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Leopard
Leopards of Sabi Sands
Leopards of Sabi Sands
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Leopards of Sabi Sands
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From Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve:
"Maxabeni was once again atop the tree where he had stashed his impala kill."  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
From Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve:
"We found Mahlathini male leopard on a huge kudu cow kill just outside of Bush Lodge yesterday afternoon."  *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  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Tristan Dicks.
Mvula male.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Hendri Reports from the Sabi Sand Photo Safari at Elephant Plains: Salayexe with a Kill Visited by Hyenas ...
How wonderful it is to be back here at Elephant Plains in the Sabi Sand reserve. After checking in, a delicious meal, and a quick briefing we were more than ready to get going. There is always that sense of anticipation about the bush. Nature is always so very unpredictable and the forthcoming days could deliver ... well, what? So it was with hope and anticipation, and cameras at the ready we set out for our first game drive on this safari - We followed tracks belonging to Anderson, that huge dominant male leopard, but no, there was no sign of the actual animal. Then two more sets of leopard tracks taunted us and we followed each set until they also disappeared into long grass. Just then, to our delight we found Salayexe, that indomitable female leopard that has become a familiar sight over the years. She had a kill that she dragged up into tree where it was barely visible. She flopped down to lie under a nearby Marula tree. We remained with her, taking dozens of photographs - until it was dark, when we took out our spotlights to capture more images of her, this time in the eerie dark of the night. Hyenas arrived, and we thought OK, now for a confrontation! But Salayexe is a wise old lady and she retreated to a tree from where she gazed down at the frustrated hyenas below. It was a leafy tree, and wasn't the best for photography, but we managed some decent stuff nonetheless. In addition, we saw herds of elephants, and a very stately Kudu Bull that stood on a termite mound, looking around at his surroundings, and looking oh, so handsome. We saw the biggest Monitor Lizard that I have ever seen. We looked, blinked, looked again - surely that was a crocodile? But no! It was a gigantic Monitor Lizard! Wow! Now we are back at the Lodge, enjoying our predinner drinks and thinking that we really should check on more leopard tracks again in the morning ...  *This image is copyright of its original author
From Londolozi Game Reserve, The Week in Pictures #292 by James Tyrrell:
"The Anderson male in probably the first sighting in which he was ever viewed at the Sand River. He was mating with the Nhlanguleni female here, when the Flat Rock male joined the pair. Despite much scent-marking, growling and territorial displaying by the Flat Rock male, the much larger Anderson male remained unprovoked and clearly unintimidated, simply walking back to the female after watching his rival for a short while."  *This image is copyright of its original author
Hendri Reports from the Sabi Sand Photo Safari at Elephant Plains: A Leopard Kill in One, Two, Three Seconds ...
Well, after our amazing day yesterday, we were extra keen to get going this morning. The calm, predawn mysterious darkness enveloped the world around us as we set out from the Lodge after steaming hot coffee and rusks. What a day awaited us ... starting almost immediately - About ten minutes after leaving the Lodge we spotted some Bushbabies (Galagos) in a tree. They were jumping around, playing as they leapt from branch to branch. Then we noticed that one of them disappeared into a hole in the tree. We waited for a while and sure enough, her head popped out again ... we used our spotlights to capture images of the adorable little creature peeping out from her hiding place. What a special sighting! We picked up some leopard tracks and followed these, zig-zagging through the bush as the tracks led us in all directions. While doing this we stopped now and then to photograph hyenas and numerous elephants as well as plenty of giraffe and other game. Maybe we took so long photographing all the game that we never actually caught up with that leopard. Then came the afternoon ... a wow! First we followed some fresh leopard tracks, but we were interrupted by a call alerting us to two lionesses with two small cubs. We found them out in the open, basking and playing in the warm afternoon light. We spent a wonderful time with them as the cubs tumbled over the adults, worried them, fell around with each other and gave us so much to capture ... every moment seemed more endearing than the previous as cubs and lionesses interacted, with many playful taps, and plenty of licks. We moved from there to a pride of twelve lions - a Birmingham male accompanied by five adult lionesses and five cubs. The cubs were about five months old. We heard of a leopard in the vicinity and found her without too much fuss. Out came our spotlights for all the different lighting angles that we could manage. Back-lighting, side-lighting, front-lighting ... we did it all. Then she moved along and we realised that she was starting to hunt. She was very quick and before we knew it she chased and caught a Scrub Hare. It was all done in a flash. She posed beautifully for us with her kill, and we remained with her until it was time to return to the Lodge. As you can imagine, everyone is beyond delighted with another outstanding day ... and hoping that our luck hold for our final full day with this safari group tomorrow ...  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Rodney Nombekana.
Anderson male.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Hugo Breed - Leopard Hills.
Dayone looking towards Khokovela as she approaches him to mate.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Johan de la Rey - Leopard Hills.
Dayone male with his happy face.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Rob the Ranger.
Nyeleti male. This was his comment about who he had a fight with: Dewane most likely he had a couple of scratches when we saw him yesterday with Khokhovela, at the time we thought he got them from her but now it seeing Nyeleti makes me think differently. A lot of the deeper scratches on Nyeleti are from a previous boxing match with Dewane, today's fresher wounds were one near the eye, one on the leg and what looks to be a whole claw ripped out on his front foot.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Photo and information credits: Dawie Jacobs
"Another day another leopard, Tingana gave us a good show this morning. "  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Brendon Cremer - Elephant Plains Game Lodge.
A call came in about a large male leopard, so we dashed off to see him. He was lying down when we reached him, doing nothing, so we left him for a while, deciding to return a little later. We returned to the leopard around sunset. He was up, and we took out our spotlights to photograph him as he walked around. He is a very large, strong specimen, and interesting to follow. Especially when he walked into two lionesses. The lionesses had a new impala kill and were feeding busily when he arrived. We wondered what would happen ... but the encounter was uneventful. He spotted the lionesses, but they were totally unaware of his proximity. They concentrated on feeding while the leopard quietly snuck away. He probably heard the sounds of the kill, and maybe thought it was another leopard ... and not many leopards would be a match for this guy! He went to lie down not too far away.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Hugo Breed - Leopard Hills.
Dayone keenly watching a Bushbuck in a thicket close by.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Tayla Jane McCurdy Photography.
Mvula male.  *This image is copyright of its original author
From Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve:
"The White Dam male and the Msuthlu female have been seen mating, with the young male trying to avoid the female’s advances."  *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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