We started our first game drive of this Masai Mara safari and almost immediately saw a small herd of African Elephants. While we photographed them (above), the Matriarch of this herd came up close and we switched over to my D700 mounted with the 300mm f2.8 with 2x TC and captured this closeup (below).
The picture of the suckling Zebra calf is one of the most intimate moments captured on this epic safari to Masai Mara. The feature picture is yet another composition of this same moment. While our driver was scanning the horizon for the Cheetah that was spotted in this area, we decided to get a couple of pictures of the Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse family that we accidentally spotted. The highlight of this sighting was that we managed to get close enough to get crisp pictures of the Sandgrouse family (Male, Female & Chick).
The photographing of these three families – African Elephant, Zebra & Sandgrouse marked the quiet beginning to our Masai Mara safari. This was followed by the Cheetah sighting that you can see here, in case you missed it.