Leopards are essentially shy and secretive nocturnal animals. Some books will go as far as to say that you will never see them at any other time. That is absolutely not true. I have seen them at all times of the day, hunting and on the move. If they are hungry enough they will hunt. If they are sleeping up a tree and a prey presents themselves on a platter so to speak they will go for it, even if they are not particularly starving hungry. Once again, depending on their character, and probably age and experience, they can be totally opportunistic.

One time, in the absolute heat of a scorching hot summers day in the early afternoon i was up on the Shingwedzi, (and believe me it can get just about ,as hot as it can get up there) when i spotted two leopards crossing a very dry section of the river. I was plotted up in complete shade on the river bank reading and writing and waiting for things to cool down a bit, even the birds were taking a siesta. The temperatures down on the dry river bed must of been absolutely blistering. Yet these two leopards, side by side, strolled down onto the sand, walked up the dry riverbed for about 100 metres and then up the far bank. As they walked along the riverbed the heat rising from the sand was so intense it created an illusion that almost made them look like they were wading through water.
They were not hunting, but clearly going somewhere with intent and focus. There was a pontoon another couple of hundred metres upriver so i drove up and crossed over when they went up the far bank and found them again. They were not hurried, nor were they looking around or deviating in their course in any way. They were just plodding on at a steady pace pedantically heading for some specific location. Where, i cannot say, i lost them when they passed a fairly wide open plain and entered a slightly thicker bush line after following them for about a kilometre . For as far as i could see, there were no large trees, rocky outcrops or particularly dense thickets that they could have been heading for. It was a great sighting and the last thing i expected to see at that time of day. From the moment i first saw them to the time i lost them was over 45 minutes, and in all that time they barely stopped or changed their pace at all, even as they climbed the river bank.They knew i was there, probably when they first walked down onto the sand of the riverbed, but for sure once i followed them over the river, and it did not bother them in the slightest.

Having said all that about different characters within different species, they do of course have basic habits and traits that they live by which are largely governed by their surroundings. Also the case with humans from different parts of the world is it not?
Leopards are solitary creatures for most of their lives, the only time one is liable to see them with others is when they are mating, or when a mother has cubs, or if their territories overlap and they are fighting which would invariably be male against male or female against female.

After mating, the male will leave the female to it. Generally she will go off and have the cubs in some secluded cave, hole in the ground or hollow tree, although the mother will probably move them around while they are still very young to avoid other predators. She will then stay with the cubs or cub as a family for up to 2 years, teaching them the ways of the bush and how to hunt and survive. Thereafter the young will go off to find their own territory and other leopards to mate with when the females are in oestrous.

Of all the big cats, their hunting and stalking skills are probably unsurpassed by any other breed. Depending on the surrounds and vegetation they will more often than not either stalk the prey until they are just a few metres away, lay in ambush until the unwitting ‘supper’ is a leap away, or lie up in a tree and drop down onto their prey as it passes underneath them..
They are versatile though, and clever. I have seen infra red video footage of a fully grown leopard, who, in the darkness of a moonless night stalked a couple of impala with virtually no cover until the gap between them was less than 10 metres. The impala, who apart from poor night sight, have amazing powers of perception, were none the wiser for the leopards presence whose night sight is clearly excellant. Even more incredible is that the two impala were part of a large herd that were dotted around, yet none of them were aware of the leopard whilst it was creeping up to its intended supper. At that point the leopard then proceeded to start tapping the ground with its paw, thereby letting the impala know that something was afoot (excuse the pun)and making them panic. Not being able to see, but knowing that a leopard was close they became virtually like rabbits caught in the headlights of a car and were then easy prey for the cat.

The tapping of the paw on the ground shows incredible awareness and perception, and again just goes to show that no animal can be absolutely and utterly typecast as they will and can adapt to all situations.

I would say that the favourite food of leopards, based on my own observations and experience is probably baboon, small buck and warthog. However, their diet as a whole takes in virtually anything from insects and mice to birds, fish and reptiles. I doubt if anything is actually safe from a hungry leopard. They will take livestock, and probably eat more other predators on the whole than any other cat, including other cats, but in particular dogs and jackals.

I have recently seen a couple of stunning photographs of a male leopard stalking and taking a crocodile! It was twice the length of the leopard but judging by the pics it did not stand a chance. The last picture in the sequence showed the leopard dragging the croc off into the reeds. I wonder if he took the kill up a tree…that would of made for an interesting picture!!

Generally speaking man-eating leopards are seldom heard of, and then, only when a leopard has grown old and is unable to hunt properly, mankind being by far the easiest of prey for carnivores. I guess it is only the inbred instinct of carnivores, borne over the last few centuries, that lets them know that with our weapons we are a very dangerous breed. However, just a few years ago in the Kruger, a game ranger was taking a group of tourist out for an evening drive. Still daylight they had stopped on a bridge in the south of the park for a sundowner and smoke break. The ranger who had his rifle with him was sitting slightly away from the group on the railings with his back to the bush. All the group heard whilst they were chattering away was the clatter of the rangers rifle as it fell to the ground. You can imagine how quickly they turned around, but no sign of the ranger and no noise. What was later discovered to be a very old leopard had taken the ranger with such ferocity and speed that he had him in the bush and was dragging him off even before the group had turned around! I have read quite a few of the books written by the old colonial white hunters who, without exception referred to a man eating leopard as the ‘yellow flash’

Surprisingly leopards are probably second only to hyaenas when it comes to eating rotten meat , and will feed on a stored carcass for several days, also, if the need arises they have no qualms about scavenging.

Their strength is amazing, and is seen clearly when carrying dead animals weighing more than themselves up the trunks of vertical tress with no branches for leverage, often the lowest branches can be several metres from the ground.

As i have mentioned already i have been fortunate enough to have seen leopards on many occasions in various situations, with kills, with cubs, mating and stalking prey. I have only seen one leopard kill actually happen though which was totally unexpected and an absolute luck. I had pulled up in a remote spot to watch a herd of impala whilst having some coffee early one morning, i think i may of distracted the impala because within less than a minute a leopard leapt out of some long grass and took a young impala that was probably less than ten metres away from where the leopard had been hiding.In fact i barely saw it, it was more a case of hearing it and then turning to see the result! It was over in a flash and the leopard immediately dragged the kill off into a thicket from where it had come. Believe me that was fortunate, i know some people who have been visiting the Kruger park for over twenty years and have never once seen leopard!
Most of my sightings have been from the safety of my landy, or in the past various cars, but i did have one confrontation where i came close to being in trouble. I was nearing the end of a six week safari and was about 100 klicks south of Zimbabwe and about 50 klicks or less west of Mozambique. I remember that i was a bit frustrated because i had not seen one leopard the whole trip. It had been a very eventful trip in many ways, but whenever i go on safari i always have it in my mind to find leopards, it just kinda seems to make safari’s whole somehow. I had come close to giving up a week before and was in the mood to go back to Joburg for a party that i knew was happening, but something made me stay. In fact i remember what it was, i had actually started to head for home after having lunching at satara when i came across a family of warthogs that spent over half an hour grazing around my car. Another guy in an old landy rocked up and was getting some great footage on some very fancy video equipment that he had. We chatted afterwards and he was saying that the warthog family was exactly what he had been looking for to put into a documentary he was making. Somehow that reinspired me and i turned round and instinctively headed north.

A couple of days later i arrived at an old favourite waterhole that i have spent a lot of time at. At that time there was an old ‘windmill’ driven waterpump there to replenish the water. I pulled up beside it and walked over intending to climb up and have a scout around. I was busting for a leak though so stood by a bush doing just that as i looked around. No sooner had i started when i heard a rustling about thirty metres off to my left coming from the lower branches of an acacia tree. As i turned and focused on the tree i noticed movement in the lowest bough and saw a leopards tail hanging down but curled and swishing from side to side!! Whoa…my heart instantly started pounding…i knew that the leopard could get to me in just a couple of seconds and i was a good ten paces from the car!!

So there i am, wearing only a pair of shorts peeing into bush with a leopard staring at me from the lower branch of a tree just metres away!!…i swear that for a second the world stood still for me, all i could hear was my piddle and the tail of the leopard swishing and once i had focused on the tail i could see her staring at me through the foliage of the branch she was on. My face would of made a classic photo at that point.

Suddenly a shape dropped out of the tree and i thought i was truly in deep shit when i realised that it was a dead Civet that the leopard must of just killed, i just noticed the banded tail as it fell. I stood stock still as the leopard followed the Civet with a surprisingly loud thud (maybe it was just that my senses were extremely acute by that stage). Fortunately the leopard picked up the civet and waltzed off into the bush that led down to a dried river bed, my reading of the situation was that she was pissed at me for disturbing lunch, but was not going to distracted.
I think i kinda glided back to the car in a split second!! And once i got over my initial shock and anger with myself for not checking the area properly before i got out of the car i tried to drive into the bush for a picture. No chance, i was in a Honda Ballade and within a few metres my rear wheel jammed up against a small broken tree stump hidden by the undergrowth. Hell!! I was kicking myself, if only i had just checked the tree first i would of probably been able to park up directly under the leopard which was only about ten or twelve feet off the ground on a fairly thick bough, and gotten some fantastic pictures, especially as the civet was fresh and an attractive animal in its own right. The pics would of been brilliant.
I drove back to the windmill and parked right beside it and climbed up. I saw the leopard again in the river bed amongst some reeds. She was a beautiful specimen, young female, maybe about two or three years old. She had the civet at her feet and was looking up at me on top of the windmill, quite disgusted with my presence. At that point she picked the civet up again and walked off out of my sight.
Six weeks looking for her and i completely screw it up!!…still, it was a memorable moment, one that i shall never forgot even if i did not get any pics.

Going back to baboons, it would seem as though the two species particularly hate each other in much the same way that the lion generally hates the hyaenas. I do believe that a leopard will kill baboons for any reason and at any opportunity. Possibly, because baboons can climb equally as well as leopards and better, and therefore are often to be found in trees. Also a troop of baboons with a few experienced old boys amongst them will also fight back and additionally, will kill the leopard cubs whenever they get a chance (as they would the cubs of any large predator).

There is an old Zulu story that says in days gone by the leopard and baboons were once friends. One day a female leopard chased a hare until the hare scrambled into an anthill for refuge. Leopard asked baboon to stand guard over the entrance of the anthill while she went to the river for a drink. Being a hot day however the baboon dozed off and the hare, hearing the baboon snoring made a run for it and escaped.
On her return the leopard saw the hare disappearing in to the nearby bush, rushed up to the baboon and slapped him awake roaring “O worthless monkey” (‘monkey’ being the biggest insult a baboon could receive) “ you have let my lunch escape you worthless ape”. The leopard stood there, eyes blazing with anger as the baboon backed off in fear. Not finished lambasting the baboon the leopard grabbed the baboon with its claws meaning to scold him further. The feel of the flesh of the baboon in her claws made her stop in mid sentence, her eyes gleamed and she licked her lips as she thought for a second. “You have lost me my lunch you stupid monkey and now i don’t care about our friendship anymore and i am going to eat you instead”
“Eek!” screamed baboon, “”wait, oh beautiful one! Let me at least pay for my crime in a proper way. Did you not know, most lovely of beasts, that the best way to kill a baboon is to drop it from a great height? We break into many pieces which makes for a lovely and tender easy meal for you. Leopard paused, surprised, as she thought about what baboon was telling her. Seeing leopards hesitation the baboon carried on babbling, not giving leopard a chance to think too much, “just throw me up into this tree and you will see me fall and split open like a ripe fruit”.
Leopard could not resist the thought so she tossed the baboon high up into the tree.
In a flash the baboon caught hold of the branches and climbed high up into the flimsy thorn branches at the top of the tree. He started to laugh and cackle, screaming loud abuse at leopard for ages at the top of his voice, even daring to call her a mangy cat, which really enraged leopard. Other animals, attracted by the commotion, started to gather round and leopards pride could not stand it, and she stormed off into the bush with her tail lashing with fury.
Leopard never ever forgot the insults from baboon, nor how she had been tricked, and she never forgave. To this day, The legend says, the leopard hunts the baboon in preference to all other food, and the baboon screams in fear at the mere sight of his deadliest enemy.
There is also an old Ndebele story about why a leopard hides its food up a tree. In days gone by the leopard, jackal and hyaena also used to be the best of friends, and whenever leopards made a kill they always left some for their friends the jackal and hyaena.
One day the leopard was not feeling so good so she asked the jackal to hunt some food for a change. The lazy jackal made an excuse saying he was too tired, so the leopard asked the hyaena to catch some food. The hyaena also said he could not because he had a sore foot. The leopard roared with anger saying that she thought they were her friends but in fact they were a no-good lazy pair and in future she would never leave them with any of her leftovers.
True to her word, ever since that day the leopard never leaves any food for her old friends and always put the kill high up into the tree out of the jackal and hyaenas reach. They have become largely scavengers now, eating any old scraps they can get. A sad day for them when they lost the leopard’s friendship!!

Now here is a subject that interests me greatly. I cannot pretend to be a scholar or an expert on the subject, but i have certainly spent a great deal of time watching and studying animals, birds and humans for that matter, many thousands of hours in fact, so it is safe to say that ethology and ethnology are a hobby of mine. Whether it be in the bush, the garden at home (where i run a ‘bird’ restaurant), out on the streets, at work, or at various social gatherings…anywhere and everywhere in fact
I have read quite a few books along the way, some of them specifically focused on Ethology, most of them just wildlife books with observations and remarks regarding the behaviour of different species. Regarding human behaviour, i have not read so many books but every day i read various reports in the newspapers and magazines, which although i largely consider to be comics to varying degrees are nonetheless a constant education when learning about the ways of man.

A very complex subject to say the least!!

I think my first observation overall, with regards to what i have read is that no living creature can be categorically typecast when it comes to talking about their personalities or behaviour. Of course most species do have certain habits and traits, particularly with regard to habitat and diet, but even that cannot be 100% cast in stone. After all is said and done, if a creature is hungry enough they will eat most things, and although many species are just not found in certain areas, should they happen to get caught in unusual circumstances they will adapt to survive.
When it comes to personalities, all warm blooded creatures, just like humans, can think, react and behave differently when faced with different situations, whether it be everyday life or special or unusual circumstances.
Just like humans, every bird and animal species contain individuals who are exactly that, individuals. Happy, grumpy, sad, in love, out of love, lonely, gregarious, piggish, picky, cautious, conceited, down to earth, difficult, easy going, shy, boisterous, lazy, energetic. I honestly believe that every trait one can attribute to humans can also be attributed to animals. They have good days and bad days, and quite often for no apparent reason.
Habits too cannot be completely generalised across any particular species. For example, we all know that LEOPARDS are essentially shy and secretive nocturnal animals. Some books will go as far as to say that you will never see them at any other time. That is absolutely not true. I have seen them at all times of the day, hunting and on the move. If they are hungry enough they will hunt. If they are sleeping up a tree and a prey presents themselves on a platter so to speak they will go for it, even if they are not particularly starving hungry. Once again, depending on their character, and probably age and experience, they can be totally opportunistic.

One time, in the absolute heat of a scorching hot summers day in the early afternoon i was up on the Shingwedzi, (and believe me it can get just about ,as hot as it can get up there) when i spotted two leopards crossing a very dry section of the river. I was plotted up in complete shade on the river bank reading and writing and waiting for things to cool down a bit, even the birds were taking a siesta. The temperatures down on the dry river bed must of been absolutely blistering. Yet these two leopards, side by side, strolled down onto the sand, walked up the dry riverbed for about 100 metres and then up the far bank. As they walked along the riverbed the heat rising from the sand was so intense it created an illusion that almost made them look like they were wading through water.
They were not hunting, but clearly going somewhere with intent and focus. There was a pontoon another couple of hundred metres upriver so i drove up and crossed over when they went up the far bank and found them again. They were not hurried, nor were they looking around or deviating in their course in any way. They were just plodding on at a steady pace pedantically heading for some specific location. Where, i cannot say, i lost them when they passed a fairly wide open plain and entered a slightly thicker bush line after following them for about a kilometre . For as far as i could see, there were no large trees, rocky outcrops or particularly dense thickets that they could have been heading for. It was a great sighting and the last thing i expected to see at that time of day. From the moment i first saw them to the time i lost them was over 45 minutes, and in all that time they barely stopped or changed their pace at all, even as they climbed the river bank.They knew i was there, probably when they first walked down onto the sand of the riverbed, but for sure once i followed them over the river, and it did not bother them in the slightest.

Having said all that about different characters within different species, they do of course have basic habits and traits that they live by which are largely governed by their surroundings. Also the case with humans from different parts of the world is it not?
Leopards are solitary creatures for most of their lives, the only time one is liable to see them with others is when they are mating, or when a mother has cubs, or if their territories overlap and they are fighting which would invariably be male against male or female against female.

After mating, the male will leave the female to it. Generally she will go off and have the cubs in some secluded cave, hole in the ground or hollow tree, although the mother will probably move them around while they are still very young to avoid other predators. She will then stay with the cubs or cub as a family for up to 2 years, teaching them the ways of the bush and how to hunt and survive. Thereafter the young will go off to find their own territory and other leopards to mate with when the females are in oestrous.

Of all the big cats, their hunting and stalking skills are probably unsurpassed by any other breed. Depending on the surrounds and vegetation they will more often than not either stalk the prey until they are just a few metres away, lay in ambush until the unwitting ‘supper’ is a leap away, or lie up in a tree and drop down onto their prey as it passes underneath them..
They are versatile though, and clever. I have seen infra red video footage of a fully grown leopard, who, in the darkness of a moonless night stalked a couple of impala with virtually no cover until the gap between them was less than 10 metres. The impala, who apart from poor night sight, have amazing powers of perception, were none the wiser for the leopards presence whose night sight is clearly excellant. Even more incredible is that the two impala were part of a large herd that were dotted around, yet none of them were aware of the leopard whilst it was creeping up to its intended supper. At that point the leopard then proceeded to start tapping the ground with its paw, thereby letting the impala know that something was afoot (excuse the pun)and making them panic. Not being able to see, but knowing that a leopard was close they became virtually like rabbits caught in the headlights of a car and were then easy prey for the cat.

The tapping of the paw on the ground shows incredible awareness and perception, and again just goes to show that no animal can be absolutely and utterly typecast as they will and can adapt to all situations.

I would say that the favourite food of leopards, based on my own observations and experience is probably baboon, small buck and warthog. However, their diet as a whole takes in virtually anything from insects and mice to birds, fish and reptiles. I doubt if anything is actually safe from a hungry leopard. They will take livestock, and probably eat more other predators on the whole than any other cat, including other cats, but in particular dogs and jackals.

I have recently seen a couple of stunning photographs of a male leopard stalking and taking a crocodile! It was twice the length of the leopard but judging by the pics it did not stand a chance. The last picture in the sequence showed the leopard dragging the croc off into the reeds. I wonder if he took the kill up a tree…that would of made for an interesting picture!!

Generally speaking man-eating leopards are seldom heard of, and then, only when a leopard has grown old and is unable to hunt properly, mankind being by far the easiest of prey for carnivores. I guess it is only the inbred instinct of carnivores, borne over the last few centuries, that lets them know that with our weapons we are a very dangerous breed. However, just a few years ago in the Kruger, a game ranger was taking a group of tourist out for an evening drive. Still daylight they had stopped on a bridge in the south of the park for a sundowner and smoke break. The ranger who had his rifle with him was sitting slightly away from the group on the railings with his back to the bush. All the group heard whilst they were chattering away was the clatter of the rangers rifle as it fell to the ground. You can imagine how quickly they turned around, but no sign of the ranger and no noise. What was later discovered to be a very old leopard had taken the ranger with such ferocity and speed that he had him in the bush and was dragging him off even before the group had turned around! I have read quite a few of the books written by the old colonial white hunters who, without exception referred to a man eating leopard as the ‘yellow flash’

Surprisingly leopards are probably second only to hyaenas when it comes to eating rotten meat , and will feed on a stored carcass for several days, also, if the need arises they have no qualms about scavenging.

Their strength is amazing, and is seen clearly when carrying dead animals weighing more than themselves up the trunks of vertical tress with no branches for leverage, often the lowest branches can be several metres from the ground.

As i have mentioned already i have been fortunate enough to have seen leopards on many occasions in various situations, with kills, with cubs, mating and stalking prey. I have only seen one leopard kill actually happen though which was totally unexpected and an absolute luck. I had pulled up in a remote spot to watch a herd of impala whilst having some coffee early one morning, i think i may of distracted the impala because within less than a minute a leopard leapt out of some long grass and took a young impala that was probably less than ten metres away from where the leopard had been hiding.In fact i barely saw it, it was more a case of hearing it and then turning to see the result! It was over in a flash and the leopard immediately dragged the kill off into a thicket from where it had come. Believe me that was fortunate, i know some people who have been visiting the Kruger park for over twenty years and have never once seen leopard!
Most of my sightings have been from the safety of my landy, or in the past various cars, but i did have one confrontation where i came close to being in trouble. I was nearing the end of a six week safari and was about 100 klicks south of Zimbabwe and about 50 klicks or less west of Mozambique. I remember that i was a bit frustrated because i had not seen one leopard the whole trip. It had been a very eventful trip in many ways, but whenever i go on safari i always have it in my mind to find leopards, it just kinda seems to make safari’s whole somehow. I had come close to giving up a week before and was in the mood to go back to Joburg for a party that i knew was happening, but something made me stay. In fact i remember what it was, i had actually started to head for home after having lunching at satara when i came across a family of warthogs that spent over half an hour grazing around my car. Another guy in an old landy rocked up and was getting some great footage on some very fancy video equipment that he had. We chatted afterwards and he was saying that the warthog family was exactly what he had been looking for to put into a documentary he was making. Somehow that reinspired me and i turned round and instinctively headed north.

A couple of days later i arrived at an old favourite waterhole that i have spent a lot of time at. At that time there was an old ‘windmill’ driven waterpump there to replenish the water. I pulled up beside it and walked over intending to climb up and have a scout around. I was busting for a leak though so stood by a bush doing just that as i looked around. No sooner had i started when i heard a rustling about thirty metres off to my left coming from the lower branches of an acacia tree. As i turned and focused on the tree i noticed movement in the lowest bough and saw a leopards tail hanging down but curled and swishing from side to side!! Whoa…my heart instantly started pounding…i knew that the leopard could get to me in just a couple of seconds and i was a good ten paces from the car!!

So there i am, wearing only a pair of shorts peeing into bush with a leopard staring at me from the lower branch of a tree just metres away!!…i swear that for a second the world stood still for me, all i could hear was my piddle and the tail of the leopard swishing and once i had focused on the tail i could see her staring at me through the foliage of the branch she was on. My face would of made a classic photo at that point.

Suddenly a shape dropped out of the tree and i thought i was truly in deep shit when i realised that it was a dead Civet that the leopard must of just killed, i just noticed the banded tail as it fell. I stood stock still as the leopard followed the Civet with a surprisingly loud thud (maybe it was just that my senses were extremely acute by that stage). Fortunately the leopard picked up the civet and waltzed off into the bush that led down to a dried river bed, my reading of the situation was that she was pissed at me for disturbing lunch, but was not going to distracted.
I think i kinda glided back to the car in a split second!! And once i got over my initial shock and anger with myself for not checking the area properly before i got out of the car i tried to drive into the bush for a picture. No chance, i was in a Honda Ballade and within a few metres my rear wheel jammed up against a small broken tree stump hidden by the undergrowth. Hell!! I was kicking myself, if only i had just checked the tree first i would of probably been able to park up directly under the leopard which was only about ten or twelve feet off the ground on a fairly thick bough, and gotten some fantastic pictures, especially as the civet was fresh and an attractive animal in its own right. The pics would of been brilliant.
I drove back to the windmill and parked right beside it and climbed up. I saw the leopard again in the river bed amongst some reeds. She was a beautiful specimen, young female, maybe about two or three years old. She had the civet at her feet and was looking up at me on top of the windmill, quite disgusted with my presence. At that point she picked the civet up again and walked off out of my sight.
Six weeks looking for her and i completely screw it up!!…still, it was a memorable moment, one that i shall never forgot even if i did not get any pics.

Going back to baboons, it would seem as though the two species particularly hate each other in much the same way that the lion generally hates the hyaenas. I do believe that a leopard will kill baboons for any reason and at any opportunity. Possibly, because baboons can climb equally as well as leopards and better, and therefore are often to be found in trees. Also a troop of baboons with a few experienced old boys amongst them will also fight back and additionally, will kill the leopard cubs whenever they get a chance (as they would the cubs of any large predator).

There is an old Zulu story that says in days gone by the leopard and baboons were once friends. One day a female leopard chased a hare until the hare scrambled into an anthill for refuge. Leopard asked baboon to stand guard over the entrance of the anthill while she went to the river for a drink. Being a hot day however the baboon dozed off and the hare, hearing the baboon snoring made a run for it and escaped.
On her return the leopard saw the hare disappearing in to the nearby bush, rushed up to the baboon and slapped him awake roaring “O worthless monkey” (‘monkey’ being the biggest insult a baboon could receive) “ you have let my lunch escape you worthless ape”. The leopard stood there, eyes blazing with anger as the baboon backed off in fear. Not finished lambasting the baboon the leopard grabbed the baboon with its claws meaning to scold him further. The feel of the flesh of the baboon in her claws made her stop in mid sentence, her eyes gleamed and she licked her lips as she thought for a second. “You have lost me my lunch you stupid monkey and now i don’t care about our friendship anymore and i am going to eat you instead”
“Eek!” screamed baboon, “”wait, oh beautiful one! Let me at least pay for my crime in a proper way. Did you not know, most lovely of beasts, that the best way to kill a baboon is to drop it from a great height? We break into many pieces which makes for a lovely and tender easy meal for you. Leopard paused, surprised, as she thought about what baboon was telling her. Seeing leopards hesitation the baboon carried on babbling, not giving leopard a chance to think too much, “just throw me up into this tree and you will see me fall and split open like a ripe fruit”.
Leopard could not resist the thought so she tossed the baboon high up into the tree.
In a flash the baboon caught hold of the branches and climbed high up into the flimsy thorn branches at the top of the tree. He started to laugh and cackle, screaming loud abuse at leopard for ages at the top of his voice, even daring to call her a mangy cat, which really enraged leopard. Other animals, attracted by the commotion, started to gather round and leopards pride could not stand it, and she stormed off into the bush with her tail lashing with fury.
Leopard never ever forgot the insults from baboon, nor how she had been tricked, and she never forgave. To this day, The legend says, the leopard hunts the baboon in preference to all other food, and the baboon screams in fear at the mere sight of his deadliest enemy.
There is also an old Ndebele story about why a leopard hides its food up a tree. In days gone by the leopard, jackal and hyaena also used to be the best of friends, and whenever leopards made a kill they always left some for their friends the jackal and hyaena.
One day the leopard was not feeling so good so she asked the jackal to hunt some food for a change. The lazy jackal made an excuse saying he was too tired, so the leopard asked the hyaena to catch some food. The hyaena also said he could not because he had a sore foot. The leopard roared with anger saying that she thought they were her friends but in fact they were a no-good lazy pair and in future she would never leave them with any of her leftovers.
True to her word, ever since that day the leopard never leaves any food for her old friends and always put the kill high up into the tree out of the jackal and hyaenas reach. They have become largely scavengers now, eating any old scraps they can get. A sad day for them when they lost the leopard’s friendship!!
(Zulu and Ndebele stories compiled into when hippo was hairy by Nick Greaves)