Our First Big Cat: Samburu, Kenya

Safari search mode

'We see it!'

  After a whirlwind first day in Africa we woke up to fresh coffee being hand delivered to our tents along with our wake up call. It was the perfect pick-me-up as we headed out to the safari vehicles, wondering what was in store for us today.

Leopard on the move

   High on our list of animals to find were predators, namely the big cats. Our drivers, James and Peter, had heard talk of a leopard hanging out in one area so we focused our attention on that for our morning game drive. We found a safari traffic jam, which is where a lot of cars all gather up at some big sighting, but we couldn't see the leopard they said was in the area. We moved all around and waited for a good long time to no avail. It goes to show how elusive these cats can be. Even when you know they are right in the area they can still be impossible to see. We figured it had hunkered down for a nap or had slipped away unnoticed. It is only day two so I wasn't too worried that we missed it knowing that there were a lot more chances to come.

Close encounter

 But it turns out we didn't have to wait too long. Word among the drivers popped up again around lunchtime. So we jumped back into the vehicles and darted off in the direction of the last sighting. One of our vehicles spotted it moving through the deep brush. We repositioned a few times until all of a sudden we all shouted 'there it is!' Luckily for us the leopard decided to sit down and pause out in the open giving all a good look. I was able to snap a few pictures before it tucked back into the brush.

  We continued the search and from the high vantage point of the pop-top safari vehicle we spotted it again. We positioned ourselves in the perfect spot to have it walk right by us as it came out and crossed the road. We continued to watch until it climbed into a dense thicket and camouflaged perfectly out of view. I told everyone just how lucky it is to have a close encounter with a leopard, or even to see them at all. And that is our first big cat of the safari. Hopefully many more to come!