Jessica aged ten was born into the circus. With tigers and elephants as pets and cousins to play with Jessica rarely gets bored. Jessica attends school on the circus grounds where a state funded teacher takes care of Jessica and her cousins' education. The classroom comes in the form of a caravan and the teacher contracted on a seasonal basis, travels around with the circus.
Danger is part of the show. One minute Esmeralda is risking her life under an elephant, the next she is in the caravan cooking dinner for the family. Esmeralda comes from a long tradition of circus artists. When asked if she is afraid under the elephant, she answers "No, Mara and i go back a long way, if she wanted to squash me she would have done it a long time ago".
Hannelore aged 16 was born into the circus. Together with her mother she rides circus elephants and camels in some of the main acts. Out of the arena she is just another teenage girl. Here her brother and cousin can be seen in the background practicing the on the tight rope.