--- Archive files ---

Leopard on the Prowl

OUR FIRST stop at Masai Mara was just one hundred metres into the park. There was a group of about eight zebras and a few warthogs grazing just metres off the road. Another van had stopped just ahead of us with several people photographing the animals.

The zebra were a striking white with black stripes. They seemed a bit too brightly coloured given the camouflage that would be expected here.

There was a large waterbuck (a large variety of antelope). It had pointed horns and was a dark reddish brown colour.

The wildebeest seemed very front heavy. They had brownish grey bodies. They were very well built on front with shaggy manes that made their rear ends look disproportionately small.

We continued following the road, frequently stopping for me to photograph zebras, wildebeest and the occasional warthog. I was having a ball, and we had only been out here for about quarter of an hour. We will be here for the entire day. Thankfully my batteries were all fully charged and all the photos I had taken so far this trip had been loaded onto my laptop so there was plenty of room in my memory cards.

A small group of warthogs ran past us heading perhaps towards a fresh kill. A little further up the road was another group of the greyish brown animals. A little further was a large buffalo. The buffalo was well built with a thick grey hide and horns covering the top of its head before tapering into blunt points just above the head.

A hyena was eating a recent kill, surrounded by small vultures. Occasionally the hyena would get annoyed with the vultures and chase them away. Like the wildebeest the hyena was a bit front heavy. It had shaggy sandstone coloured fur covered in dark spots and a dark dog like snout.

Joseph turned off the main road and started following a dirt track up a hill that had several ancient umbrella acacia trees sitting in solitude on top. By now the cloud had definition to it, so there will be no more rain for the foreseeable future. Although the ground was soft from the overnight rain, it was fortunately not boggy, so I didn’t have any concerns about the vehicles.

There weren’t so many animals here on this hill, so Joseph drove down the other side to where there were a couple more groups of zebra. I continued photographing them. Joseph was very good in finding excellent vantage points, and completely stopping the vehicle so I would be able to steady the camera to take shots.

It was about twenty minutes since we had passed through the entrance to Masai Mara. We stopped to photograph some more zebras. Then Joseph suddenly announced that there was something ahead of us. I didn’t quite make out what he was saying, but we had to quickly leave this area to see something special. He hurriedly drove along the very rough dirt track around the hill. It was quite a bumpy ride, so I sat down the entire distance whilst the van bounced along.

Finally I could see about fifteen parked vehicles ahead. I couldn’t see the attraction, but Joseph seemed to know what he was looking for. He swung off the dirt track and started driving through the grass to get a good vantage point. I looked around, but didn’t see anything.

“Do you see it,” he said.

“No I don’t. What am I looking for?”

“The leopard. It’s right by that jeep there.”

I looked towards where he was pointing. I looked around the jeep, and then I saw it. A very graceful leopard wandering down the hill almost perfectly camouflaged in the long dry grass walking past the jeep. I watched it for a minute before it disappeared down the bank below the road.

Joseph explained that leopards usually live in trees, and they are quite rare to see. In face it’s about three months since he saw the last one. “You are very lucky Mr White” he said.

A few minutes later he saw it again. Once more it took me ages to find it. He had very good eyesight thankfully. Why do I have to put up with such poor eyesight all the time? The leopard was heading up a small hilly bank, and Joseph had the foresight to get us a better vantage point. He drove around the group of parked vehicles and found a good spot down on the road. By now the leopard was slowly heading up the hill, crawling low as if to stalk something. Then its head disappeared behind some low scrub on the top of the small hill. All I could now see was its deeply spotted back and very long tail with its far end swishing horizontally with anticipation. Then its head and shoulders appeared out the other side of the small bush as it continued stalking very slowly. Had it found anything to hunt or did it always walk like this?

There wasn’t anything here, so it lay down and positioned itself on the top of the hill, giving it a great vantage point for hunting, or perhaps just for watching the vast proliferation of zebras and wildebeest migrating through the plain a couple of hundred metres away.

I managed to get quite a lot of good shots of the leopard at the top of the hill, sometimes with other animals in behind. I was now very thankful I had bought the 150 to 500 millimetre telephoto lens a few weeks ago. Having the extra magnification made an enormous difference.

Eventually the leopard got tired of the hill, and disappeared down the other side. Joseph drove back around the group of other vehicles over the grass and found a good vantage point from where we could see the leopard in a small gully appearing once more to stalk something. Again I had found it very hard to find – I have good eyes for colour, but not for much else.

The leopard sauntered slowly up the hill panting with its huge dark tail swishing wildly probably to maintain balance. The tail was raised to nearly three times the height of its back above the ground. Once more it disappeared in some scrub, but quickly reappeared out the other side.

It walked down the hill then paced up the side towards the cars. It walked past us and headed up the hill to eventually disappear into the scrub, probably not to be seen for a several months.

View all photos...

--- Archive files ---

© 2001-2020 walkaboutjeff.com - Copyright - Disclaimer - Who is Walkabout Jeff?