Leopards of Sabi Sands

[Sully]

Elephant Plains Safari: Shadow, Salayexe, Karula - and Cubs …
(All images from Back of Brendon Cremer’s Camera)
 
Fanus Weldhagen Reports: 
 
I guess that we are very, very spoiled with all the sightings here. In fact we have seen so many big cats that I did not even mention that our final sighting last night before we reached the Lodge was a delightful encounter with Shadow, a beautiful young lady leopard who was starting her evening patrol.
Therefore this morning, when we failed to see any of the cats – or any predators, actually, we felt a bit let down. That was until we realised that there was plentiful game around, and if one is looking for the big fellas there were plenty of elephants – and a herd of buffalo enjoying a drink at a water hole. These guys kept us busy for ages.
We did find plenty of leopard tracks and followed Salayexe’s spoor for ages, but we were distracted regularly when we encountered other animals.
We should not forget to mention the wonderful bird life here. Most spectacular this morning was an African Harrier Hawk that gave us plenty of time for some great images.
This afternoon we headed straight out to find Karula and her adorable little cubs. On the way some, but not all, of our group had a brief sighting of Shadow, the leopard we had seen last evening.
When we reached the cubs we found that they are still a little shy, but it was wonderful to spend time with them. They are so adorable at this cute, bumbling, stumbling, adventurous age. And mom kept an eye on them while draped across the branch of a tree over the dry riverbed.
We left the leopards and found three venerable old ‘Dagga Boys’ (Buffalo) wallowing in some lovely squishy mud.
We returned to Karula and the cubs for a short while but left again to try and find Salayexe.
This time we had more luck. She was out hunting, although her interest was more opportunistic and really rather half-hearted. She would spot eg an impala, put on a show of stalking it but would give up before she even approached particularly close. Eventually she disappeared into thick undergrowth and didn’t emerge again.
Maybe she will take up hunting in earnest again tomorrow …

*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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