102 SAFARI 



Time and again my heart has been wrung by the 

 sight of a giraffe that has become prey to one of the 

 big flesh-eating animals. Once I came upon one with 

 the flesh ripped from its haimches, dying. There was 

 no sign of a fight. Apparently the lion had left but a 

 few moments before, as the animal's big brown eyes 

 were not yet glazed by death. 



Another time I came upon a mother giraffe and her 

 baby which must have been born only the night 

 before. I was able to get right up to the pair because 

 the baby was not afraid and refused to follow its 

 mother. She must have been expecting us to attack 

 her any moment but she stuck it out and didn't leave 

 until her infant would go wdth her. 



The leopard is a killer. He is the gimman of the 

 jtmgle. Also he is full of mystery: he makes little or 

 no noise in his activities, and he charges unexpectedly 

 — a sinister shadow from nowhere, bringing death 

 with his final leap. 



The leopard is .not so dignified as the lion, nor is he 

 quite so sneaky as the hyena. He is a solitary 

 worker, without companions and without the trust of 

 any other animal in the jungle. 



He does not have the cotirage always to eat in the 

 open as the lion does. He kills and carries his prey 

 away. He will carry up a tree an antelope weighing 

 half again as much as himself, lugging the carcass over 

 his shoulder as a highwayman might carrj^a bag of loot. 



