2011-06-23 – Masai Mara N.R.

As we looked for the seven Cheetahs in the early morning, we found instead a lot of Hyenas running around, some with food in their mouth. And just there we found the young male Leopard Pacha, son of Olive, 23 months old. He took us immediately to our surprise to his younger sister, 8 months old, who was also in the tall grass nearby. They walked to the bushes and at that point we were sure Olive would be in the area. And indeed, a few minutes later she came up from the gulley and together they walked in the forest following the river downstream. It was really difficult to get a clear image of the three but these two frames show Olive’s reaction to Pacha, a fierce snarl, as she is clearly telling him he has to stop following her and to start his own independent life. In the other image she is with her younger cub, a beautiful female, equally at ease with the vehicles as she is. Unfortunately we couldn’t find them again in the afternoon.