The legendary leopards of the Sabi Sand just don’t disappoint, do they? Even in the scorching hot weather, White Dam and her cub made an appearance as they feasted on an impala kill in a tree above a giant termite mound, and – uncharacteristically for White Dam – remained in fantastic view of the Umkumbe game viewer for a photo shoot.
This famously elusive leopardess had made her kill the day before, but there was still a fair amount of meat left on the carcass, so the pair of leopards wasn’t ready to abandon it yet. The smell, however, had attracted the usual scavengers: spotted hyena. As we sat admiring White Dam’s elegant form, leisurely splayed out at the foot of the tree, she flattened her ears ever so briefly and gave a subtle curl of the lip. At first we thought this fiesty leopard had her eye on Tracker Forward, but soon enough we realised she had seen a hyena lurking in the thicket.
At our first visit to this outstanding sighting, White Dam’s cub was nowhere to be seen, but when we returned after sundowners to see if the cats would resume feeding on their impala, we saw the young male leopard hanging back in the shadows. His mother was in the tree, and, indeed, was feeding on the last of her kill, and at the foot of the tree were at least 2 hyenas. At one point, the young leopard attempted to climb the tree, but soon backed off again to avoid conflict with the pesky hyenas!
White Dam gnawed on the cartilage of the imapala’s remaining hind leg, much to the envy of the hovering scavengers, and after a while, our own stomachs started to grumble and we left the scene to follow the scent of Umkumbe’s kitchen aromas in the distance! Fantastic game drive in the presence of leopards, as always.
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