Predator hunting In Africa - Len Backus Trips

Len Backus

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I posted this over at Predator Masters, too.
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This isn't quite about what the title suggests. Rather it is about hunting African predators with a camera on my 3 photo safaris to Kenya and Tanzania about 8 to 10 years ago.

In another PM thread there was some interest shown in my outdoor photography so I thought this may be of particular interest.

On my African photo safaris we had our own vehicle and driver for just two of us. So we were able to concentrate on the predators. This is right up your alley!

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Kenya predators
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Tanzania Photos

We had some amazing encounters with hunting lions, cheetahs and leopards. Here is a picture of a baby cheetah reaching forward to catch a baby gazelle.

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The mom cheetah had caught and fed to the babies 2 gazelles before this shot. She then caught this one and turned it over to her 3 babies. Only this time she didn't suffocate it first. And her intent was to teach the babies about hunting. The babies played with the baby gazelle for a while and then released it. They chased it down and cought it, played a while again and released it a 2nd time.

The mom caught it and again gave it to her babies. They played a while and released it again. In this picture you see one cheetah baby catching up the the released gazelle and tapping it on the butt. The gazelle escaped the baby cheetah but then the mom caught the gazelle -- but this time she killed it and ate it herself.

This was the 3rd baby gazelle killed by this cheetah mom that morning and the first one that she ate herself.

A few miles down the trail we encountered a leopard in an open-branched Acacia tree. You can easily see its prey -- a baby wildebeest.
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Here is a black-backed jackal at a zebra kill. They look a lot like a coyote. A lioness had killed the zebra and we arrived shortly after.

We watched a procession of interlopers. In all the lioness had to fend off jackals, hyenas and vultures. Finally she gave up, having eaten her fill and left the scene.
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This next shot was of the winner between a jackal and a much larger hyena. They had a bit of tug-a-war with a piece of meat. The larger hyena won. My friend Jack got this shot.

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Here are some photo thumbnails that show a couple interesting sequences. But be sure you go online and see the full size images.
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Kenya - LenBackus.com

Tanzania - LenBackus.com

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