Bhargava Srivari

Camera: Canon EOS R5

Lens: Canon RF 100-500

Aperture: f/7.1

Shutter speed: 1/1500 sec

ISO: 8000

Description: A young and energetic cub from the Topi pride honing his tree-climbing skills, and a sibling providing support from beneath ensuring he does not fall off the tree. What sense of protecting each other!

Story from behind the lens: We left camp very early on this morning with the specific target of finding the Topi pride, which was the talk of the season owing to their incredibly large numbers. We were in fact the first ones to find them, and to our jubilation, the cubs were up and playing. Other cars joined us and left to stay closer to the males from the pride, but we decided to stay close to the cubs and capitalise on any action we might see. And they did not disappoint us. The cubs in quite a playful mood that morning and were amused by this lone tree. All the cubs would try to climb the tree, one after another, and in this particular instance while a cub was trying to hone his tree climbing skills, one of its sibling decided to support him from beneath, perhaps ensuring it does not fall.