Of all the “Big 5” animals none are as difficult to find as the Leopard. Seeing one is usually the highlight of a visit to a nature reserve in South Africa. Having six sightings of these beautiful cats – of which four were on one day! – will mean our latest visit to the Kruger National Park will not soon be forgotten!
Our first sighting, near Lower Sabie late afternoon just minutes before the gates closed, was not very awe-inspiring, even by Leopard standards. Being as lazy as only cats can be this individual did not even deign to show us its face.
Lazy Leopard near Lower Sabie
Early one morning while travelling along the S56 Mphongolo Loop north of Shingwedzi we came across a pair of Leopards in a tall tree – a smaller individual very high up in the tree and visually afraid of the bigger one below guarding the remains of a kill. Visitors who were on the scene before us later shared how the male stole the female’s kill and chased her to the top of the tree where he was too heavy to get to her.
After spending quite some time at the Leopards in the tree we decided to move on to breakfast at Babalala Picnic Spot when, only 4km further along the same road, we found a young and curiously calm Leopard next to the road at the turnoff to Sirheni Bushveld Camp. She posed beautifully for all the photographers in the car, not fazed in the least by our proximity! Having been treated with such grace by the young princess we slowly backed away from her so that she could repose in tranquility.
Mere minutes later, still sauntering along the S56 towards Babalala, we found our third Leopard encounter for the morning where it was using a small outcrop of rocks as a vantage point and being particularly interested in a huge kudu bull lying nearby. The kudu soon saw the Leopard and did not even think the cat enough of a threat to stand up. Knowing it was outgunned, the Leopard gave the kudu a wide berth and disappeared into the dense shrubbery next to the Shisha stream.
That same afternoon, still extremely excited about our morning, which by then also included sightings of other charismatic or rare species of wildlife including lions, roan antelope, tsessebes, buffaloes and elephants we found our fourth Leopard sighting of the day along the S50 Kanniedood Road southeast of Shingwedzi. The apparently heavily pregnant female was in a hunting mood and stalking a mixed herd of impala, kudu and waterbuck mingling on the bank of the river. She was soon discovered however and slinked back across the road and out of sight.
Our final Leopard sighting of the trip (and I am sure we missed more than we saw thanks to their exceptional camouflage!) was before sunrise as we left Shingwedzi for a morning drive. This was a shy individual, trying to hide behind a palm frond for a minute or two and then deciding to retreat into the riverine vegetation lining the Shingwedzi.
I made a little compilation video of some of the Leopard encounters I told you about.
DeWetsWild