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My Life with Leopards
Graham's Cooke Story
Fransje van Riel
Human emotion and animal instinct meet poignantly when two six-week-old leopard cubs become the charge of 22-year-old game ranger Graham Cooke at Londolozi.
Staying with the cubs in an unfenced bush camp surrounded lions, hyenas and other leopards, must first gain their trust before he begins to guide them towards release in the wild. It takes weeks of patience and gentleness for Graham to be accepted into the cubs small family unit and to find ways of communicating with the young leopards as he slowly begins to introduce them to their new environment.
Graham finds himself drawn more to the wary little female than her easy-going brother, but over time both cubs come to recognise him as their protector. They form a bond of friendship through which he can gain unparralleled insights into their development and behaviour.
When, a year later, the cubs are relocated to the Zambian wilderness, Graham faces the hardest task of all: to set free the young animals he has becomeso devoted to so that they can return to a wild existence where he is unable to control fate.
The Fluffy Tale
12 years with a troop of Baboons
Graham A Cooke
In the making .....
"On one early morning outing I had noticed them from a distance. My ritual now was to approach the troop slowly and stop outside their comfort zone which had shrunk down to less than twenty meters. I knew I would be tolerated closer but always waited before I would step across this invisible line just to reiterate that I held their wishes in high respect. Once I had done this and they were settled, calm and open to my presence, only then would I make any movement closer to within their special unit.
On this morning I noticed that still un-named LB seemed to be the centre of attention and even Shirlyhurly was paying LB more than normal amounts of attention. I found this to be a touching scene and was glad for LB, that she actually wasn't being chased around from places she chose to sit and feed in. It was unusual and not the norm. Only after about ten minutes of watching, I noticed that LB was slightly apprehensive and continually shuffling small distances from the other females. I then noticed the pitch black shiny coat of a tiny baby clutched firmly against her tummy. I was elated for her as this new tiny life had elevated her status within the female unit and she was the only female with a tiny new born which is always an irresistible object to any other female within the troop."
