Wildlife Photography

A wildlife guide has spotted a leopard with a catch he believes may not have been documented before - a huge lappet-faced vulture. The big cat is seen firstly trying to store its lunch in a tree - away from baying jackals - then trying a cumbersome waddle across the Kenyan plain with its prize. Award-winning photographer Paul Goldstein explains: "I spoke to a dozen guides across Africa with 100,000+ game drives and none had seen or even heard of it. Scour the internet and it’s the same." Paul says the young female leopard Faulu ('success' in Swahili) was clearly struggling with the huge bird in Kenya's Olare Conservancy. He says: "When you film or photograph wildlife, you yearn for originality over everything else. "With no hyperbole, a leopard hunting a lappet-faced vulture - Africa’s largest, with a nine foot wingspan - is a first. Anywhere." Paul says Faulu was spotted when they noticed something happening in a far off acacia tree. He explains: "It was windy, cold and grey, not ideal for cats, when seasoned Kicheche bush camp guide Sapit heard some distant zebras snorting. He noticed something happening in the crown of far away acacia. "Driving carefully off-road to investigate he was astonished to find the young female struggling with the huge bird. "Once dispatched, Faulu carried the cumbersome carcass to the ground dragging it a few hundred metres." The commotion had attracted some jackals and their deafening keening really bothered her, reports Paul. He adds: "Whether it was these canid decibels or perhaps she spotted a larger competitor, she quickly abandoned her unusual feathered meal and fled, pursued by her noisy black-backed adversaries." International safari guide of the year James Nampaso, who also observed the scene, noted: "I have never, ever heard of this. I know they have broad diets but surely these huge scavengers were off the menu." Paul says guest Jami Port caught some of the activity on video, saying: "Jami, on her first safari, did incredibly well to get some footage as we were all shaking with shock and excitement." Paul Goldstein guides all over the world, raises huge sums for endangered species and co-owns Kicheche camps in four Kenyan precious Conservancies.