Mana West.

[Peter Connan]

This continues to be a masterful trip report.

I would gladly drive all the way there just for a clear view of a Painted Snipe like that!

[Bush dog]

@Peter Connan

Thanks, Peter!

 

The painted snipe was hard to photograph.  Most of the time, it was in the shade or partly hidden by small branches.

[Bush dog]

The morning of the first full day started slowly with elephants, kudus and impalas, waterbucks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the perfect one piece molt of what I believe to be that of a grass snake.

 

 

Next : straight away, the stars of the week!!!

[marg]

@Bush dogOh, you are taking me down memory lane again.  We were at Ruckomechi ten years ago.  Even then the elephants were constant companions in camp.  Great trip report!

 

[Bush dog]

@marg

Thank youso much for your comments!

[Bush dog]

Leopard 1, a female.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the photos of leopards and some of lions were taken from or in the dry bed of the Ruckomechi.

 

During the game drive of the afternoon.

 

 

This lion was seen sleeping in the morning at the same place.

 

[Bush dog]

Leopard 2, another female, on the same side of the river as Leopard 1 but a few hundred meters upstream.  We are still in the afternoon of the first day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It then decided to go up to the bank and disappeared into the bushes.

[Bush dog]

Correction to the previous post. We are already in the morning of the second day and not the afternoon of the first.

[Bush dog]

After Leopard 2 disappeared into the bushes, we waited for about ten minutes.  In fact, sometimes, they come out very quickly.  This is what it had done but a little further upstream.  It had spotted impalas and had gone down into the riverbed to better stalk them without being seen.  Ultimately, they became aware of its presence and retreated to open spaces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then headed to where Leopard 1 was the day before and there it was.

 

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

Very much enjoying this report @Bush dog.

Particularly loved all the buffalo pictures from the water hole and what an amazing honey badger sighting.

[KaliCA]

You captured those leopards beautifully! Thanks for sharing. 

[Bush dog]

Thank you, @Zim Girl!

These buffalo photos are my favorite.  I also like those of the honey badger and the leopard cub (coming soon), more for the subjects in question than for the quality of the photos.

[Bush dog]

Thanks to you also, @KaliCA!

 

[Bush dog]

This lion is the one seen in the afternoon of the previous day on the bank of the river.  It is part of a coalition of three brothers or cousins.  They look quite similar.  The pride, besides them, consists of four females and five cubs.  Perhaps more because one of the females moved away to give birth.

 

 

 

Big male waterbuck along the Zambezi river.

 

 

 

 

Also along the river, Nile monitor lizard, in the afternoon of the second day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As usual, Swainson's francolin on top of something, also in the afternoon.

 

[Bush dog]

Still in the afternoon of this second day, on another arm of the mouth of the Ruckomechi, Leopard 3, female.

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance of Leopard 4, the cub.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leopard 4 goes into the thickets.

[AndrewB]

Love the second shot with the eyes, glorious!

[michael-ibk]

Wow, what a fantastic sighting. Never had really good (daytime) Leopard sightings in Mana - interesting they seem to be much bolder around Rukomechi.

[Bush dog]

@AndrewB @michael-ibk

 

Thanks a lot for your comments!

 

Michael, I don't know if the leopards are much bolder on the Ruckomechi side.  I think they have a more peaceful life on the concession.  In fact, they are never confronted with more than five to six vehicles maximum and this has been the case for more than fifteen years.  They therefore had time to get used to this immutable daily routine.  In the park, it's perhaps a little more rock and roll: more camps, therefore more vehicles, and more people walking without forgetting the self-driving vehicles.  This is, of course, just a guess???

[madaboutcheetah]

I haven't been - but, I hear of good Leopard viewing on the zambian side in the LZ national park.  However, @Bush dogthese are good sightings in Ruckomechi side of the park.  

[Bush dog]

 

@madaboutcheetah

 

Hi Hari !  In fact, I hadn't seen this many leopards since my stay in Lower Zambezi in 2019.

[Bush dog]

 

Very quickly, the cub came out of the thickets again. 

 

 

 

Its mother then went down to the bed of the river and it was emboldened to follow it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[offshorebirder]

Thanks for this trip report and its good photos @Bush dog - I am catching up, as I was in Alaska for most of June.

 

[Bush dog]

Thanks, @offshorebirder

 

I guess you had a great time in Alaska.

[Bush dog]

Last pictures of the cub.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And they disappeared definitively into the darkness of the thickets.

[ElenaH]

What a privilege to see a leopard with a cub! Great sightings! Beautiful photos and amazing memories.

It looks like this camp deliver excellent leopard sightings. 

I think, that leopards like to hang around river beds, becasue there are trees and higher banks what makes the hunt more successful (IMO) and animals come to the river bed to look for water..

And those leopards are used to camp's cars and don't mind. I assume, that becasue there are not many cars the animals know them already and feel comfortable.  

I ask myself if all that river bed is a private Wilderness concession or if it is bordered somehow. There is Kanga camp upsteam so, I assume that the leopard sightings can be there as well.. And there is a road through Rukometche to Chirundu looking like a transit road. I just wonder if it is possible to take it.