Protective leopard mum charges our vehicle.

africaddict

One of the highlights of my recent return to the Sth Luangwa was our discovery of this leopard cub den site tucked away in this large fallen log surrounded by heavy croton thicket.
Getting a clear shot is never easy with leopards particularly on this occasion. These were two 4 week old cubs, one male, one female, certainly the youngest I have witnessed in all my travels to the dark continent.
It took a while for the pair to gain our confidence, but when they did we were rewarded with some special images, a time not easily forgotten, especially when the very protective mother returned!

4.37pm
I'm vicious!
D3s 500VR 1/800s f/5.6 ISO1600. Almost F/F. Sth Luangwa NP- Zambia





5.51pm
You'll notice the branch has some bite marks and bark removed, they were using this as a teething ring!
Also note the cub's scratches top left corner.
D3s 500VR 1/100s f/4 ISO6400. Almost F/F. Sth Luangwa NP- Zambia





Here the very cute little female is pushing her brother around!
(The light is diminishing fast)

D3s 500VR 1/50s f/4 ISO6400. Almost F/F. Sth Luangwa NP- Zambia







4.45pm. (On another visit)
This young, skittish and very protective mum was none too pleased that we had discovered her den site with her two, 4 week old cubs.
With her tailing flicking nervously back and forth I had an uneasy feeling and sure enough she started snarling viscously and promptly charged our vehicle,stopping fortuitously at the fallen log!
Brian's (my guide) girlfriend, leapt from the front of the (no door) vehicle into the back,
thinking she wasn't going to stop, I lay behind the protection of my viewfinder and still kept my finger on the shutter firing away, I wasn't going to miss this (possible) once in a lifetime opportunity!
After this excitement, and everyone had collected their senses.........we got the message and promptly left.


D3s 500VR 1/1000s f/5.6 ISO800. Almost F/F. Sth Luangwa NP- Zambia






D3s 500VR 1/400s f/5.6 ISO800. Almost F/F. Sth Luangwa NP- Zambia






D3s 500VR 1/400s f/5.6 ISO800. Almost F/F. Sth Luangwa NP- Zambia





C & C most welcome

Cheers
Marc

Brian_S

wow....gorgeous set of images, once in a lifetime is right, maybe a few lifetimes cause i'll never get to see that so Thanks for sharing these beauties

Stella7d

Wow! What an incredible set of images!! Such beautiful creatures! Thanks for sharing!

Wossa

Man o' man, what stunning images......fantastic photography.

HMBerger

dream shots
Not only are you an ecellent photographer but also very brave. They are wonderful and get the creative juices flowing and the wanderlust boiling.

I do my own driving and I havent had the guts to carry on shooting as a lion gazed fiercely into our car after we had inadvertently disturbed his mating activity as we came around the bend in Hwange in Zimbabwe. After the first mock charge I was rehearsing the preset reaction of push the engine demobilsation button on , turn the ignition key, & raise electric windows (mine first wife's second !!!!!) actions. But when he snarled a second time I reversed away.

Well done, people like you get the special shots (you must know the work of Andy Rouse!)

Be careful and enthrall us for many years

africaddict

Appreciate the comments guys, many thanks.

HMBerger wrote: »

a lion gazed fiercely into our car after we had inadvertently disturbed his mating activity as we came around the bend in Hwange in Zimbabwe.

A very similar incident happened in '07 once again in Sth Luangwa, this time from the female

here:

Andy

FlyNavy

Stunning!

Fishead

so cool, beautiful!!!!!!

NorthernFocus

Now that is getting a little too exciting The second shot of the cub and the last shot are absolutely awesome. Nice job

denisegoldberg

Wonderful shots! I think my favorite is the first cub shot.

--- Denise

grimace

Great looking series!!

DsrtVW

Fantastic, glad you made it out of the situation unscathed.

Harryb

Outstanding series.

Dick on Aruba

Don't have the words that can justify the awesomeness of these captures. Well done!

africaddict

Thanks again folks for the encouraging comments.

May I also add that I'm not in the habit of scaring flighty leopard mums with cubs from the possibility of abandoning their den sites. This incident happened so quickly and after we left I had terrible guilt pains.
Much to my relief, I had heard from Brian a week later that they were observed from a much greater distance and found all were still at the den site and had not been scared on.

Overfocused

I love #2, the composition gets me

#6 too