On my first ever safari drive in Africa, our young guide told us he was after a radio message for the leopard Luluka. We raced to the location - the grassland with a small rivulet running through it. The rivulet was dry but had a fair bit of vegetation along it. So visibility inside this rivulet was not very clear. “There it is!” Alex our guide pointed out. None of the other vehicles were in sight, and neither was the “it” in our sight. I had no clue what this “it” was nor did I know where to look for "it". Such I guess is the eye of the Masai. Finally he drove us over to the banks and I could finally see this amazing animal taking a nap under the shade.
She woke up, looked up at us and apparently had this look of “what are you doing here, you disrupted my slumber, idiots”.
Having woken up from slumber, she felt a pang of hunger. We had observed the fresh kill planted on the tree. So from the shade to the canopy was just a matter of time. She walked out, traversed the brown grass and headed to the tree.
On her way she stopped as if again to wonder “what on earth are so many idiots doing here? Have they not seen a leopard ever?” I for one had not seen one in the wild, so sorry dear..
As if in disgust she dropped down and yawned for a bit and headed to the tree. Gave it the leopard equivalent of a bear hug and then made her way up the tree in a flash. Under the cover of the leaves she vanished from my sight, but peeked out for one last time with the impaled impala before starting on her dinner.
Masai Mara, Kenya
Nov 2018
Can't you idiots let me sleep?
I guess it's time for me to move....
Out of the rivulet finally..
I cannot take it any more
I am tired of these clicking noise - yawwwwnnnn, next time come with a silent mirrorless :-)
