Page 17 - Cape-Camera-June-2023

June 2023 Cape Camera

An exciting first leopard sighting

When in Etosha a few years ago, on the night before our
last day, I dreamt about a leopard. I had never seen a leop-
ard in Etosha, so it was a good omen.
The next morning before departing, we stopped at the Ri-
etfontein waterhole. Another car was parked at the edge
of the clearing and the occupants told us that there was a
leopard in the long grass. It was around 10am. The leop-
ard was periodically lifting its head and then vanished
back into the grass.
Soon the first springbok arrived and started grazing not
that far away from the cat in the grass. It did not take long
for the whole area to be filled with springbok and zebra,
but the leopard was very patient, and it was becoming a
strain to try to keep the camera on her. She was not visible
for long stretches, then just a fraction of her head slowly
came up, just to disappear within seconds. At times it
seemed that some zebras were just about to step on her,
but then they just moved away. It was if an invisible glass
dome was over the cat, or where we thought the cat was.
It was nearly twelve midday and we still needed to drive a
fair bit to get out of the park. I was getting rather tired, but
the camera remained pressed to my eye. Hannes always
told us “Keep the viewfinder on the subject!”.
Suddenly, there was an explosion of movement. I was
so startled by the sudden movement, that I wobbled the
camera, and the first few shots were mostly out of focus.
The leopard had a young springbok down within a sec-
ond or two and was now poised with the jaws around
the bucks’ throat in a good visible position. The rest of the
herbivores were standing not far away, observing the cat,
or just scanning the area. We clicked away, then looked at
our shots. All photographs by Heido Denker. Heiko has become an accom-
plished wildlife photographer.
Wow, what an exciting first leopard sighting in Etosha!

"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without

a camera."

- Dorothea Lange

17 Cape Town Photographic Society