Off we went on safari on a beautiful summers afternoon...it was just perfect! We had bumped into a rhino with a very young calf and spent some time with them and enjoyed watching the calf suckling from the mother. We then headed off and went in search of some other things. On the the way a call came in over the radio explaining that one of the other vehicles had found a female leopard hunting in amongst some impala and wildebeest. I had the fastest finger and called myself into the sighting. Then I dropped a gear and hit a Ferrari safari towards the leopard. We were only about three or four minutes out but we unfortunately just missed the kill. When we got there the wildebeest calf was still kicking and struggling but within a couple of minutes the life had been squeezed out of the poor thing.
The leopard was now exhausted from the effort she had put in and added to her exhaustion was a blistering day that was approximately 35 degrees Celsius. She hovered over her prize for a short while catching her breath and then started to drag her dinner towards some cover. This was in order to get it out of sight of any greedy eyes that could be watching. Vultures are often circling at this time of the day and if the spot the carcass they could possibly attract unwanted attention such as other nearby predators. Unfortunately for her the nearest decent cover was about 500 metres away. It took her nearly 30 minutes to drag the carcass to where she thought it would be safe. She then proceeded to fall asleep next to the carcass.
Through the evening she found time to fetch her 11 month old cub and bring him to the kill to feed and then left in the early hours of the morning. We could tell all of this from the tracks in and around the area as well as the fact that we followed the lions the next morning straight to where she had stashed the kill. We watched them investigate for a short while obviously smelling the blood and then move off.
so not cool, i mean come on.........
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