Living Luangwa

Although the game viewing is excellent at the moment our leopard sightings have dropped quite a lot in the last few weeks. I think it might be due to the heat as this is often the case at this time of the year with the leopards only becoming active later at night. There is also a lot of lion activity in the area which seems to make them more cautious.

We came across this small female leopard hunting some impala out on an open plain. She soon made a kill but didn’t want to risk having it stolen by hyaenas and so quickly dragged it away and up the nearest tree. This was quite a struggle as the impala was easily the same size and probably heavier than the leopard…

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This is one of my favourite leopard images that I’ve taken recently. I’m always looking at ways of photographing wildlife in a unique and different way and this is the kind of photograph that I am after. I love the vignetting (darkened corners) caused by the spotlight and the bold shadow of the leopard. Her cub was standing a few feet away in the darkness which is why she is looking back over her shoulder.

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I guess it is a mistake to get emotionally attached to the wild animals that I observe and photograph regularly as it can sometimes be heart breaking - as last night proved. A large male leopard entered the territory of the lovely female pictured in a previous post (Sept 14) and killed one of her cubs (the one with the muddy feet). I have been getting to know these cubs quite well over the last few weeks and this one was very playful and friendly. Her brother who is smaller and a lot shyer survived the attack. Here he is having a drink with his mother.

The reason the male killed the cub is because she is not his and this way he forces the female to come into oestrus so that he can then sire his own cubs with her. I just hope the mother can keep her remaining cub safe..

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I have been seeing this lovely female leopard and her two cubs fairly regularly over the last week. Most of the sightings have been at night or in very poor light so it was great to come across them in sunshine early this morning as they were crossing Fish eagle lagoon (now nearly dried up).

The mother is a very relaxed leopard and doesn’t mind being approached by the vehicle. The cubs are still quite shy though and were running from one bush to another and keeping their distance.

At one point she led them over a muddy patch of ground which she was able to jump over but the cubs had to walk through it covering their legs in mud.

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I had an incredible leopard sighting on a game drive yesterday morning. We were driving along quietly when suddenly all hell broke loose in a Tamarind tree near the road. There was a huge troop of baboons surrounding the tree and they were going wild.

As we approached the tree we saw a small female leopard descend with a large baboon clamped in it’s mouth! The rest of the troop surrounded it and were screaming and barking furiously. The racket was incredible. The leopard paid no attention to them though and took its time dragging the dead baboon toward some nearby combretum thickets. Eventually it reached the thickets and disappeared from view. As soon as the baboons had lost sight of it they went very quiet and began their normal behaviour of feeding and grooming again…

The leopard had obviously been hiding in the Tamarind tree and when the baboons came to feed on the fruit she had taken the opportunity to grab one of them. I doubt that it was an intentional ambush but this is possible. It was a very brave thing to do though as the leopard could easily have been overwhelmed and injured or possibly even killed by the baboons. Generally leopards fear baboons and usually kill them at night so that they can easily get away from the rest of the troop. She must have been very hungry.

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I am seeing Leopards pretty much everyday now which is great. I think it is definitely linked to the fact that there is still not much lion activity in the area at the moment. Our Hollywood pride has been absent for the last week or two and the Leopards seem to feel more confident as a result.

This is a lovely female from near here - she has two cubs which we have seen a couple times but so far only at night.

I quite like this shot - it shows that the leopard is very relaxed as she is walking around in the open in broad daylight.

Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography