[Leica] Leopards (Chui)

[Jayanand Govindaraj]

Leopards in the Masai Mara. We got plenty of sightings on the trip, but it
was basically two of them, Kaboso and Mahala, and the former's two juvenile
cubs.

*Kaboso*

We first saw Kaboso and her two cubs briefly on a walkabout:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kenya2018/Mara-20180910-816.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kenya2018/Mara-20180910-781.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kenya2018/Mara-20180910-788.jpg.html

Later during the trip we saw the female cub catch and disable a hare, but
without a clue on how to kill it. It practiced all its hunting moves on the
traumatized and hapless hare, bouncing, leaping, jumping, etc., and finally
trotted away into the trees with it, no doubt, to mummy for the swift
execution:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kenya2018/Mara-20180911-1592.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kenya2018/Mara-20180911-1629.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kenya2018/Mara-20180911-1676.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kenya2018/Mara-20180911-1677.jpg.html

Our final sighting of Kaboso was when she emerged from tree cover, and
warily made her way across open grassland to a spot where vultures were
beginning to circle. She was going to the carcass of a male impala she had
killed earlier, in order to move it into tree cover, nervous about the
vultures. It took her around 90 minutes to move the carcass, which weighed
more than she did, a distance of 1.5-2 kilometres, in the hot sun. A feat
that bears ample testimony to the strength and stamina of a leopard in her
prime!

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kenya2018/Mara-20180913-5882.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kenya2018/Mara-20180913-5745.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kenya2018/Mara-20180913-6145.jpg.html

We saw Mahala only once, when she was on a territorial marking walkabout.
She had small cubs, but she did not bring them out with her. She did climb
a tree, from which I have a few photographs:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kenya2018/Mara-20180914-6961.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kenya2018/Mara-20180914-7018.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kenya2018/Mara-20180914-7102.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kenya2018/Mara-20180914-4201.jpg.html

For those who have url problems, here is a link to the first photograph in
the series - and on to the end:

https://tinyurl.com/ya6tbtca

Please see LARGE

Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome!

Cheers
Jayanand