Leopard Directory

[Shadow]

The sheer brilliance of a leopard in the stalk-and-pounce is evidenced in this photo; the impala ewe was still chewing a mouthful of grass when she was hit by one of the spotted cats. No time to spit it out and run for her life, it was probably over before she knew what was happening. There’s always the chance that the grass got lodged there whilst the impala was being dragged, but the way a leopard holds a carcass to drag it (by the neck) and the area the drag mark moved through (which was essentially devoid of grass), I doubt it.

*This image is copyright of its original author

No one is quite sure what’s happening in the male leopard population at the moment.
The Flat Rock male was found much further north that he normally is, the Anderson male is looking really beaten up, the Senegal Bush male had a kill in an area the Flat Rock male usually patrols, the Mawelawela male was found on a warthog kill and was pretty unhappy with being viewed…
The only consistent one is the Inyathini male, who continues to patrol a huge area (although the dynamic between him and his son the Tortoise Pan male is still a curiosity).
We only get small glimpses into these animals lives, and have to try and come up with 90% of the picture from only 10% of the information. Therein lies half the appeal though.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Caption of photo above: "You win or you learn. This beautiful branch that was bathed in golden light was clearly where we wanted the Flat Rock male to head after feasting on an impala he had stolen from the Makomsava female. But I told my guests he sadly wouldn’t make it onto the branch as it would be too awkward for him to get there. Thanks to the angle we were parked at, I hadn’t seen the gap between two other branches that he easily clambered through to get here, making me feel a bit foolish. And then my camera battery ran out. Whoops."

These and some more interesting observations here: https://blog.londolozi.com/2019/08/02/th...647a611f32 Reply