The tale of Mapengo

It was a Sunday afternoon, and we were on a game drive when we heard on the radio that Mapengo, one of our famous leopards (whose name means "toothless"), had been spotted up in a Balanitis tree. I told my guests, and since it was a bit of a drive, we set off to see him. After 25 minutes we arrived and, luckily, he was still up in the tree. My guests were thrilled because it was their first time seeing a leopard.

We spent some time watching him, and as the sun started to set, Mapengo began to yawn. I explained to my guests that when leopards yawn, it usually means they’re waking up and getting ready to come down from the tree. After he yawned three times, he climbed down and started walking, looking curious as he scanned the area.

I looked around to see what had caught his attention and saw two big male warthogs fighting. This behaviour sharpened the leopard's focus, and he started stalking them. I told my guests to get ready because witnessing a leopard hunt is one of the top highlights of a safari. We followed Mapengo as he got closer to the warthogs, but then the wind changed. The warthogs caught the leopard’s scent, stopped fighting, and quickly ran off into a thicket.

To my surprise, Mapengo didn’t give up. He ran to the side of the road, crouching low, and waited. After some time, one of the warthogs came back and walked right past the leopard. We all expected Mapengo to pounce, but instead, he stayed still and didn’t attack. The warthog walked by without fear and not running.

That’s when I remembered that Mapengo had lost his two upper canine teeth, so hunting a large warthog with such big tusks would be a risky challenge for him. I realized that animals, like Mapengo, are smart and can assess the risks of their hunts. They know when it's too dangerous to attack, and in this case, the leopard decided it wasn’t worth the risk.

Later in the month this same leopard was seen with a female warthog kill, that he had hoisted in a tree.