Misty morning during the
safari and our vehicle including most of the vehicles made a beeline to the
nearly full water hole as the previous day a male tiger was sighted in the
water. While being parked at the waterhole we could hear an alarm call of the
spotted deer at a distance and immediately most vehicles drove towards the
alarm calls taking different routes and looping back to the waterhole. We did
not see any predator so once again back at the waterhole. One safari bus came
by and stated that leopard is walking along the road and off we rushed towards
the spot and we we were able to see the bold old male leopard walking along the
safari path while scent marking the area for about 5 minutes before he vanished
into the bush. Our naturalist took a decision to move ahead thinking that the
leopard that had gone into the would emerge out into open and as we were moving
slowly scanning both sides of the forest as we could hear the alarm calls of
bonnet macaque and langurs within the forested area. So were all other vehicles but then after sometime
these alarm call subsided and hence all other vehicles moved away however we
stay put in the area as we had arrived to this spot late. After waiting there
for over 10 minutes our driver started the vehicle but suddenly a herd of
spotted deers about 25 meters ahead of the jeep started giving out alarm calls
and looking towards the left hand side of the safari path. Immediately our
driver stopped the vehicle and both naturalist and he started scanning the
front left side bushes beside the path for the predator. Suddenly the
naturalist stated that there is a female leopard just outside the bush looking
intently into the bush and he predicted possible cubs. We guest asked the
driver to move a little ahead so as to get a clear vision but the naturalist
asked the driver to stay put for if there are cubs they would not come out in
open. The waiting game and patience in the wild paid us rich dividend and we
witnessed the mother leopard paving the path for its two cubs to cross the
safari path and go into the bushes on the other side of the path.
We kept waiting and then the mother leopard climbed on the tree and flopped down on the branch and started dozing. Slowly one by one the cubs climbed the tree and settled down beside her
I have deliberately left out the name of the forest and the area but
regulars to this forest will be able to guess the same. Do enjoy the video and the
images and give your comments if any.
