Mother Leopard

Serengeti, Tanzania. December 2010

 She came down the rocks slowly, walked between the vehicles that were standing there and prepared herself for a kill. Up the rocks she just came down from were waiting her 2 cute cubs. We were on our way out of the Serengeti and surprisingly the group was quite disappointed. We saw much but the Lions were always far and everyone else seemed to be talking of a Leopard that we didn't find.

Well, this morning we did and after playing with her cubs she was going to get some food.

Predators are much liked by tourists and photographers. And while you can learn the movements of Lions or Hyenas within their territories, you can't really learn the Leopard. It doesn't have its own territory but moves much within a range. 1 Leopard can move above 20km a day or stay up the tree as it pleases.

She didn't need to run much and the Gazelle was already in her mouth. As much as people want to see a kill when they come to Africa, they very often lack the "stomach" to watch it. Maybe it was the fact that we had just seen her cubs up the rocks but this time my group was all for the Leopard. Kids, parents and grand moms. And of course, me and the drivers. I must say, even as I lived in Masai Mara as long as I did, I had never seen a Leopard kill before. I saw the moment after, or the moment before. I even saw one huge male Leopard, trying to hunt at night and failing repeatedly. But I had never seen an actual kill.

When it was all done and the Leopard was sitting comfortably on her rock again, while her kill was on the tree waiting, I heard the kids asking the drivers how rare it is to watch such a thing. 'Maybe once a year', said one of the drivers. I sneaked a look and said in Swahili for him only to understand that for me it was a first. Slowly the 3 of them had to admit that it was a first for them as well…