returning to the park’s main gates at night was an opportunity to see these little guys. As a result, there was a bit of a traffic jam as people returning from their safaris stopped to take photos.

We saw many lions on our safari, but this majestic male was the only “King of the Beasts” I could photograph. Google tells me that male lions are crucial in defending the pride’s territory and protecting cubs from other males. This allows the females to focus on hunting and providing food for the pride. While male lions may occasionally participate in hunts, especially for larger prey, most of the hunting burden falls on the females.

Our guide drove our vehicle into an area near the highway with a small watering hole. We watched as a lioness took a break from hunting to refresh herself. We watched as she walked away and followed her as she joined another lioness on the hunt.

We struggled to get good photos of leopards. They seemed to all be hiding in the tall savanna grass. On our final full safari day, we finally saw two leopard cubs lying under a tree. My usual camera and lens were my D500 Nikon with the 200-500mm Nikkor lens. The lens was at 480 mm, and I slightly cropped the image.

Carolina Tiger Rescue is a non-profit wildlife sanctuary near our son’s Pittsboro, North Carolina home. Their primary mission is to rescue and provide lifelong care for big cats and other exotic animals. They primarily focus on rescuing animals from private owners, circuses, and other substandard facilities. Their sanctuary showcases their good work rescuing animals that can no longer support themselves in the wild. Their security measures include double-fencing to protect the staff and visitors. Unfortunately, that second fence is always in the photos taken there. Maybe I should say, “Fortunately,” it’s part of a well-secured protection system.

We didn’t see any cheetahs in Kruger National Park, so I included this photo taken with the new (to me) 200-500 mm lens while I practiced for our photo safari. Thanks to Tina for allowing me to share some of my favorite photos from Kruger and for reminding me of our time with our dog, Tuffy.

That’s all for my response this week. To find out the photographic metrics and see the images in a higher resolution, you can find them in my Flickr album here. I may be slow in responding to comments from this post. We are on another cruise this week and next, so my Internet time is always limited by the many other things I can do while touring by cruise ship. Please excuse any tardiness of my responses.

Last week, Egidio provided a practical lesson in complementary colors and taught me how to use a color wheel. Next week, it’s Patti’s turn to host the challenge. Her challenge goes live on Saturday at 12:00 noon Eastern Standard Time in the United States. Follow her here to be sure you don’t miss her challenge post. If you’d like to join in but are unsure how to get started, click here.

John Steiner