Three Leopards in the Morning
Tuesday August 30, 2005
I slept fitfully last night.
My dreams were strange and I tossed and turned . I woke up several times. It may have been a side effect of the Larium I took yesterday. It's a pill you take once a week for malaria prevention and vivid dreams can be a side-effect.
Then again it may have been the scream of a bush-baby around 3 am that did it. At least, thats probably what it was. The baboons and hippos were also were having a party somewhere nearby.
Around five-thirty in the morning, just as it was getting light , a few of us walked a short distance from our camp to the place where a waterfall fell out of a low cliff into a pool at the river. Alas, it was really too dark to take a good photo but it was a beautiful place. It may be called Makalia Falls if I remember a nearby sign correctly.
We didn't stay long though once we'd realized that a lone buffalo was standing in the mud at the pool's edge. It was hard to see he was there until he moved. He had his back turned and I thought he might have been a hippo at first. Either way, we kept a wary eye on him because lone buffalo are the most unpredictable kind.
There was buffalo scat all through our campsite this morning, especially on the field between the tents and the toilet area, so they'd obviously been roaming about in our vicinity.
We packed up our camp shortly after dawn to go for a game drive. This was not the kind of trip where sleeping in is beneficial as many animals are more easily seen in the early hours. The air was lovely and fresh and warm as we headed out.
We were looking for leopards in particular this morning. At this time of the day they have climbed down from the trees and are down hunting on the ground.
There were lots of other animals to see though, and as we drove slowly along we joked about how we'd probably be gawking out one side of the truck at giraffes and a leopard would casually saunter by while we were all looking the other way.
Before I came to Africa I read a book called Leopards in the Afternoon chronicling the tale of a fellow who comes on safari and is obsessed with seeing a leopard with his own eyes. He finally does see the elusive creature, but not until the final hour of the final day.
We were much luckier than that.
Helen spotted the first one as it emerged from the long yellow grass behind our vehicle. It darted across the road and disappeared so quickly that only Phillip managed to snap a photo. But we all managed to see it, however briefly, and so the mood in the truck was happy and excited. In a funny way, we could all relax now that we'd at least seen one.
And then Emma spied another leopard which appeared to be circling around three zebras at the base of a nearby tree-covered cliff. It was difficult to keep sight of it as it prowled along through the tall grass but we watch it until it disappeared.
Our trusty truck George (yes, that's its name) cautiously bumped its way off the dirt path and onto the bumpy plain, and we circled the cliff to see if we could spot it again.
And then Pete's sharp eyes spot what must be a third big cat as she reclined gracefully on a crag at the back of the cliff. We were quite certain this must be a different animal than the one we just saw with the zebras. There simply wasn't enough time for the other animal to reach this spot. Three leopards! We were so lucky!
We watched the leopard for about half an hour as she eventually descended the cliff and chose another boulder among the jumbled rocks and logs and scree to flake out on. Her camoflauge was marvellous. Binoculars were incredibly useful at this point.
If we hadn't known exactly which rock to look at we could have driven by and never known she was there. It's easy to believe now that we might have passed many leopards unawares yesterday. In fact, as we were looking at Leopard #2 another safari vehicle passed us. They probably thought we were watching zebras.
By eight o'clock on this drive we had also seen( besides our three magnificentl cats) four jackals, some rock hyrax, giraffes, buffalo, a thorny eagle, an amazing bush covered with weaver-bird nests, and enough rhino to bring our count to over twenty.
We also saw millions of flamingos on Lake Nakuru, our next stop.
I slept fitfully last night.
My dreams were strange and I tossed and turned . I woke up several times. It may have been a side effect of the Larium I took yesterday. It's a pill you take once a week for malaria prevention and vivid dreams can be a side-effect.
Then again it may have been the scream of a bush-baby around 3 am that did it. At least, thats probably what it was. The baboons and hippos were also were having a party somewhere nearby.
Around five-thirty in the morning, just as it was getting light , a few of us walked a short distance from our camp to the place where a waterfall fell out of a low cliff into a pool at the river. Alas, it was really too dark to take a good photo but it was a beautiful place. It may be called Makalia Falls if I remember a nearby sign correctly.
We didn't stay long though once we'd realized that a lone buffalo was standing in the mud at the pool's edge. It was hard to see he was there until he moved. He had his back turned and I thought he might have been a hippo at first. Either way, we kept a wary eye on him because lone buffalo are the most unpredictable kind.
There was buffalo scat all through our campsite this morning, especially on the field between the tents and the toilet area, so they'd obviously been roaming about in our vicinity.
We packed up our camp shortly after dawn to go for a game drive. This was not the kind of trip where sleeping in is beneficial as many animals are more easily seen in the early hours. The air was lovely and fresh and warm as we headed out.
We were looking for leopards in particular this morning. At this time of the day they have climbed down from the trees and are down hunting on the ground.
There were lots of other animals to see though, and as we drove slowly along we joked about how we'd probably be gawking out one side of the truck at giraffes and a leopard would casually saunter by while we were all looking the other way.
Before I came to Africa I read a book called Leopards in the Afternoon chronicling the tale of a fellow who comes on safari and is obsessed with seeing a leopard with his own eyes. He finally does see the elusive creature, but not until the final hour of the final day.
We were much luckier than that.
Helen spotted the first one as it emerged from the long yellow grass behind our vehicle. It darted across the road and disappeared so quickly that only Phillip managed to snap a photo. But we all managed to see it, however briefly, and so the mood in the truck was happy and excited. In a funny way, we could all relax now that we'd at least seen one.
And then Emma spied another leopard which appeared to be circling around three zebras at the base of a nearby tree-covered cliff. It was difficult to keep sight of it as it prowled along through the tall grass but we watch it until it disappeared.
Our trusty truck George (yes, that's its name) cautiously bumped its way off the dirt path and onto the bumpy plain, and we circled the cliff to see if we could spot it again.
And then Pete's sharp eyes spot what must be a third big cat as she reclined gracefully on a crag at the back of the cliff. We were quite certain this must be a different animal than the one we just saw with the zebras. There simply wasn't enough time for the other animal to reach this spot. Three leopards! We were so lucky!
We watched the leopard for about half an hour as she eventually descended the cliff and chose another boulder among the jumbled rocks and logs and scree to flake out on. Her camoflauge was marvellous. Binoculars were incredibly useful at this point.
If we hadn't known exactly which rock to look at we could have driven by and never known she was there. It's easy to believe now that we might have passed many leopards unawares yesterday. In fact, as we were looking at Leopard #2 another safari vehicle passed us. They probably thought we were watching zebras.
By eight o'clock on this drive we had also seen( besides our three magnificentl cats) four jackals, some rock hyrax, giraffes, buffalo, a thorny eagle, an amazing bush covered with weaver-bird nests, and enough rhino to bring our count to over twenty.
We also saw millions of flamingos on Lake Nakuru, our next stop.
posted by Spider Girl | 8:31 PM
2 Comments:
HEY! Those are some beautiful pics...leopards must be a rare treat there.
I suspect you've been very lucky.
Sigh.... your photos are so lovely on every entry! You really had an amazing adventure there and visually I am almost in tears from the overload of colours, textures, flora and fauna in your pictures! I can't imagine actually being there being IN it 24/7!!!!
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