On a morning drive I decided to head to an area where a Leopard was spotted the night before, I was quite optimistic that we would be successful as she had an Impala kill, we searched high and low but to no avail, only the remains of the Impala, we were disappointed and decided to leave the area and search for other game and return later that morning, after a successful morning of viewing other game, we returned hoping our luck would change. we scanned the area for about 45 minutes, when we saw a cub’s head peeping through the grass, I pointed it out to my guests who by this time could not contain themselves with excitement, as I explained about Leopards and their behavior my tracker Alfred pointed out the female who was only about 15m from her cub, we could not believe our luck, Impala’s were alarm calling, scattered and leaped in all different directions, the female had disappeared in the grass for a few seconds and to our astonishment leaped out of the grass to grab a fleeing Impala by it’s throat in midair, by this time my guests thought that they were dreaming by this amazing, unforgettable sight. We then moved in a bit closer with her eyes firmly set on us as she was still suffocating the Impala, it was all over for the Impala in a few minutes, her cub which is about 6mnths old playfully  joined in the feast. The Leopard kill was the topic of conversation back at the lodge for the next few days, but will definitely stay in my mind for a very long time.           

By: Clive – River Lodge Ranger