Tag: leopard

World Leopard Day

Apparently it is world leopard day today! Leopards are such special animals – solitary, secretive, hard to find and absolutely stunningly beautiful. I didn’t nearly see enough leopards on our recent trip to South Africa 🥲 but this one, just waking up, time to get moving, silhoueted against the sunset-sky was really special.

Falling…

A leopard dozing in a tree above us. In fact, he was dozing so hard that he lost his balance and needed some claw action to prevent him from falling out of the tree and on top of… well, me. That was a scary moment!

At first sight

It was a long journey from the Netherlands to Tangala Safari Camp in #Thornybush Nature Reserve. We were just in time to catch the departure of the afternoon safari drive – and this was the first picture I took. What a welcome in South Africa!

Leopard after the kill

This leopard had just caught a big bushbuck in Pilanesberg. I’m not sure how that was even possible, I’ve never seen bushbuck there, and he just catches one! He was still panting heavily in the shade of a bush. His kill was lying a meter off, too heavy to be carried up a tree. Later, that night, a couple of lions chased the leopard away and feasted on his kill. Such hard work, and so little joy from it!

Leopard

We went to Pilanesberg to spot some leopards, and actually we were quite successful. We saw a young male enjoying his catch about three meters from our car. Under a dense bush. Then there was a female with her catch – behind a tree. And then, the top of our sightings, a female with cub. In a very leafy tree, 30 meters away.

After three days we had seen spots, tails and whiskers, but little more than that. So when we arrived in Madikwe, we told our guide that we really would love to see a leopard with a complete body not hidden by bushes.

And we got what we came for! Leopards are not as often seen in Madikwe as in Pilanesberg, but we were lucky that this male had killed an impala two nights before and was still working his way through the carcass. He even deigned to look our way! Happy!