Face to Face with a Wild Leopard

She left her cub behind for a morning visit to the Sand river in South Africa. I was sitting on the right side of the Land Rover….

Here’s the HD video of her cat walk (and then there is some footage of the mating attempt in Botswana; that photo series starts here if you missed it earlier).

14 responses to “Face to Face with a Wild Leopard”

jurvetson

Jul 16, 2011 at 4:41 am

first she sharpened her claws

and cast a magnificent shadow

objects in mirror are closer than they appear

I took this one wide angle…. So beautiful. She was close enough to stroke…

but I didn’t. =)

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Astrocatou

Jul 16, 2011 at 5:34 am

Great shots
I guess drinking too much coffee beforehand was not recommended…

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louv

Jul 16, 2011 at 5:44 am

That is an amazing experience, isn’t it? We loved seeing the leopards in Botswana and Zim.

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Black&Color

Jul 16, 2011 at 6:31 am

Wait a second, there is no door or protection on that car!

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jurvetson

Jul 16, 2011 at 2:50 pm

Right. totally open. The big animals (there and on cattle farms for example) look at a vehicle with people (or a cowboy on horseback) as a totally different thing than a person on foot. Even if the same person is on the horse or truck. So they completely ignore the vehicle and its occupants (experienced as benign and slow moving and not tasty or threatening). It’s different in areas that had hunting.

So, by this point in the trip, I had no fear of the passing. But it’s very important to never get out of the boat. Even for dropped binoculars. They have a hook for grabbing things like that without stepping down even for a moment.

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solerena

Jul 16, 2011 at 5:29 pm

yep, love kitties… especially the picture where she sharpened her claws: just look at the line from her head to the tip of her tail.. very graceful animals:)

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Astrocatou

Jul 17, 2011 at 2:39 am

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeany7]
"Smell and voice are also reasons why this wild leopard was so close to you"

? Smell of HP sauce he spilled on his shorts at lunch…?

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TomiTapio

Jul 17, 2011 at 4:22 pm

Good series!

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jurvetson

Jul 20, 2011 at 4:02 pm

Those Tippi videos are amazing. My French is not as good as it used to be… do you know if it was the parents who did the filming?

Do remember that they are not typically friendly like that. The office just pointed me to this AP photo from yesterday:

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Astrocatou

Jul 20, 2011 at 5:02 pm

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeany7]
Sorry…I missed your reply.
Yes I found the Tippi story interesting too…
As for the guy above…well…never use hair mousse made with animal products.

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6of6

Jul 30, 2011 at 8:00 am

Looking right at the camera it looks like.

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jurvetson

Jul 30, 2011 at 3:27 pm

yes, that was a bit chilling. The leopards cavorting in Botswana did not make eye contact like that…

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ablaze mist

Mar 15, 2012 at 10:15 am

A pretty woman out for a walk. A mama with babes. This is magnificent.

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Face to Face with a Wild Leopard

14 responses to “Face to Face with a Wild Leopard”

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