Digital Safari-Leopard at Chitabe

Today we got our first leopard of the trip.  The sighting was at Chitabe Camp in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, the first of four camps we will visit on our July 2009 Digital Photo Safari.

She was a relaxed female leopard, beautifully perched in a dry acacia tree.

The leopard was watching some impalas in the distance and she eventually came down to try to get closer to them.  She stayed in the woodland, moving quietly along the edge as we watched, stopping only to scent mark on bushes and to smell interesting scents.

She climbed a low tree to get another line of sight on the herd of impala, which were feeding in the bushes not far away.  With clear intent, she flattened herself instantly, lowered her ears and slunk off the tree stump with typical leopard agility.  We watched in silence as she stalked slowly and carefully towards the antelopes and out of our sight.  We waited in anticipation for the next twenty minutes, expecting her to charge out at any instant to make an attempt at one of the impalas.

Then suddenly, one of the impalas caught sight of the leopard and as one, the herd became fully alert, with alarm calls sounding and plenty of foot stomping.  All at once, the herd moved away at a run.  That was the end of our sighting as we left the leopard to continue its search for food.