Like many of us, our lives are shaped by prominent people - parents, role models, teachers, etc. A mother leopard, a solitary parent, has to fill all of these roles and like us humans this is no mean feat. However, the Outcrop female is doing a fantastic job on raising her young cub, the Kelenge female, into a superior huntress and there was no better example of this than on a recent game drive.

We went out in search of the two leopardesses, who were last seen close to a dam near Earth Lodge. It was a hot day so we fancied our chances of finding them as they would not have ventured too far in the blistering African heat. As we approached the dam, there they were, resting in the shade but showing signs of agitation. The Outcrop female was hissing - a clear sign of annoyance but it wasn’t at us as we had positioned the vehicle a fair distance away from them. The cub was the first to get up and leave and took refuge under a large Fever tree on the opposite bank while mum followed soon thereafter.

The source of her irritation was soon apparent in the form of a Spotted Hyena who sauntered down the dusty road close to the previous location of the leopards. It then decided to rest up in a mud wallow close to the dam in an attempt to cool off.

It is great to see animals interacting and we had no idea of how lucky we were going to be. Ever the opportunist and despite a nearby hyena, the Outcrop female focused her attention on the reeds close to edge of the dam. Under the watchful eye of her cub and before I had a chance to lift my camera, she leaped into the air and splashed into the water only to see a cane rat swimming across to the far side of the dam. All this commotion had captured the attention of the hyena who made its way to the location of the leopards.

The mother fearlessly positioned herself between the attacker and her naïve cub, flattening her ears, hissing and snarling exposing her sharp formidable teeth. After a standoff of about 5 minutes, the hyena decided to move off as there was no kill to fight over and moved off to its nearby mud wallow to cool down again after all this heated tension.

The Outcrop female decided to move off to a nearby riverbed and hoping that her cub would follow but the ever confident leopardess decided to stay under the Fever tree and the wonderful shade it provided on this hot day. We decided to stay with the cub and we were soon rewarded for our patience as she started to move. Something captured her attention, she was on the hunt, she had spotted something that we hadn’t seen but she was certainly interested. With very slow movements she made her way to the reeds by the water’s edge, we then realised she was moving to the spot where the cane rat had swam across to exit the dam on the safety of the south western bank. The bank however was not safe anymore and the leopard pounced and after a little squeal she emerged with her prey firmly in her mouth.

Like most domestic cats, she decided to play with her food first before proudly taking it across to her mum to show her the conquest. It was at this point that the Outcrop female growled and snarled and stole her cub’s hard earned meal.

Outcrop’s cub, the recently named Kelenge female, has been proving to us that she is a very competent killer and she should not be too far from being independent from her mother. The Outcrop female certainly showed distain to her cub after making the cane rat kill - was it her failing at the kill or was it an attempt to push her cub away realising she had succeeded in raising a skilled huntress?