By the last days of our 14-day tour we were almost at the point of leopard overload. In fact, after I post this, I plan on getting back to processing leopard images, I can't remember ever being this far behind on images, ever. My leopard tour is unusual in that; it is set up to get as much photography of leopards, other big cats and the big 5 as possible. This means we don't spend time experiencing the culture of local villages, as this would take time away from our safari drives, we do not waste time driving to and from different lodges, we just concentrate on going on safari drives at least twice a day, sometimes more. This has a big impact on your photography time in the field, most 11-day safaris offer maybe 12-13 drives, during our 11-day tour we normally manage to go on 18 drives in 11 days, those 5 extra safari drives can make a huge difference on leaving Africa with the images you really want on your hard-drive.
We were able to spend a couple of hours one morning with this male, who has just taken over the territory and females, of a very old male leopard. Leopards like to walk along river banks in the morning, surveying their territory, and marking their property every chance they have.
This leopard is taking a much deserved rest from taking care of her two cubs, we spent a lot of time with her and the young ones over our 14 days of the tour. This female's two cubs will be the main subject of the next tour report.
This leopard is really interested in something she heard, and is scanning the horizon, she might have heard something that sounded like one of her cubs.
After an exhausting week this male and is taking a quick 5 minute breather before getting back to work. We watched this leopard mate with two different females more than a few times over a week. They normally stay with a female for 3 or so days, mating every 15-20 minutes. This male would alternate over 7 days, one day with one female and back with another a day or two later.
Tomorrow's post will feature leopard cubs, one my very favorite subjects of all time, so check back in a day or two for part 3 of the report.
If you are thinking about joining us in 2019, this tour in unlike anything you can find anywhere else. Tour dates and prices have been confirmed, please see this link for more info: http://www.robertotoole.com/south-africa-tour/