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Two leopards with only seven feet between them: paws for thought in the bush

6 December 2017 by Simon Barnes 7 Comments

Close observers of this space will have noticed that I haven’t finished my trip yet. I suppose it’s because I can’t bear to leave. In strict fact I’ve been home for a couple of months, but it seems I’ve been avoiding the task of writing my final blog from the Luangwa Valley.

But I must be brave.

Leopard, then. Leopard in broad daylight: such a treat. Two leopards in daylight, in fact: and that’s too much of a good thing. Certainly the female thought so: we’d been with her for about half an hour when — lithe, slim and athletic — she dropped low to the ground in the classic stalking posture and shuffled subtly towards the male, who was big, burly, and full of swaggering self-confidence.

From a few feet she moved effortlessly into a charge – fully committed? Maybe not, but it was good enough for the male, who got to his feet and ran for it. No point in risking a face-full of claws, after all. She pursued him for a few strides and then paused, exaggeratedly upright, impossibly alert, staring at his departing form.

He didn’t move that fast because — shockingly, astonishingly — the male had only three functioning paws: the fourth, left fore, had been lost, presumably to a snare. This contradicts an easy assumption about leopards: that being solitary hunters, they need to be in good shape. Perfection, I always thought, is their strategy.

But here was a leopard breaking all the rules: surviving by means of cleverness, strength of will, self-belief and perhaps the art of the scavenge. He was breaking the rules today, too, because the female was not in oestrus and had no wish for male company. She had a six month old male cub who couldn’t be far away – I’d seen them together a few days earlier – and if this big lame male came across him, he’d probably kill him.

So the female backed her speed and agility to get the better of the male – at least for the time being. She lay up under a bush to get her breath back, for it was a big thing she’d just done. Her next problem was to reconnect with her cub without the lame male following.

So what happened next?

I don’t know. Sorry. I don’t suppose I’ll ever know.

The bush is full of uncompleted stories: dramas acted before you, but with the ending, comic or tragic, frustratingly omitted, the last chapter torn out. But now it was time to go home. This trip had an ending all right, but if we’re all saved, there’ll be another next year.

· I was co-leading the Sacred Combe Safari with Chris Breen from www.wildlifeworldwide.com

http://www.wildlifeworldwide.com/group-tours/sacred-combe-safari

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Posted in Wildblog

Comments

  1. B Wheeler says

    6 December 2017 at 6:20 pm

    thank you for this.

    Reply
  2. Sophie Adams says

    6 December 2017 at 7:39 pm

    Lovely I can just see that female leopard running at the male. What a beautiful thought – you paint with words !

    Reply
  3. Carole Nicholson says

    7 December 2017 at 7:13 am

    Thank you, Simon – you have beautifully captured such wonderful memories

    Reply
  4. Keith Owens says

    7 December 2017 at 10:54 am

    Superb set of blogs from your recent trip. You paint wonderful pictures with words. Thank you.

    Reply
  5. Anthony Bird says

    15 December 2017 at 1:10 pm

    Many,many thanks again, Simon, what an amazing scene you witnessed and your understanding and background information certainly fills any gaps that we might have been left with, I wish you and all your family and fellow posters A Very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year.

    Reply
  6. Mike Davis says

    20 July 2018 at 12:08 pm

    Just back from another visit to S.Luangwa, my fifth – but the first for my daughter. She loved the elephants. Stayed at Nsfeu with Willie Shuma of Robin Pope Safaris, ex-of Norman Carr. Think he is the same Willie as you note in your Scared Coombe book along with Shaddy. He’s still as good as when i saw him 11 years ago. I gave him a copy of your book. Leopards a plenty – and my first ever Honey Badger.

    Reply
  7. Mike Davis says

    20 September 2018 at 6:52 am

    Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park needs your help!

    The South Luangwa National Park in south-eastern Zambia is one of Africa’s very finest wildlife sanctuaries. Watered by the Luangwa River, the park is home to African Elephants, Hippos, Lions, Leopards, Thornicroft’s Giraffes, colourful flocks of Southern Carmine Bee-eaters and a staggering diversity of other wildlife. But the area is also home to many villages and communities who depend on the park and the permanent, and predictable, waters of its river.

    A proposed dam, however, at Ndevu Gorge threatens to transform the river and put all who depend on it at risk. The dam would create a reservoir that would reach the South Luangwa National Park, with continued impacts felt for many kilometres upstream. The changes to the river would displace communities near the gorge, destroy livelihoods and negatively impact the region’s abundant wildlife.

    WWF and WWF Zambia have launched a petition to Zambia’s President, His Excellency Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu, to declare the Luangwa Valley a ‘Water Resource Protection Area’ as part of a “Keep the Luangwa Flowing” campaign. The South Luangwa National Park has been a favourite of Naturetrek, and our clients, for over 25 years and we would encourage as many of you as possible to please sign the petition and help protect this irreplaceable reserve, its people and wildlife.

    Above I have just lifted from the Naturetrek Autumn News email. You are probably aware of it – but maybe you could use your blog to help the campaign ?
    Our Sacred Coombe needs protecting. Mike

    Reply

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