Leopard kicking back in a tree in South Africa after her feast. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

This photo is from my personal archives. I went to the Kruger National Park (actually just alongside the border) back in 2003 for a 4-day safari while traveling in South Africa. We were returning home at dusk when the tracker stopped the driver near our lodge. He spotted this leopard and we were told to stay quiet and still. As she passed us, I noticed that she was fixed on something just to the side of the jeep. We turned left towards her and saw she had been on the hunt. I use past tense because we could help but notice the impala hanging out of her mouth…and it was still alive. She made her way to this tree and in a feat of sheer power, she leapt up attaching all four paws in the bark and started climbing the tree, all without losing control of the impala in her mouth, still alive. We watched her finally kill the impala and begin her dinner. Our guide joked that impala are known as the McDonald’s of the veld being that they are great snacks for the feline predators. We left and returned later that night to find her still eating with a much engorged stomach. This photo was taken the following morning as she lazily rested on the tree. You can’t see the remains of the impala which lay behind her to the right. This lady is beautiful but deadly and worthy of being this week’s Suh-Weet shot!

If you like this post, sign up for our newsletter or subscribe to our RSS feed to keep up with Career Break Secrets’ career break and travel advice.

Tags: South Africa travel, travel photos

This entry was posted on Friday, July 22nd, 2011 at 7:00 am and is filed under Features, Jeff's blog, South Africa, Suh-Weet Shots. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.