It isn’t always that you spot a grand leopard at Masai Mara. Being based in Nairobi for close to four years now, we’ve heard tales of this rarity ever so often. The luck aspect of a safari in the Mara is not really judged by how many lions you have spotted, rather by the elusive leopard.
Leopards apparently have a secretive existence and traditionally do not fall within the ‘staple species of the Mara’. Resident leopards in the Masai Mara are not many; we have heard that one cause for this is possibly the increasing number of lions in the area. Even then, these big cats are ‘shy night-time hunters’ and adults are typically on their own. A common habit of leopards is to carry their prey up on trees, to hide them from other predators.
It is on our third visit to Masai Mara this August that luck favoured us! Well hidden behind branches, the luminescent green eyes stared at us for a brief while. You would get goosebumps! Remember in the Masai Mara, such spotting happens within short distance and to imagine that a mighty leopard is staring at you from a height and that one easy jump could bring it on the roof of your Land Cruiser…ah! well, we’ll park this thought for another time! 😀
This one was so much bigger than Cheetahs we have spotted often. Perched perfectly up on the tree, the leopard narrated a tale of such perfect beauty. Calm but cautious of the cars around (or so it seemed to us!), the big cat continued on its meal. A close look and you would see the blood around its mouth. Two tails hung from the branch…a spotted one ending in black and another, smaller, that of an antelope, the prey, possibly.
Before long, the cat climbed down in few lithe steps, sat on the grass below and looked up once to check on the now safely-perched half-eaten prey! That was one winner look for us!
A ‘kill’ to us is food chain to nature and a mere meal to the predators in the wild. Watch as this grand leopard enjoys a meal. Don’t miss the second video of a happy leopard licking his face and paws after a gastronomic delight!
Here’s an ode to the beauty in the wild! When you are in their kingdom, stripped of all your material possessions, your ‘superior brain’ of no good in their land, you pause and reflect. To me, such raw beauty is God. A humbling experience indeed!