Moving office

Sometimes, things don’t sit just right, and when they need to be moved, you should do just that! That is exactly what happened on an afternoon safari, when a young female leopard wasn’t feeling very confident with her hidden stash.

The leopard had caught the unfortunate impala two nights before the move. It was a good-sized impala, and she is a small leopard, so she was set for a good few days of solid feeding. It had been placed neatly in a marula tree, and lay (very) comfortably on one of the bigger branches, which may have been the problem. The kill, although safe from scavenging hyaenas, was exposed to the sky, meaning that the vultures looking for a cheap meal, would eventually spot the carcass, and give away the position of the leopard. Playing it smart, she decided to move the kill to a tree with more cover.

The lovely little leopard timed her move perfectly – when I was there with cameras loaded! She gave me a great show, moving with such grace and ease through the tree, taking her prey down the tree (after posing of course), moving it to the new hideout, and then hoisting it again!

I was thrilled to get the entire spectacle on camera; it didn’t hurt that the afternoon sun was nicely positioned behind me…

Jumping leopard

Jumping leopard

Leopard moving around the tree

Leopard descending the tree with her kill

Leopard descending the tree with her kill

Leopard posing in the tree with her kill

Leopard posing in the tree with her kill

Leopard descending the tree with her kill

Leopard descending the tree with her kill

Leopard descending the tree with her kill

Leopard moving her kill

Leopard moving her kill

Leopard re-hoisting her kill

The former Jackass

A short distance away from the hustle and bustle of Cape Town’s beautiful people live two colonies of African penguins. I took some time recently to pop down and see how the little chaps were doing.

I got lucky with some really good weather, and, given the time of year, I got even luckier with the small number of tourists at the colony sites! The viewing platforms can be a little limiting for photography, but the sunlight came pouring over my shoulders, giving me both great lighting and a nasty sunburn. The other bit of luck I needed was to see one or two of the penguins having a swim around. When they exit the water, it is great fun to watch, and photograph – fortunately, several of the penguins obliged accordingly, and I had some fun snapping away as they negotiated the waves.

Probably the hardest part of the day was singling out one or two individuals, as they all crowd together, making clean portraits surprisingly difficult. One of the bonuses though, is that they have all become so used to the masses of tourists, that you can get really close, (advisable to stay just out of biting distance), and take some different style photographs.

I was pleased with my outing, and thankful that the penguins played along, as I got some lovely images of the humourous characters that hang out at the bottom of the African continent.