KENYA: Looking for Leopards

It was just a few hours after daybreak, under heavy cloud cover, when we came upon the most numerous of the big cats in Africa, and also the most elusive, a Leopard. In a lush open area surrounded by Yellow-bark Fever trees, it lay sleek and beautiful, sprawled on a fallen tree trunk, asleep with its back to us. Several times it lifted its head up and turned in our direction, before going back to sleep. Exposed to the elements as it was, the feline must have felt secure and comfortable to continue its slumber.

Thrilled with the discovery, entranced with watching, we stayed for a long while. But as the cat lay motionless, our interest waned, and we turned away to drive down a nearby track. Within several hundred meters, a second Leopard came into view, a female resting on a large, dark termite mound next to a fallen tree. Two Leopards in one morning! Soon she got up and slowly descended to the dense ground vegetation, where we watched her walk alongside the tree trunk before disappearing. We thought she might be the mate of the first one.

Returning back to the original cat, we found its position unchanged. We waited patiently, thinking it would eventually move to a less-open setting, likely up a tree. First a twitch, then movement, as the Leopard got up, turned around, arched its back, and promptly lay down, this time at least facing us. We saw it was another female; the pair were actually a mother and her nearly full-grown daughter.

We watched and waited, hoping for some action. A group of six White-crested Helmet-shrikes moved through the fever trees, as did noisy Arrow-marked Babblers. Eastern Black-headed Orioles, Sulphur-breasted Bush-shrikes, Klaas’s Cuckoo and Tropical Boubous called. But the Leopard slumbered on.

We decided to look for the other Leopard, and drove back to where she had stalked out of sight in the dense undergrowth. Scouting the area, we saw a female Defassa Waterbuck walk straight towards the termite mound, pause, and turn her head alertly. The large ungulate continued, then paused again, and looked back. Snorting and staring, something must’ve grabbed her attention, something we couldn’t see.

Once again, we returned to the first sleeping Leopard. She was still there, but word came from a couple of Italian photographers that a Leopard had crossed the road ahead. No doubt this was the animal that caught the attention of the Waterbuck.

Within minutes, a Leopard moved around the far side of a huge tangle. Probably hunting for a small meal, it continued through some low undergrowth, around a thicket and jumped across a narrow brook. We watched as it hugged a thicket edge, climbed over a fallen tree trunk, and slid into the dense vegetation. Perhaps we would be lucky enough to witness interaction between the two Leopards. Lori caught a brief glimpse of the walking cat, but after time passed, we realized we would not be lucky.

After nearly two hours of excitement, exhilaration and disappointment, we opted to move on. Less than half a mile away, a call came over the radio that the Leopard was awake and up on the tree trunk. We got there a minute later to find that it had indeed moved, but had now laid down, this time at the other end of the trunk and partially blocked by branches and vegetation. We had missed it walking the trunk! It was not long before it did get up and drop down the far side of the trunk and out of sight.

We couldn’t resist returning to the area later that afternoon. This time we found the two Leopards together – one resting in a stately Yellow-bark Acacia, and the second lying nearby on a thick, vine-covered branch. She seemed restless, so we decided to wait.

We were the only ones there until another vehicle pulled up in front of us curious to see what we were looking at. The newcomers couldn’t find anything until Todd pointed towards the sleeping Leopard in the tree. Too bad they had only one small pair of opera-glasses to share between them, to see this most majestic feline. Shortly after they left, the Italian photographers showed up. This time they asked us for directions, and we happily obliged. After an hour, we left the photographers and went in search of other things, including a Steppe Eagle and Bat-eared Foxes.

Their patience paid off, as we later found out they had witnessed the two Leopards descend the tree and eat at a Buffalo calf carcass that they had killed earlier in the day, only a few feet from the track!