South Luangwa noon. The life of her cub hangs in the balance at its young age, and we wanted to ensure that we caused as little disturbance as possible. We also considered the incredible sighting we had been privileged to observe. None of us enjoy watching the demise of any animal but witnessing the way a supreme predator pits itself against an agile and athletic prey is something incredible and entirely natural. We returned in the afternoon and found Olimba and her cub in a nearby tree, and the carcass under a different bush. Why had she not dragged it into a tree? We were dismayed as there were hyenas all around and very quickly one picked up the smell and dragged away her prize… She left the cub in the tree and followed the hyena, watching as it devoured the whole carcass. Occasionally it would move a few yards and she would clear up the scraps. She can’t challenge the hyena, which is twice her size, for fear of injury that would prevent her hunting for herself and the cub. It was tough to watch her getting only the scraps of the kill she had worked so hard to procure.
As a final insult, the sun came out that afternoon and bathed the disgruntled leopard in golden light. After some beautiful photos we left the scene, wanting to make sure that we minimised disturbance in the night when the hyenas would be most active and she would need to move her cub away from the area.
