Any encounter with the elusive leopard, remains thrilling and exciting.
Our game drive began with our tour group splitting up and driving the pre-planned round route, to cover a larger area, remaining in radio communication to relay any interesting sightings.
Shortly after departure, the first crackle of radio announced, “Leopard”! Moving in the direction indicated, I was rewarded with a distant sighting of a massive male moving through the long grass,
Driving alongside him at a great distance, I was rewarded with an opportunity to photograph him lazing on a tree branch, by this time, most of our group had joined in, but just long enough for us all to see him once again disappear into the bush. Celebrating our sighting, I drove along the sandy track to once again see him sitting at the base of a tree looking towards the heavens.
As we all gathered in the area, he jumped up and made his way to the top of the tree, and only now, did we see what his mission was, a female near the top branches. She was not very welcoming to his advances, as she chased him back to the ground. And so, it went for over an hour, not 15 metres away, we sat and enjoyed the spectacular display of these two up and down the tree.
The radio crackled again with a warning=” Lion behind you!” My reverse camera showed a female lion advancing in crawl mode, she made her way to within 2 metres of the big male on the ground and pounced. The agility and amazing speed, the male leopard launched himself to the first branch in split seconds, avoiding certain catastrophe.
This is where he was now, not in his happy place, the female above him shouting the odds with warning snarls and teeth baring, and the lioness waiting for him at the base of the tree. The poor fella was clearly not comfortable. What seemed like endless hours of antics between the three, the lioness eventually got bored and simply wandered off into the bush. The big male seemed to relax, gave up on the attempts with the female, and found a comfortable branch to relax on and snooze.
Camera batteries flat, and SD cards full, we left the pair to sort out their domestics, and we all made our way back to camp, with bragging rights on film.
Memories, like this, will only happen with great friends who join us on a tour. This is most definitely one for the books.
