Tracking a star: Life with Olimba, the leopard

By Mary Melville, Producer/Director

My role on Kingdom was to keep pace with a truly remarkable leopard - Olimba. Her every move, decision, and life stage became my business. Unlike traditional wildlife series that focus on specific behaviours or seasonal patterns, our goal was to follow Olimba’s entire life story over five years - a monumental challenge.

To achieve this, we teamed up with the dream duo: Will and Lianne Steenkamp. Imagine relocating to a remote bush camp with two young children, working around the clock, far from home. That’s exactly what they did. Lianne, the cinematographer, and Will, the field producer, immersed themselves in the wild, moving their family to South Luangwa to stay close to Olimba. Their connection with her runs deep – they’ve filmed her for eight years, witnessed every litter, and built a bond rooted in care and respect. Their investment in her story is personal.

I was lucky enough to follow the ups and downs of Olimba – and her daughter Mutima – out in the field. The first challenge on any typical leopard day was simply finding them. It always felt like they would only reveal themselves on their own terms; if they chose to vanish into the bush, they could disappear as if by magic. Thankfully, I was working alongside incredible guides who could interpret even the faintest squirrel alarm call and know exactly which direction Olimba had gone. The leopards paid us no attention whatsoever, and I’ll never forget the moment Olimba strolled right past our vehicle, then leapt into a tree directly above us to settle in for a sleep.

Another unforgettable moment came when our vehicle broke down beneath a tree swarming with angry bees. As they began attacking, we had no choice but to flee across the bush, blankets over our heads, hoping not to get too close to a leopard on foot. Thankfully, we made it back to the vehicle, and got it running again quickly!

Leopards are nocturnal, so filming often extended into the night. On some shoots, we were able to take an amazingly powerful thermal imaging camera, allowing us to observe them in complete darkness. Sitting quietly in the stillness of night, invisible to the animals, felt like stepping into another world – watching their natural behaviour unfold without interference.

But night shoots also brought some heart-pounding moments. South Luangwa’s dense bushes are perfect for ambush predators – not so great for film crews. One evening, I checked the surrounding area before hopping out of the car to have a pee... just when I had crouched down, a hyena suddenly popped its head up from a bush a few metres away… looking just as surprised to see me as I was to see them! I scrambled back into the car in record time!

The most emotionally charged moments in the field are often the ones that make it into the final film. One such scene appears in episode 2. It was the end of the wet season – a time when we can’t access the park for weeks – and returning is always nerve-wracking. We never know what our stars have been up to.

When we finally spotted Olimba and Mutima again, they were still within Olimba’s territory but always apart. Then one day, we found Olimba sleeping contentedly beneath a tree, her kill stashed above. We suddenly spot Mutima, who did an almost comedy look around each way before sneaking in and up the tree. Olimba wasn’t having it – she was no longer happy to share her meal. The tension between the two exploded – two angry leopards just metres away made it nearly impossible to stay calm.

After spending so much time watching Olimba, both in the field and even more so on a screen during the edit in Bristol, I can’t help but think of her every time my own cat gets up, stretches, and then lies straight back down for another nap. To me, Olimba is the true queen of cats.