03/08/2026
BEHIND THE PHOTOGRAPH | Captive
“What appears to be an unlikely friendship is subtly betrayed by an unsheathed claw as a one-sided love affair.” Photo Safari – Kruger (2021 Publication).
Between 2019 and 2021, I spent a great deal of time in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve at Elephant Plains Game Lodge while working on my first book, Photo Safari - Kruger. During the summer rains, when impala lambs are born, leopards take advantage of the abundance of vulnerable prey - something I was hoping to capture during my time working on the project.
After days of relentless rain, Darryn Gates and I headed out once again with conditions far from ideal, but when you’re working on a book, you quickly learn that discomfort is not optional. Many afternoons ended with soaked clothes and very few sightings, which became frustrating over time.
This drive began no differently. We spent some time with a white rhino near the Londolozi cutline before a female leopard suddenly appeared nearby. It was our first leopard of the afternoon, and after days of patience, it felt like our luck had finally changed.
We followed her quietly when moments later, she emerged from behind a bush carrying a tiny impala lamb.
She gently placed it on the ground, and for several minutes they stood together in complete stillness. The lamb every so often let out soft, desperate bleats for its mother while the leopard never took her eyes off it. It almost looked as though they shared a peaceful moment, until the truth revealed itself in a single unsheathed claw ... this dance had never been one of friendship.
When the time came, instinct prevailed, and the leopard quickly turned her catch into a meal. As difficult as these moments can be to witness, they are part of nature’s eternal balance. Every predator survives because something else becomes prey.
📍Sabi Sand Private Nature Reserve
📸 Armand Grobler
🌍 rhulaniphotofilm.com
