Mana West.

[Bush dog]

In the afternoon, on the way to the place of the three leopards and the impala kill.

 

Lonely eland bull.

 

 

The usual trio of elephants.

 

 

And then, the eight members of the pride that I mentioned at the beginning of the Ruckomechi chapter.

 

 

I had already seen them several times but in very bad conditions, the worst being when they were around the carcass of the eland that they had killed.  This was in an almost inaccessible location in the thickets where they could barely be seen and the smell of carrion was extremely strong and nauseating.  It took a while to get there, and finally find them, maneuvering over black cotton soil largely trampled by elephants during the rains, creating a multitude of potholes, and almost as hard as concrete in the dry season.  I would have done without it but it happened during a game drive where I was accompanied by a couple and they absolutely wanted to see the lions.

 

Leopard 1, the female, was there.

 

 

 

 

Soon joined by the male, Leopard 5.

 

 

 

 

On site, I didn't have time to think about finding out what relationship there could be between these felines.  But I told myself that the fact of having two male leopards, together, peacefully rubbing shoulders was quite strange and as I had neither witnessed nor heard what could have been interpreted as the manifestations of mating, why this female was with them.  It was only when I returned home and after carefully analyzing the photos that I came to the conclusion that the two young adult males could be brothers and the female, their mother.  If nothing else, it's obviously worth what it's worth.

[Bush dog]

 

The second male, Leopard 6, by constantly dragging the carcass of the impala from one place to another in the bushes, found itself quite clearly visible at one point.  So I took the opportunity to take these photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alex The Lion]

@Bush dog

 

I still remember seeing a leopard the size of a lioness at Ruckomechi. It looks like guides don't try walking on every single sighting like in the park?

[Bush dog]

@Alex The Lion

 

Thank you for your comments!

Indeed, guides do not try walking each time they see something, most of them are not qualified to do so and the two ZimPro guides sometimes are going out to walk but only at the request of their guests.

[Bush dog]

Back to L1 and L5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bush dog]

Continuation of the previous post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last sighting of the two lions.

 

 

 

Going back to camp at night, Leopard 7, a female, and a giant eagle owl.

 

 

[Peter Connan]

Magnificent leopards and scary elephants!

 

I know in a situation like described the distance from an elephant is out of your control but I don't trust them enough to get that close. I have seen them behave really willfully. Perhaps it's because of the places I go and how other people behave in them. I suspect that in many of the places I go they were hunted or culled somewhat more recently.

[madaboutcheetah]

Mike, Ruckomechi looks like Leopard central like the Luangwa or Sabi Sands ...... 

 

What did the guides think about the Wild dog situation in the area? 

[Bush dog]

@Peter Connan

Thanks a lot for your comments !

 

[Bush dog]

@madaboutcheetah

Hi Hari, I did not have great discussions about wild dogs with the guides but it seems that they were more present some years ago while at the same time it was rarer to see leopards.  So, I would not say that it is comparable to South Luangwa or Sabi Sands where they have been present for decades.  As for cheetahs, there were sightings in April this year.

 

[Bush dog]

Last morning, game drive to Mana West airstrip.

 

The pride at the same place as the previous day

 

 

 

 

 

Hippo along the Zambeze river.

 

 

Little bee-eater.

 

 

And to close this report, Leopard 1.

 

 

 

 

The two males were present but not visible.  We could hear sounds of carcass crunching produced by one of the two, very busy devouring the dead impala, until the moment when the female discerned something which put it on alert.  We could also hear the male which was feeding, the other being already far away, quickly climbing into a tree with very dense foliage.  It seems that the lioness, that had moved away from the pride to give birth, had just stolen their prey.  All this happening in the thickets, unfortunately I was not able to see it.

 

 

In these last two photos, we can see that the female has its gaze focused on the intruder.

 

 

 

The last night was spent at the Bronte Hotel in Harare.

This marks the end of this report on this trip which I consider to be one of my best.  Thanks to everyone who followed it

 

[michael-ibk]

4 hours ago, Bush dog said:

which I consider to be one of my best

 

That's saying something giving your experience. But easy to see why, you really had stellar sightings Mike. Great photography all the way through, really enjoyed following along. Thank you for sharing!

[Zim Girl]

Great report, thoroughly enjoyed it!

[Treepol]

@Bush dogthanks for taking the time to recount your recent travels. This has been an epic TR!

[Peter Connan]

A great trip report, thank you very much for taking the trouble to share it with us.

[marg]

@Bush dogthanks so much for the great trip report.  I mentioned earlier that we had been Ruchomechi fourteen years ago.  We saw our very first wild dog in the river bed.  But,we saw not one single leopard.  Interesting.

[Bush dog]

@michael-ibk@Zim Girl @Treepol@Peter Connan @marg

 

Thanks a lot for following this report from the beginning until the end.

[Athene]

I very much enjoyed your trip report and your photos, thank you very much @Bush dog

[John M.]

A late catchup Mike @Bush dog Another fine report and great photos. I know STers would love to have you stick around for a lot longer😁

[Geoff]

Darn good safari. Love the buffalo images. 

[ElenaH]

I followed this report from the begining. Very interesting! Especially that number of leopards! 

In some photos the contrast is missing a bit. It is becasue of the flare? But the other are very contrasty.

I love the pictures of lions by the way. But well, leopads are the most beautiful cats ;-)

[Bush dog]

@Athene @John M. @Geoff  @ElenaH

 

A great thank you for following this report!

[Kitsafari]

Finally all caught up - what a feast of lithe elegant leopards! you really had great sightings, and your photos are brilliant as always. Thank you for sharing! I don't think I'll ever make it to Hwange or Mana Pools - too many competing places to go to, so I've been living vicariously through your TRs.  

[Bush dog]

@Kitsafari

 

Thanks a lot for your comments and following this report!