Tanzania – Serengeti 2013

 

On a sunny morning we came across a leopard with her 2 young cubs. There were some cars around, so we waited  a bit, hoping the cars would leave.  Instead more and more vehicles arrived. It was chaos.  everyone was blocking the road, trying to get a better spot to see them. The leopardess was clearly disturbed, so she came down from the tree, and wanted to cross the road.  One cub followed her immediately, but the other was hesitant.  The leopardess crossed, and called her offspring.  One of the cars wanted a better view of the cubs, so they were manoeuvring  around, just as the cubs started crossing the road between all the vehicles.  I couldn’t believe what I saw!  The car almost drove over the cub! People were shouting, the mom was calling, pacing to get a look at her cubs. 

One cub appeared on the other side.  But where was the other one?  My heart was racing, fearing for it’s life.  It surprised me how protective I felt towards that cub.  I was almost ready to jump out of the car and rescue it!  I was certainly ready to punch someone if they drove over it!  We had kept our distance so we couldn’t see what was happening…

My heart skipped a beat when I saw the second cub coming out of the chaos!!  Full of joy he pounced on his sibling!!

Mom jumped in the tree close to our vehicle.  Our patience paid off.  Most cars drove away (probably too ashamed to show their faces again!)  one cub followed his mom.  As he was looking down at his sibling,  he saw something interesting!!  In all the chaos, one of the cars had dropped something!!  Being a young cat, he did exactly what you would expect!  Playtime!

To be continued…

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