Leopard luck

We headed out this morning with high hopes of finding some of Ngala’s big cats. Many leopard tracks had been seen the previous day but nobody managed to locate these elusive and secretive cats. We made our way west along the boundary and it wasn’t too long before we struck gold. The drag-marks across the road clearly told us that a leopard had made a kill and dragged it off to feed. The only problem was that it had taken its kill into the neighboring property and therefore out of our reach. We continued on our journey and seconds later someone on the vehicle shouted “leopard!” There, across the boundary, sat a young male leopard. As we watched, he made his way off into the distance. Suddenly he turned and started making his way back towards us, constantly sniffing the ground. He strolled over to a bush and retrieved an impala carcass which he had hidden from our view and casually dragged it back into Ngala before settling down. It was an absolute spectacle and joy to see this big cat.

Posted: &BEYOND Ngala by Ray Hume, Date: 19 August 2008