Go wild for Wildlife and help to keep our Conservation Areas pure, natural and green.
https://africawild-forum.com/
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=7573&start=30Bushcraft wrote: ↑Tue May 02, 2017 4:20 pm
Around 100m up the road just as we went around the bend I spotted that familiar stroll in the road
“LEOPARD, cameras ready!”
The Cow was more interested in the OSV gang.
“Signal to the safari vehicle, shame!”
This gave me a conscience so I stopped and signaled to him in the distance, but I could only see the front of his car from my position, so the Cow started waving at them from her side, but seconds later the leopard started to “jog” down the road which caused a mental tilt and I roared off after it.
We followed her along for at least 10 minutes with no other cars around and she seemed very relaxed with us.
She started to slow, crisscrossed the road a few times and then went into a tense stance.
Seconds later the young OSV driver arrived, so I moved over slowly to allow them in.
He whispered to me with a shaky voice “She’s hunting”
“Ja, we have been following her for a while now, we tried to signal you”
We sat in silence for another 2 minutes and then an impala spotted her, the barking started and seconds later they charged off.
“$%#*, it’s over!”
The leopard also knew it wasn’t on the cards and started to check us out a little. Bushpig got the close up pic with her point and shoot.
The OSV driver then suggested that we move alongside the leopard for better pics. I chirped him straight away “She will duck if we move!”
“No, she’s relaxed!”
I looked at the Cow and started my car and instantly the leopard bolted into the grass and out of sight much to the embarrassment of the OSV driver. I tempered my reaction and suggested to him that we try and pick her up again, so we both went slowly backwards and forwards for around 5 minutes. We found some more impala about 50m up the road, so I reversed and suggested to the OSV that’s where I think she would head, so we slowly headed forward that direction.
When we were about 10m from the impala there was an explosion through the bush, impala barking, snorting and running around wildly.
The OSV driver suddenly shrieked “She’s got one, she’s got one”
The leopard had taken out an impala 5m from the road, but all we could see in the grass from our level was the impala’s legs kicking, but the higher OSV could also see the leopard also. My excitement had boiled over, I couldn’t even hold the camera properly and the frustration of not being in a high enough vehicle was too much, so I sat there brain dead for 10 seconds.
The OSV driver then started shouting “She’s dragging it! There she goes!”
We got a 3 second view as the leopard dragged the impala off into thick bush, but I only got a blurred pic of the tall grass.
