Leopards of Sabi Sands

[Sully]

Something I re-posted on google plus yesterday from the fantastic Tusk photo:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+TuskphotoInternational




Elephant Plains Safari: Anderson Male Wants his Kill …
(All images from Back of Brendon Cremer’s Camera)
 
Fanus Weldhagen Reports: 
 
There was great excitement at lunchtime when everyone arrived, looking forward to experiencing the bush after the recent plentiful rains. We set out after a quick briefing, eager to check on a pack of Wild Dogs that we heard about as we arrived.
We found the dogs lying close to a dam overlooking a large plain, and remained with them until the sun started to approach the horizon and they started to move around. We followed as they ran, listened, checked their surroundings, and then ran on – and on, keen to find something to hunt, but without too much luck.
We were on our way to a suitable stopping point for our sundowners when we spotted a stately Kudu bull on a termite mound, silhouetted beautifully against the evening sky.
At our sundowner stop we heard that some Hyenas had been spotted with a kill, so we headed there without hesitation. Sundowners were totally forgotten as we found the clan of eleven Hyenas with quite a large Wildebeest kill.
Naturally we stopped for photographs – and as we did so we almost immediately noticed that the behaviour of the animals was rather unusual. They were extremely skittish, looking around furtively, jumping at any sound, and showing signs of quite a bit of anxiety.
Then the cause came into view. Anderson Male, a humungous, very handsome Leopard, was circling around – and around – and around, and he watched each movement made by the Hyenas.
Oho, we thought. The plot thickens! This must be Anderson Male’s kill, and the Hyenas have pinched it from him, and he wants to grab any chance to get it back. (No-one can be absolutely sure, but that is the most likely scenario).
So Anderson Male continued his circling, unnerving the Hyenas as he did so, until he retired to a nearby tree to continue his unsettling vigilance from above.
There you have it!  As you can see, our latest safari has started with a bang!
Tomorrow we wil probably dash straight to the Hyenas and Leopard to see how the situation develops over night …

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

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