Our tracker’s hand flung out, pointing out a leopard drinking at the edge of a waterhole. This was the start to an incredible sighting of what turned out to be a pair of leopards that were three quarters of the way through their kill, which was stashed in a nearby thicket.
Positioning the vehicle, we had a head on view of the pair and managed to get some great views and images of a mother and her son of around a year old, as they drank. After drinking their fill they headed back towards the direction they had come from and it became obvious that they were returning to a kill they had somewhere in a thicket.
Sure enough, remains of an adult impala ram were wedged under the branches of a low shrub. We watched as the “cub” repositioned the kill and fed periodically, while the mother lay just out of sight. Returning the following morning, we found the mother positioned in classic leopard pose in the branches of a large Marula tree. Her son was lying about 100 yards from us and shortly after we approached, he stood up and headed towards the vehicle with a very curious expression on his face. While we were watching him earlier, he walked towards the vehicle and had actually gone underneath our land rover emerging on the far side, pausing briefly for a look up at us before casually strolling on…this was one of those moments that had us holding our breaths!
Our timing was perfect, as about twenty minutes after finding them the following morning, we watched the mother drop to the ground from the tree and walk past us on her way to join her son that had wondered a little too far from her for comfort. They linked up and headed towards the water hole, where we again leap frogged ahead of them, positioning ourselves perfectly for their arrival at the water. Here we had an uncluttered view of them and could watch them, sitting side by side as they drank peacefully.