Leopards of Sabi Sands

[Tshokwane]

Credits to Brendon Kremer - Elephant Plains.

When Leopards Engage in a Day Long Territorial Dispute - and Others Join ...

What an amazing, fantastic, interesting, exciting day ...


The final drive for the first Tusk Safari group found us determined to find leopard tracks. It didn't take long before we did find tracks of a large male leopard. We followed these for some time and were still concentrating on where they were leading when we received a call from a ranger to inform us that the male leopard that we saw last night had been located. The tracks we were following headed towards exactly the same area, but we could see that these were tracks of a different male leopard. Certainly not the one we saw last night.

We had a decision to make. Should we go straight to the already located leopard, and be guaranteed a sighting, or should we continue to follow the tracks and hope. We decided on the latter course.

We carried on following the tracks to see where they would lead us and suddenly, we were not far from the leopard from last night when the ranger at that sighting said 'Guys! Look! There is another leopard coming closer to this one'. It was the leopard we were following.

Chaos ensued!

We spent hours watching the two leopards. Their interactions were fascinating ... the menacing growls from each was enough to make one's hair stand on end. They snarled and spat, growled and glared at one another. The younger cat would move a few inches away, and the older male, having dominated this area for ages, made his opinion about the young upstart very clear.

It was a really interesting standoff and we almost expected a fight to break out at any second. The interaction was exciting and quite heart-stopping to witness. The back and forth growling and snarling as each moved a few inches this way and that, - it really appeared that they were negotiating each one's territorial boundaries.

It was the type of interaction that one so rarely is privileged to see in the bush and we remained with them until we simply had to return to the Lodge. When we left them the argument was still raging ...

On the way back to the Lodge we found a pride of lions. A number of lionesses with a few subadults. There were eleven in total. They were sleeping and not inclined to do anything, but it was a superb ending to another simply amazing safari.

After refreshments and goodbyes, the safari group reluctantly started to leave and make their way back to their homes. Some felt quite torn ... on the one hand they were eager to share their fabulous experiences with the new arrivals, but at the same time they were quite envious that the new guests were here while they had to depart.

As soon as we could we headed directly to the male leopards. The new group heard all about the drama over lunch, and were keen to see the two protagonists. Before we reached the male leopards, however, we spotted fresh female leopard tracks and followed these but didn't manage to locate her. We photographed elephants along the way, and eventually arrived at the two leopards.

Well, can you believe it! They were still arguing with one another. The growling and snarling, glaring, then walking side - by - side continued. It was fascinating to watch the dispute ... leopard can continue this type of confrontation for hours on end, but it seldom actually erupts into a fully blown physical fight. It just appears to an onlooker that this could happen at any moment. But the threatening growls and snarls are more than enough to be really intimidating! The photography was fabulous.

Then the drama intensified! Hyenas arrived on the scene and turmoil ensued. The leopards fled, but returned to chase the hyenas. One of the leopard chased a hyena that darted away, tail between his legs.

Then as the leopard lay down to continue growling at each other some more, elephants arrived on the scene ... and they chased the leopards away!

So what an eventful afternoon we had with plenty of action and some outstanding photography. As you can imagine, we would like to follow up on those leopards as soon as we are able to leave the Lodge in the morning ...

Anderson male

*This image is copyright of its original author

Hukumuri male.

*This image is copyright of its original author

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