A neighboring tree spared this eleven-month-old leopard cub from certain death after it was pursued by a hungry hyena and forced to make a desperate escape.
A juvenile leopard that had been left hiding under a bush by its mother while she went out in search of a carcass to feed it had been passed by the one hyena in a pack of four.
Moosa Varachia, a 30-year-old accountant and part-time photographic guide, took this breath-taking encounter while on a game drive on the S1 in the Kruger National Park.
It was time for the dreaded drive to the gate, which marks the end of the day, after we had just witnessed an unbelievable sighting of a male leopard at the Nwaswitshaka waterhole, according to Moosa, who narrates the tale to Latestsightings.com. A baby leopard was sitting in the thick undergrowth where we had stopped on the S1. I looked up as a hyena clan approached as we were about to depart after taking some pictures and recordings.
I was aware that the leopard cub’s scenario would not turn out nicely.
However, as this astounding video demonstrates, the alpha hyena picks up on the leopard’s scent and turns to retrace its travels in an effort to find the prospective challenger before spotting it.
The juvenile leopard runs for cover when it realizes that its hiding site has been discovered and that her mother is not there to help her, but because it is still so young, it cannot run at its adult pace.
When it got her, the small cub would have been easily taken out by the 100-pound, 40mph hyena, which was believed to be 5 feet long and 3 feet at the shoulder.
The cub, however, was cunning enough to identify a tree and use its claws to climb it, narrowly eluding the carnivore who was trying to kill it.
“I was overjoyed to see the cub survive; it was an emotional roller coaster!”