LEOPARDS

I think LEOPARDS are my favorite 'big cat' - they're certainly the smallest. They are the 'kings of stealth' and opportunistic hunters who are extremely adaptable to varying habitats. They can run at 35 mph and can climb trees even when carrying a heavy carcass. When we were driving around searching for them, we always checked high grass and up trees with multiple big branches.





Big cats (and little cats) spend so much time sleeping, you can almost count on a good photo of a wide yawn.







Imagine just driving along a dirt road and coming up behind a male leopard. We followed this gorgeous male for a long time and thankfully, he stuck to the road for most of it - only stopping to mark his territory.







When he eventually went off the road, he walked along an embankment next to a dried-up river bed. When he laid down, we stopped, and when another vehicle came to see him, we had to edge by - very slowly - there was perhaps only 5' between us.





Needless to say, we all took many, many photos of him - you just had to keep clicking in the hopes of that one special photo. I did take a close-up of him and realized he was drooling but I have no idea why.





Another day we found a female leopard who was noticeably smaller in stature than the male and her facial coloring was different - a brown nose and pale eyes.






The female leopard we followed for some time gave us a lot of great photos and when I looked at this one again, it really caught my eye. One would wonder how markings so unusual could help her become camouflaged in green or brown grass, but once she's in the tall grass, she just disappears from sight.








It never ceased to amaze me how these big cats totally disregarded our presence. They are so used to the vehicles and as long as we stay seated, so we are within the silhouette they are used to, there is no danger.










I have included this photo so you can see just how close they come to us. I could have reached down and petted her as she walked by. There's no fear, no wariness - not even curiosity.








Here's our girl - it's hard to compare her with the male (above) because his photos were taken at night. But she certainly is a beauty isn't she?








Here's a young male leopard who probably just separated from his mother, watching a herd of impala who were across the road. When they started to slowly move away, he decided to go after them.








Here's a close-up of him in the tree - totally focused on the prey.












After a while he came down from the tree (head first) and very slowly crossed the road, doing what I call the 'marine crawl'.







After crossing the road, he realized the prey was out of his reach and he went off looking for greener pastures - and easier opportunities.