2013-10-23 Maasai Mara, Kenya

After a couple of excellent days with Caracals we decided to return to the area of the Leopard with cub that we have been following the past few weeks. When I spotted from a distance a spotted coat in the bush lit by the first morning sun I thought we had found the mother. However, as we drove close it was obvious that it was a male, about three years old. He was feeding on a kill that had been made by the mother. Apparently yesterday the mother had been seen calling for her cub but the cub didn’t show up. Finding this male eating her kill today was worrying. I don’t think he is the father of the cub as he is new in the area, so I am afraid he may have killed the cub. Hopefully she managed to take her cub to safety. We are seeing an unusual high number of male Leopards this October. I am suspecting that the resident dominant male might be getting too old to effectively defend his territory and so other males are starting to take advantage. We’ll see what happens in the following months. This male was certainly gorgeous in the early morning light and being there all by ourselves was a privilege.