The 2025 Botswana Journals, Ch. 34: 'Nothing but Evil'

        "When I look into the eyes of a leopard," says Bashu, a long-time wildlife guide at Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana, "I see nothing but evil."

        While I don't necessarily agree, it's hard to argue with someone who has guided for many, many years, observed these cats so often that he can tell them apart by their spits/rosettes.   He knows their territories and their behavior.   He knows where to find them.

      Yet, there is something different, something uncomfortable, about a leopard’s eyes.  They aren’t the yellow-brown of lions, nor the striking, radiant amber of cheetahs when the sun hits them.

        Leopards have a luminous green glare in their eyes.   Not a strong, deeply-colored primary green, but a green-yellow that is disconcerting and unreadable.   

        In Kenya’s Maasai Mara, there was a leopard named Fig that had blue eyes, and she threw blue-eyed cubs, the most famous of which was Figlet.

        Little did I know when we started out this morning in a beautiful sunrise, that we would see and photograph FOUR different leopards within the span of three hours, and miss a another by minutes!   Then, hear of two sightings from a group that was in a different area. 

Very early morning at Mashatu Lodge.

African sunrises and sunsets are often phenomenal.

        Leopards prefer the forested areas beside rivers and waterways, so they can haul their prey high up a tree to avoid scavengers.   They climb trees to escape baboons and lions, or just to take a nice nap on a perfect limb.   So, we search the areas along the rivers.

                        LEOPARD NO. ONE

 We are in the river bottom when we come upon a male patrolling and marking his territory.   He is the most active of the four leopards we see today, so he gets the most photos.

VIDEO:

        On patrol in his territory.   He is known as the Euphobia male.

        And stopping to spray-mark.

More spraying.

        We run out of road to follow him on, so we go elsewhere.

LEOPARD NO. TWO

        We find this female resting in a cool, damp area, also in a riverbed.

    She looks around at her vistors....

    And goes back to sleep.

    She has a name, and if you can read my notes, you'll know what it is.

Right in the center.   It appears to read  "Greentree" female.

  These notes are often written while bouncing along a trail.   

    She is the mother of the next leopard we find.

LEOPARD NO. THREE

        This leopard is three years old, and she is the daughter of Leopard # 2.   Her name is Lerato, which means love.

 

        She's another "flat cat" and will probably stay that way, so we move on.

LEOPARD NO. 4

        Bashi spots this unidentified leopard while we're down in a river bottom.   It's concealed between two termite mounds and as soon as we get our shots, he's in a rush to get out of the river bottom.

    This is my favorite sighting of the leopards this day because of what you will read below.

        And off we go, pausing only to photograph an owl that we drive right under.

        Once on higher ground, Bashi turns left and drives into the riverine vegetation.    He passes right by the vehicles with the rest of our group, who are stopped and waiting for us to join them for coffee.   They look puzzled.

        Once I see the group, I understand Bashi's hurry.  It isn't only to get a possible face-on opportunity to photograph the leopard, but it's also because the cat is very near the group, watching them carefully.

        Who knows?   Who knows?   Probably nothing would happen.   Humans are pretty large prey for a leopard, especially in a group.   One alone?   Maybe.

        Nonetheless, I am tickled to tell them they were being spied upon by a leopard.

        Sometime after coffee break, when we are back in the vehicles, Bashi hears of another leopard very near camp, so we head quickly in that direction.   We miss it by a couple of minutes!!!

        Four leopards, almost a fifth in one morning?   Exceptional.   The only place that came close, for me, in the number of leopards seen was at Kirkman's Kamp near Kruger National Park in South Africa.

        Then, at lunch, another group that was in a different area tells us they saw two more leopards.

BIRDS:

            The owl we drove under:

Verreaux's eagle-owl

White-fronted bee-eater.

Saddle-billed stork.   A large stork with a wingspan of 9 feet, this bird stands up to 5 feet tall.

    Panning, or leading, with the camera is one way to catch birds in flight.   I might have been leading a bit too far:

Red-billed buffalo weaver. LIFER

Kori bustard

And the beautiful bird-of-many-colors, the Lilac-breasted roller.

FYI:   Leopards have enormous strength.   They're built like a tank, not like the sleek and streamlined cheetahs or the massive, impressive lions.   A leopard's ability to climb a tree while carrying an antelope, or a young zebra, is phenomenal.