A Leopard Sighting

On the 4th of January it felt like a heat wave had hit the Pilanesberg, everyone was hiding away in the shade!!  Nevertheless it was time for a game drive.  The journey was really quiet for about an hour until we found Betsie the local tame ostrich at Safara.

A peeking ostrichShe had no fear of the cars and stuck her head into the vehicle and had a look around for something shiny. She then took a look at my guests but lost interest and walked off. We kept on driving and driving but didn’t see anything for some time. Then a call comes in that there is apparently a

leopard at Tlou drive!

 

Out Of Nowhere

At first it seemed unreal…

driving around for hours and not even seeing one Impala and then suddenly we spot a  leopard 10 metres away. The very young female leopard was one of many animals chilling in the shade. She was very playful and inquisitive towards the vehicle, Rolling around, cleaning herself, looking at all the  bugs in the trees not bothered at all by the watchful eyes.

A leopard relaxing in the sizzle

We sat with her for about 45 minutes in the peak of the heat (when we left the lodge it was 38’C). So after everyone got the shots they wanted, for the first time in my guiding career, I actually left the leopard still lounging around. When we got back to the lodge we could see the damage that the sun had done to some of the guests… all in an effort to catch a glimpse of a  chilled leopard. Well worth it!

 Ranger

Evan van Niekerk