Our game drives included late afternoon adventures that began about 3:30pm and went well after dark. One evening as we were cruising down the riverbed, our tracker spotted this little guy on the bank resting peacefully.
Interestingly, the lights and our presents really didn’t seem to bother him too much. He is a young cub; too young to hunt on his own. He is actually the cub of the female leopard in the tree from the previous post. This little guy was put on the bank by mommy and instructed to “stay put” while she went out for the nightly hunt for dinner. At his age, he would probably spend time chasing the fireflies versus concentrating on what mommy was trying to teach him… so better to just put him in a safe place and return with something to feed him.
The driver and tracker team have followed this family of leopards for over 4 generations. These animals, while totally wild, are habituated to the presents of these motor vehicles which they no longer see as a threat. They are use to the sound and sight of the the jeeps and the lights at night. They have heard the soft sound of low human voices in the distance and they have no fear of what it is because they have heard it since they were born.
The important thing for the visitors is to not change the dynamic of what the animals sees and hears. No one can stand or leave the vehicles, as they never see human legs. The voices are soft and low, never loud or harsh… just part of their environment as long as it remains constant.
We watched him sleep. He picked up his head and stared at us for a few minutes and then returned to his nap, quite unimpressed!
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