Issue.15 Issue.15 | Page 36

A N E X T R AC T F R O M THE BOOK It was amid a safari with my father, near Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, that I saw my first huge cat in the wild at 17 years old. I had heard numerous stories and seen pictures, however none contrasted and the grandness of a lion, leopard or cheetah in its common environment. Since I was in the bramble, I kept a nearby look for the enormous cats and that same day I saw a leopard. The early morning sun shined on his built, dark spotted tan body. He was most of the way up a tall tree, bouncing advances in moderate, controlled jumps, practically as though he were checking between every exertion made as he lifted up an eland significantly bigger than himself in his intense jaws. “Pantry,” said my father, as I viewed the leopard wedge the eland between two high branches. “I assume you realize that a cheetah will just eat new killed meat, however leopards and lions will joyfully eat flesh, and this leopard will devour its kill for some days.” In the cooler evening we went out from the