Have you ever admired a large cat sitting in the yard? Doggy bag day or school walk? Have you wanted to know how they move? How long does it take them to walk from the left side of the room to the right side? I have an intense fascination with big cats. Not just tigers or lions. Any large wild cat. They live in large open spaces and range far. There is less pressure for them to hide in populated areas.
My two loves in life are traveling the world, photographing wildlife and very good photos. I have traveled all over the world photographing on the road, from the Arctic Circle to mountainous Nepal.
On a recent trip, I took the Zambia, Botswana and South Africa drive. I took a wrong turn off the road, forcing me to go a little further out into the wilderness. I was fortunate to have a quite amazing deer, a lioness and a leopard wandering in the wilderness.
I met the leopard and drove her with her cubs. Once we hit the road again, I gave them plenty of space, however, at a right turn we had to get into some places a leopard is not accustomed to. When that turn came, I’m not sure if the leopard knew it, but she was chasing, killing and eating large mammals with this leathery tenaciousness, so I quickly moved away.
I’m not sure if the leopard was frustrated or not.
The leopard and her cubs quickly moved on. That’s not unusual for leopards. I cannot write about their hunting techniques or the number of animals they eat everyday.
Lionesses usually remain by the side of their cubs, all for their own safety. When we met the leopard and her cubs, the cubs were just coming back from playtime. Leopards usually leave cubs to fend for themselves.
I give just one on the scale of one to ten in terms of mortality. She put this two in her kill column. As a conservationist, I am committed to making sure there is more to this legend of the leopard than just just the myth.