We left camp one morning in the Okavango Delta, and within ten minutes, something caught our eye in the fork of a large sausage tree. Sure enough, balancing on the branches was a beautiful leopard standing over the remains of an impala that it had hoisted into the tree, out of reach of the ever- present spotted hyenas.
‘She’ seemed relaxed enough, and continued to feed and reposition the kill. Then, suddenly ‘she’ stood up and dropped to the ground and almost immediately another leopard took her place in the tree! Looking closely, we could see that this second leopard was an adult female, and the one we’d been viewing was her sub-adult male cub. The notches on her ear confirmed it was a leopard we knew, and one that was totally relaxed around vehicles. She continued to feed, and once the kill was finished she dropped to the ground and searched for remnants that had fallen from above.
On our left, we noticed movement – two male warthogs were approaching the same tree, intent on the fallen trumpet-like scarlet flowers that carpeted the ground, offering a welcome meal to many species. The warthogs suspected something, and edged nervously towards the tree. Eventually, they noticed the leopard but instead of running away, they edged still nearer.
The pair obviously felt confident that the leopard wasn’t hunting – anyway, they were a little too large for her – yet at one stage they stood a mere ten feet away from her as she lay on the ground, chewing on the remains of her kill. The warthogs sniffed around and found part of the impala carcass and started feeding on it too. We now had the surreal scene of a leopard and her cub (out of view at this stage but close) as well as two warthogs feeding on the carcass; to add to this, a herd of impala headed straight for the sausage tree, assuming incorrectly that if the warthogs were there, then surely there could be no danger. How wrong they were! Just as the impala neared the tree they caught sight of the female leopard and let out their high-pitched nasal alarm snorts. They appeared to be staring at the warthogs, almost saying “can’t you see the leopard?”
Quite a scene, and one that at this time of the year in the Okavango Delta is something we look for during game drives. Sausage trees bloom for about four or five weeks a year, and the flowers that drop to the ground attract a variety of wildlife to feed beneath the canopy. The leopards know this, and wait patiently until the perfect moment, then drop silently onto the animal beneath. It’s a lethally effective hunting method, and one that suits the leopards perfectly.