A leopard in the late morning, she is exploring mbuyu ya tobo, a hollow baobab in the open patch in front of the mwagusi river. She moves off slowly towards the river bed and climbs down the bank. She is gone but not for long, after some minutes she is up again and walks towards lulenga juu. Its not a fast pace, it is a slow walk, in and out of the wild lavender, she stops and lays down just to start walking again soon after, she smells a rain tree and she is thinking whether to climb it or not.

She lays down again, her mind clear. Even this resting bout does not last long, here she moves again, she walks silent, almost effortless through the bushes. Impalas are just ahead but she does not know, yet. Suddenly crossing the space between two bushwillows she sees them, she freezes, she gets down and moves off in a very low walk, she goes around another bushwillow and disappears.

The impala are feeding but slowly they start moving off, they walk opposite to the bushes were the leopard is hiding. They all move slowly but a female who keeps eating for a fraction of a second more. And here it is, a lightening of black and yellow fur hits the impala full blast, the ewe does not even have time to turn the head, she is on the ground, the cat already holding the throat. She tries to react but the leopard does not budge, the cat is holding, the impala struggling for her life. She finds the last bit of strength and she stands trying to force the leopard to loosen her grip, she almost managed. The leopard still has energy enough, the ewe is on the ground again, now death comes, she can not fight the hunter anymore. The ewe’s life has ended, the leopard cubs will survive another week .

The supreme hunter