Wounded Leopard
Wild South Africa
Kruger National Park
I took a few hours off from work today after I learned through the grapevine that a leopard had killed a warthog over the weekend and pulled it up a Mopani tree, 4 Km from the Phalaborwa entrance gate. Everyone in town with a mobile phone, iPad and/or camera rushed to the scene over the weekend to take photos of the poor beast. This morning however, only a few vehicles were present and the leopard had left the tree to hide under Mopani shrubs against the sun and the camera lenses. After a while it got up, crossed the road and disappeared in a ditch. Everybody left but I stayed a bit longer hoping that the leopard might reappear. I was not disappointed as it soon came out of the ditch and walked straight towards me where I was parked across from where the ditch was. Since my camera was mounted to my door I could not close my window and had to reverse to get out of harms way. I had no idea what the cat had in mind! Anyway, it re-crossed the road right in front of my vehicle and settled down on the shoulder of the road, two meters away from the open passenger window of my car. I for a moment thought that the poor thing was looking for company. I then again moved to the other side of the road to fit the leopard in my viewfinder (I only had my prime lens with me) and after a few shots my memory card was full, the leopard probably became irritated, got up and disappeared again, and I rushed home to tell my story.
The animal has a neck wound which I suspect was caused by the late warthog. It does not look serious though.
This encounter made my day, as Clint Eastwood would have said.
The image was not cropped, only re-sized.
Wounded Leopard
Wild South Africa
Kruger National Park
I took a few hours off from work today after I learned through the grapevine that a leopard had killed a warthog over the weekend and pulled it up a Mopani tree, 4 Km from the Phalaborwa entrance gate. Everyone in town with a mobile phone, iPad and/or camera rushed to the scene over the weekend to take photos of the poor beast. This morning however, only a few vehicles were present and the leopard had left the tree to hide under Mopani shrubs against the sun and the camera lenses. After a while it got up, crossed the road and disappeared in a ditch. Everybody left but I stayed a bit longer hoping that the leopard might reappear. I was not disappointed as it soon came out of the ditch and walked straight towards me where I was parked across from where the ditch was. Since my camera was mounted to my door I could not close my window and had to reverse to get out of harms way. I had no idea what the cat had in mind! Anyway, it re-crossed the road right in front of my vehicle and settled down on the shoulder of the road, two meters away from the open passenger window of my car. I for a moment thought that the poor thing was looking for company. I then again moved to the other side of the road to fit the leopard in my viewfinder (I only had my prime lens with me) and after a few shots my memory card was full, the leopard probably became irritated, got up and disappeared again, and I rushed home to tell my story.
The animal has a neck wound which I suspect was caused by the late warthog. It does not look serious though.
This encounter made my day, as Clint Eastwood would have said.
The image was not cropped, only re-sized.