Kalahari cubs.

[Marc Mol]

Whilst staying at Deception Valley Lodge in the Kalahari, one of the highlights was the ability of our guide and tracker to track down a pair of 5/6 month old Leopard cubs, 1 male, 1 female.
They had initially followed the mothers spoor for nearly 1 1/2 hours and whilst not finding her, they successfully found her 2 cubs.
Some of the best tracking I had ever seen and a real tribute to Adriann and Xhega.
It's hard to believe these cubs are from the same litter.
The female on the left is quite dark with Cheetah/honey colored eyes, whereas the male is much lighter with the more standard olive eyes. Photography (and tracking) was not easy in the thick Acacia thorn scrub and yellow grass.
Very cute nonetheless!
D3 500VR 1/350s ISO200@f/4.8

C & C most welcome

Cheers
Marc

http://africaddict.smugmug.com/Nature/Botswana-Sept-2009/D315559a/730556421_gD873-XL.jpg

http://africaddict.smugmug.com/Nature/Botswana-Sept-2009/D315559a/730350232_aC383-XL.jpg

[Ken Watkins]

Marc,

This image illustrates perfectly the extreme difficulty of obtaining unimpaired images in scrub. Nevertheless it is a really good effort, the BG looks a little odd?
You certainly did better at Deception Valley Lodge than we did, but that was 8 years ago when it first opened.

[Stu Bowie]

Marc, Im sure the trek through the bush was well worth it to get this sighting. Good to see both heads in the open, and interesting colour eyes from the two cubs. Well captured.

[Harshad Barve]

beautiful image , surprised to see color difference , lovely looks and cute faces
How I wish this image was in my files:)
TFS

[philperry]

Nice work getting a clear view of both heads Marc. Always a challenge in thick bush.

I have never seen a leopard with amber eyes - most unusual.

[David Fletcher]

Wow! Well done on this one Marc. Sure had a rewarding trip. Also does demonstrate the difficulty in getting clean shots. love this BTW!

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Wow well done and what a treat to see these little cubs. Really like the composition and the direct eye contact with both babies. Love this Marc .