Patience pays off after hyena steals meal

One beautiful morning, while I was out on a game drive, I heard a radio call from one of my colleagues. They had spotted a female leopard moving around, sniffing and calling. I rushed to the sighting, but it took me about twenty minutes to get there since I was a bit far. By the time I arrived, the leopard had already relocated her sub-adult cub, a daughter.

The two leopards continued to move through the area, with the cub happily playing, jumping, and bonding with her mother. We guessed that the mother might be leading her cub to a place where she had food hidden. Our instincts were right after following them for a while, we discovered that the mother had a hidden kill. It was a full grown Grant’s gazelle lying in the tall grass, too heavy for the mother to carry up into a tree.

The cub immediately started to eat, while the mother took a break, recovering from the long journey. Later, they both rested in the shade of a tree. But soon, a large troop of baboons came by, chasing the leopards away from their resting spot and leaving the carcass unattended. The leopards didn’t go far; they knew the baboons wouldn’t stay long. Once the baboons left, the leopards returned to the tree and resumed their sleep, staying close to the carcass.

A few minutes later, a hyena appeared, drawn by the smell of the kill. It moved in on the kill and fed. The leopards watched the hyena eating their food, but they couldn’t do much except wait for their turn. They moved in closer and managed to nibble on small pieces of meat left behind by the hyena. Once the hyena had eaten its fill, it left some leftovers behind. The mother leopard quickly dragged what was left into a nearby tree and together they shared the meal, finishing what was left by the competitive hyena.

It was an incredible sight to witness the mother and cub working together and patiently waiting for their chance to eat, despite all the challenges they faced.