Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2018/09/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]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