Safari Day 3: The Leopard

 

I never expected to have such a long, intimate encounter with a big, male leopard. Tsavo National Park can provide some real safari magic, and it certainly provided that this morning. The fact the we were the only car with it the whole time just made it even more special.

    If you are on your first safari here in Africa, you are often confronted with finding the famous 'Big 5'. The Big 5 consist of elephants, cape buffalo, lions, leopards, and rhino. Some parks have all 5 of the big 5, and will use that in their marketing as a claim to fame. However, it certainly does not mean that you will be lucky enough to see all 5 species. Rhinos are still far and few between and can be quite difficult to locate. But often, it is the leopard that eludes safari goers the most. They are in almost every park, but operate mostly at night, working under the cover of darkness. Still, early morning and late afternoon game drives do provide an opportunity to find one. Today was our lucky day.

    Our group woke up a little groggy after the trumpeting of elephants outside our rooms kept us up at night. But after downing a quick cup of coffee while watching a long line of buffalo heading out got everyone in the right mindset for our early morning drive. Our driver, James, was at the vehicle, ready to go, so we wasted no time in loading up and hitting the red dirt roads of Tsavo National Park here in southeast Kenya.

    The drive quickly provided some new sights for the group. We saw a small group of Grant's gazelles and our first wildebeest. I am expecting to see a few more wildebeest when we get to where the Great Migration is happening later in our trip. We also had three spotted hyena lope across the road. They looked a little weary after a long night of causing mischief, probably heading back to their den. Birds of prey like augar buzzards and tawny eagles watched from their perches in the high trees, while ground squirrels and francolins scurried around the underbrush.

    Luckily, a few of us were standing and scanning from the vehicle as we turned back towards our lodge. I caught a movement in the field to my left and immediately knew we were on to something special. It was a leopard. And it was moving towards us. James put us in a great position as the leopard came towards the dirt road, and crossed right in front of us. We were able to follow it as it stalked up to a ridge, then back down into view again. I thought it was going to disappear into the forest at one point, but something caught its eye, back on the other side of us. We watched it come towards us once again, crossing in front. I had to switch to the iPhone as my big 400mm lens was too much for how close the leopard was.

    After crossing, the leopard looked intently into the forest. That is when we noticed a small herd of zebras. We watched for a while longer as the leopard decided what to do. We finally departed after the leopard walked away from the zebra, all trying to take in the experience we just had. It is uncommon to see leopards to begin with, but to have one with you for so long, and to be the only vehicle there, was just magical. And as a bonus, it was the final animal to complete the Big 5 for this group! And on day three no less!

    Our afternoon game drive gave us some dramatic skies while staying dry and cool. We slowed down a bit and spent a lot of time with a big troop of baboons. There were so many babies, holding on tight to their mom. We then set ourselves up for a group of elephants to slowly make their way towards us. They also had babies, which were nursing... or at least they would try and then mom would walk away to get her own food. They were amazingly quiet as they walked through the forest, except for the noise of branches braking as they fed. Now its time for some celebratory Tusker beers at dinner.

The lilac-breasted roller (Coracias caudatus), is a must find bird on safari in Africa. Its colors are just magnificent. At some point this safari it is my goal to photograph one of these birds in flight, when they really show their full beauty.

Our fist look at an Augur buzzard, scanning the savanna for its morning meal.

The blue-naped mousebird, sitting amongst wild looking thorns.

Intimate encounter with an elusive leopard.

Spotted hyena giving us a wary glance.

There is something so regal about leopards. They are always very high on my list of animals to find while leading a safari.

Coke's hartebeest are also known as Kongoni, and are found only in Kenya and Tanzania.

Our leopard striking a pose. This is the moment it caught site of the zebra in the distant forest.

Zebra, looking not totally at ease out in the open.

Striking markings of the plains zebra.

Speaking of beautiful markings, the lesser kudu has it in heaps, as well as some of the most striking horns of all the antelopes.

Some times as a photographer, you have an experience that you think could provide some wonderful shots. Then you get back to your computer and they are even better than you hoped. I'm still on a high from our leopard encounter.

The birds continue to thrill here in Kenya. This is a little bee eater.

We had a brief encounter with a new kind of antelope called a bushbuck.

With the dramatic sky this afternoon, we stopped to admire a lot of different trees standing tall over the underbrush.

This is like a view from my dreams. The red roads of Tsavo beckon...

Baboon family fun time.

Birds Species: blue-naped mousebird, augur buzzard, tawny eagle, african mourning dove, buffalo weaver, go away bird, fork tailed drongo

Mammals: Grant's gazelles, spotted hyena, wildebeest, ground squirrel, leopard, bushbuck, baboons