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Are we domesticating Kenya's wildlife

© Jane Stewart-Williams

Out of the long grass, not five yards from our truck, a leopard strolled into the road. Cameras buzzed and clicked continuously as he slowly made his way down towards the water. Never were we likely to get this close to a leopard in the wild again, and we were all determined to make the most of it. We drove round to a side road that took us to within yards of where he stood and, with heads poking out the top of our converted minibus, we admired the perfect sheen and beauty of this spotted cat.

I first became suspicious when I looked across the water and saw a game lodge situated directly opposite. And almost immediately, to confirm my suspicions, the leopard jumped up onto an oddly out-of-place tree trunk. With no more than a cursory glance around to check there was no competition, he scooped his paw under the trunk and pulled up a joint of goat's meat attached to a piece of string.

None of us could believe what we were seeing, and Francis, our driver, was very apologetic. But he said he thought we would rather see this leopard than none at all.

"It doesn't officially count as having seen a leopard," he said. "This one is more like a tame cat. It comes every night at the same time. Sometimes, it comes early when the man is still delivering the meat.

"He sniffs around the man's legs, but doesn't try to eat till it's been put in the tree."

"Why do they do it?" someone asks.

"So the guests at the lodge can see animals from the terrace. All their vans get back early from the evening safari, so their clients can view the leopard and the crocodiles."

"The crocodiles?" We had seen lots of crocodiles in the river by the lodge earlier in the day when we had gone to use their pool, but I for one hadn't thought anything of it.

"They feed the crocodiles every night from the terrace."

As if on cue, a dozen or more crocodiles slowly make their way up the opposite bank towards the terrace.

"Does it not have a harmful effect on the animals?" I ask.

"Many of these crocodiles don't leave the area anymore," said Francis. "They just laze in the water all day, and every night as the sun sets make their way up the bank to be fed. I think the leopard may still hunt during the rest of the day, but I don't know."