The Nanga female is a leopard that hasn’t been featured much over the last few weeks. Her daughter the Makomsava female has been seen far more regularly, and it has led to some concern over the mother’s whereabouts.
Having said that, her territory isn’t covered by too many roads, and it’s not hard for a leopard to avoid detection for weeks at a time, especially if no specific efforts are made to track her down.
The north-east corner of Londolozi is one in which we see few leopards. It’s a high-risk, high-reward section of the reserve covered with extensive bushwillow thickets, and our understanding of leopard territories and movements in the area is patchy at best.
The Nanga female was born to the Nyelethi 4:4 female in 2009 as part of a litter of three.
So when ranger Guy Brunskill and tracker Shadrack Mkhabela recently found a hoisted duiker kill in a dead Knobthorn tree there, speculation was rife as to which leopard may have made it. When Guy and Shadrack drove closer to have a look, but the leopard must have been lying in the long grass, as when our vehicle and another joined a few minutes later, it suddenly emerged as if from nowhere, looking towards the kill.
This was the kill before the leopard climbed the tree, with the sun still shining on it.
We were hoping she (it was clearly a female from her her small stature) would climb the tree immediately, as the sun was still up and the duiker carcass was bathed in golden light, but it was not to be, and she remained on the ground. Perhaps she felt she would be too exposed in full daylight, as the tree was essentially just the trunk of the dead Knobthorn, with no branches and therefore no cover. A few hyenas nearby were highly indicative that her poor choice of hoisting platform must have been made under duress, as there were many Marula trees not too far away.
After about a 30 minute wait, she stood up again and began approaching the tree, a pronounced limp evident when she tried to use her front right foot. She looked like the Nanga female, but the fact that she had been lying in the grass and we had been viewing her mainly at a distance made identifying her tricky at first. Guy was sure he recognised her spot pattern, and he was later proved to be correct. Way more correct than he was when trying to direct us into the sighting, but that’s another story…
Cameras poised, everyone waited with baited breath for her to ascend, for surely no one there had ever seen a leopard on a clearer perch with a kill?
She climbed up to the kill just after the sun had gone down, but the sky was still vibrantly coloured, and with the aid of a spotlight we were able to capture some the scene.
As the light faded, we moved our vehicle a couple of times to experiment with some different angles; silhouette shots, side-lighting and some simple spotlight photography. The open tree made things infinitely easier.
A similar shot to the one below, just without the spotlight. For really nice silhouette shots, a less cluttered background and foreground would have been better, but the slope of the hill made this angle hard to achieve.
A few minutes later showing a different sky colour, and with a spotlight coming in from one of the other vehicles.
As we sat there enjoying the evening glow, a bright orb crept up over the eastern horizon. It was the full moon, slowly making its way up into the sky towards where it would only a few hours later be in the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century. It’s amazing how quickly the moon appears to rise when it has a reference point like a leopard in a tree to move past, and by the time it was in position beyond the Nanga female, it was already bright, and as such very difficult to capture adequately without some serious camera gear and a long setup time. Focusing on the leopard, we made the most of this unique photo opportunity and tried to get shots of her with simply a bright orb behind her.
A leopard in a completely open tree with a full moon behind it might not be seen on Londolozi again for quite some time.
Within minutes the moon was high above the leopard, and short of driving right underneath her which we weren’t about to do, fitting them both in the frame became harder and harder, so we opted to simply watch and enjoy.
Having been in the sighting and knowing what potential there was, I’m already thinking ahead to the next opportunity and exactly what equipment I’ll need to get the exact shot I’m after. Maybe leopard silhouetted against the full moon (massive lens required)? Maybe leopard exposed with moon also exposed for (multiple shots required, very stable camera, massive lens required)?
Whatever image can be envisaged, I think it might be better to just be happy with what I’ve got, as the opportunity is very unlikely to come around again any time soon…
Wow! Amazing sighting. You are right James, this happens once in a life time. To photograph a leopard with the full moon; stunning!
Hope the Nanga female recovers from her foot injury quickly and a good meal will no doubt help that recovery
Loved the photos, especially that first one! What a beautiful animal, what a sighting! Thanks for sharing,
James!
Somehow leopards at twilight or night with moons seem to go together and immediately there is a magic aura of great beauty and mystery. The darkness of the night in the Bush creates an atmosphere of its own and then added to a leopard and a moon – well – it’s spectacular. These pics are really super, James. More for my screensaver collection! Wendy M
So glad to know that Nanga is safe, with only a seemingly minor foot/leg injury. The photos are stunning, of course!
Those are all unbelievable photographs!! Pretty sure they could be unique!!
Awesome sighting. Stunning sky!
So many wonderful things occur at Londolozi, but this truly is rare and exceptional. So glad you were there, James!! The images are stunning and with a full moon no less. Glad that the foot injury didn’t impede a successful hunt and that no one stole her meal! Now….pack up all that additional equipment.
Spectacular!
And simply being there in the moment can be enough without any equipment. That being said, your photos are a wonderful reminder of how great the cosmic and natural worlds work to compliment one another. The leopard may not have been wise in choosing such an open tree to stash her kill but she did offer you some challenging photo ops once the moon appeared. Bravo!
Super cool shots James! What an incredible sighting!