I am sad to report that beautiful Fig, my favourite leopard was killed by two male lions March 5th. Leopards and lions do not get along. I don’t know the details of what happened, but if she was ambushed by two mature lions, Fig would have little chance of surviving.

You know how to spot a leopard? asked Kupai, as we bumped down the track in the Toyota Land Cruiser. “Look for a tail hanging in a tree!” I replied triumphantly, feeling the flush of pleasure of showing the teacher she’d learned something about finding leopards.

Can you tell a leopard from its spots? Seeing either a leopard or cheetah on the African savanna is always a special treat. Both leopards and cheetahs have long tails with white tips.

This week, I wrote a short children’s storybook about some of my favourite African animal mothers and babies in honour of Mother’s Day. I am grateful to Haya (3) and Mara (6) and their mothers who gave me valuable feedback about which images they preferred. I wrote this book with them in mind.

I have exciting news! Fig, my favourite spotted celebrity, is a new mother. Fig lives on the Olare Motorogi Conservancy adjacent to the Maasai Mara in Kenya. When I saw her in January 2020, she looked healthy and… pregnant.

I credit an elephant with a significant life lesson—slow down, be calm, watch/listen for the signs. I believe there is much going on around me that I often miss. Elephants are known for being able to communicate over vast distances. Perhaps that youngster heard my wish that night and was happy to fulfill my dream.

When I met her two years ago, Figlet was a young cub. Now a mature leopard, with a signature bright white tail, she was as beautiful and self-assured as her mother Fig. Nelson revved the wheels and maneuvered the truck so we were directly in Figlet’s path. Undeterred she came straight for us, her eyes focused on some unseen destination.

Dominic found a tree with remains of a carcass in it, a sure sign a leopard was nearby. A couple of times the radio crackled with news of a sighting. We drove up and down the river corridor, my eyes aching with the effort of trying to separate leaves from leopard spots. Nothing. Not a whisker, not a blink, not a white tail tip. We laughed, imagining the leopard enjoying our antics from the security of his or her secret spot…

They say a leopard’s eyes are blue—this was the day I learned it’s true. Fig is like an alluring siren. There comes a choice point on safari when the action seems to come to a natural close— stay or go? The curve of vehicles that had gathered a respectful distance from Fig’s tree began to break up, heading off to search for other wildlife. We hesitated. Fig is like an alluring siren. Caught in her magnetic appeal, we stayed…

It was still dark, with a faint hint of light on the horizon when the call came in to our guides— leopard sighting out on the savannah under a lone tree. We hastily climbed into the trucks, pulling our hats down around our ears in the chill of the African morning…

Getting a glimpse of a leopard is always a thrill; they are such secretive and exotic cats. When we pulled up along the creek there was a commotion in the bushes—sex in the shrubbery! A few minutes later a gorgeous female leopard strolled out—hello Fig.