Leopards of Sabi Sands

[Sully]

Elephant Plains Safari: Another Incredible Day …

Brendon Cremer Reports:  

We headed out early as usual, wanting to follow up on Salayexe and her cub again. While searching for them we found some rhino again, and then even more buffalo bulls – as well as some fabulous birds like Wahlberg’s Eagles, Martial Eagles, Bateleurs -  and a Lilac-breasted Roller that even posed beautifully for us …
Then we heard that Salayexe’s cub had been spotted so we went straight there, and found her sprawled out on a termite mound. We spent quite some time with her, in fact for the remainder of the morning, taking dozens of photographs of the beautiful leopard. At times, as she moved, she was out of sight, but luckily she quickly moved back into full view again.
In the afternoon we headed to an area where we heard that wild dogs had been reported. It didn’t take us long to find them. They were lying in a lovely shaded area – not the best area for fabulous photographs but we managed some pretty decent images nonetheless.
So, having seen the Big 5, plus cheetahs, it was a real treat to see the dogs as well.
We spent ages with the dogs, but they were not keen to move around, so we decided to move on …
We found fresh leopard tracks and thinking, or hoping that they belonged to Salayexe we followed them, but instead we found one of Nsele’s cubs. She is 2 years old now, and is very seldom seen – and when the rare spotting takes place she is invariably in dense undergrowth - so we were extra pleased to enjoy the special sighting. We remained with her until she disappeared into the dense foliage.
We continued our search for Salayexe, and finally found her. We followed her as she wandered along, and as darkness set in she went to lie on a termite mound and alternately slept or looked at us with her head bent back, looking at us from her upside down position. 
All in all we captured some amazing photographs – not only today – each day has been rewarding beyond expectations.
Tomorrow morning will be our final game drive for yet another incredible visit to Elephant Plains …

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

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