Intro

The young leopard walked through the bush, her head turning this way and that, and if her paws made any noise in the grass, it was drowned out by the evening chorus of insects. Occasionally, she’d stop and take a long look, or sniff a scent, and her tail would drop, but when she walked again it would rise above her back like the flourish at the end of a signature. Just three years old, the leopard had recently left her mother’s territory and struck out in search of her own, a dangerous proposition, as this was yet another female’s domain.

The setting was Kruger National Park in South Africa, an evening game drive conducted in an open Land Rover. Our guide, Murray, knew all three of the cats well; he’d known the three year old since birth. He also knew the only reason she could trespass was because the third cat was laid up in a den, having just given birth