About the Blog

My blog post are of varied topics ranging from personal experiences, travel, wild life photographs, interesting news, of happenings around the world that catches my fancy. In other words i write about anything when i am in a mood to write

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Leopard and cubs crossing the safari path



Misty morning during the safari and our vehicle including most of the vehicles made a beeline to the nearly full water hole as the previous day a male tiger was sighted in the water. While being parked at the waterhole we could hear an alarm call of the spotted deer at a distance and immediately most vehicles drove towards the alarm calls taking different routes and looping back to the waterhole. We did not see any predator so once again back at the waterhole. One safari bus came by and stated that leopard is walking along the road and off we rushed towards the spot and we we were able to see the bold old male leopard walking along the safari path while scent marking the area for about 5 minutes before he vanished into the bush. Our naturalist took a decision to move ahead thinking that the leopard that had gone into the would emerge out into open and as we were moving slowly scanning both sides of the forest as we could hear the alarm calls of bonnet macaque and langurs within the forested area. So were  all other vehicles but then after sometime these alarm call subsided and hence all other vehicles moved away however we stay put in the area as we had arrived to this spot late. After waiting there for over 10 minutes our driver started the vehicle but suddenly a herd of spotted deers about 25 meters ahead of the jeep started giving out alarm calls and looking towards the left hand side of the safari path. Immediately our driver stopped the vehicle and both naturalist and he started scanning the front left side bushes beside the path for the predator. Suddenly the naturalist stated that there is a female leopard just outside the bush looking intently into the bush and he predicted possible cubs. We guest asked the driver to move a little ahead so as to get a clear vision but the naturalist asked the driver to stay put for if there are cubs they would not come out in open. The waiting game and patience in the wild paid us rich dividend and we witnessed the mother leopard paving the path for its two cubs to cross the safari path and go into the bushes on the other side of the path. 







We kept waiting and then the mother leopard climbed on the tree and flopped down on the branch and started dozing. Slowly one by one the cubs climbed the tree and settled down beside her


I have deliberately left out the name of the forest and the area but regulars to this forest will be able to guess the same. Do enjoy the video and the images and give your comments if any.