This week we have a Spot from the venerable Brian Jackman, yes, THAT Brian Jackman:
‘It’s not every day that you get to meet royalty in the Mara, but recently I had the privilege of being granted an audience with the Queen of the North, aka Nelangu, the female leopard currently ruling in Mara North Conservancy. Her family tree is even more interesting than the thorny acacia in which we found her one evening, being the daughter of Zawadi and grand-daughter of none other than the fabled Half-Tail, erstwhile star of the BBC’s Big Cat Diary TV soap.
Like all royals she is not averse to a dish of venison, hence the freshly killed Thomson gazelle stashed adjacent to her in the treetops, and when we returned early the next morning we watched her tucking into the Tommy as if it were the best full English the Palace could provide.
For two hours we remained in her presence as hyenas prowled beneath her table like paparazzi waiting for a scoop, until eventually she decided to descend for a walkabout and began to call for her son. The young prince, however has begun to relish his independence and was nowhere to be seen. And so, bowing respectfully to her commoner audience she strolled off down the lugga, leaving us to drive back to camp in time to enjoy our own Full English courtesy of Dickson, Kicheche Mara’s chef de cuisine …’
THAT Brian Jackman, African Royalty!
