Jo the Leopard

 

There are estimated to be forty leopards that frequent Loisaba, often inhabiting the distant hills and rocky areas, where their existence may be indicated by the scratched sides of a Boscia tree, the branches providing the best place to hide their prey. Fortunately some of them are less shy and are spotted by visitors and guides in the early evening, soaking up the last of the sun on a flat rock or silently making their way to their favourite hunting grounds. One such is Jo, a most charismatic leopard who is a keen huntress at Falcon Rock, and named after Jo Silvester.

Recently, Moses was showing guests around the conservancy and just approaching the rock when there was a sudden flash of yellow and an improbably long tail right on the track ahead. In less than a second, unperturbed by her audience, Jo had caught a dik-dik right in front of them. She held the dik-dik in her mouth until it quietly died and then crouched down in the bushes beneath the iconic rock, devouring her small meal on the spot.

“It was the first time I had taken these guests out,” says Moses, “and I couldn’t quite believe our luck. Although I have seen Jo many times, I had not witnessed her making a kill for a very long time. We sat and watched her silently while she was no more than a metre away. After a short while she stood up and walked off with a real sense of purpose and I noticed that her teats were full of milk; Jo had cubs close by. What was bad luck for the dik-dik had proved to be very good luck for Jo.”

“A few evenings later, as the sun was fading, I came across her again with the same guests and we were delighted to watch her licking her young cub with her rough tongue and allowing him to lie across her front paws. Once again it was only when she strode off that we realised that she had a second cub hidden in the crux of a tree. She suckled him while we looked on, and the other cub sat quietly waiting, washing itself on the narrow rock.”

"We were keen not to disturb her for the next few days, although it helps to habituate the cub to the presence of humans, but three evenings later we thought we spotted one of the cubs high up in a tree and sat and watched in silence to see if Jo would come back. Turning around in the back of the truck, Fisher, the night watchman from the Star Beds, did a double-take as he realised that the second cub was in full view, sitting confidently on a flat rock only a few feet away. Mesmerised we sat and watched them both for over an hour until the sun finally went down and they wandered off to find their mother."

"On the guests’ final day we came across Jo again early in the morning, fast asleep in the long wheat-coloured grass. For at least half an hour, the only movement was of her sides as she breathed in and out peacefully. Then, as if an alarm clock had gone off, she roused herself, stretched luxuriously, and walked towards our truck, her eyes – one blue and one green – gazing at us directly but as if they were looking straight through us. We felt so privileged to be so close to her once again, just breathing the same air as her, and admiring her sleek, patterned coat. She was utterly beautiful.”

"Jo is reckoned to be eight years old and her regular mate is a dominant male inevitably named Tom – after Tom Silvester. Her first cub was a male called Max who is now about four years old and her second, a female called Zakia who is now two. The new cubs were about four months old when we spotted them and as yet have no names."

Dominant Male Tom: Credit Mohamed Iribo

Son Max: Credit Mohamed Iribo

Daughter Zakia: Credit Mohamed Iribo

"Jo’s territory extends from the Oasis (Sosian Oasis) and along the Sosian Valley, around the Lodo Springs Valley and all around Falcon Rock. A close eye is kept on her by the rangers who observe the animals from the top of Skambi Hill and hold their breath if they see lions approaching the area where Jo has hidden her cubs. These, plus any baboons, are Jo’s arch rivals and biggest threat to the survival of her cubs."