Yesterday’s afternoon drive was a interesting one as that morning we found some leopard tracks just outside the lodge. It was the tracks of an adult female and her two cubs. From the tracks we could see that they had been hunting as they were all over the show. Eventually a kill was located, an adult impala, underneath a thick bush. The leopards were not to be seen as the morning had got a bit hot and the bush was very thick. So we decided to come back in the afternoon when it was getting dark to give the leopards the chance to come back to their kill.

So in the afternoon we set out containing our eagerness to go to the kill site to see if the leopards were there, in stead we took a relaxing drive around the reserve towards the Klaserie River mostly in search of some general game species. As the sun went lower and lower we slowly but surely made our way towards where the leopards would hopefully be. On the way there we saw elephants and lions. The lions we stayed with as they were about 2 kilometers from the leopards and we wanted to see where they would go, of course the lions eventually got up and started to walk towards the leopards and as soon as I got a gap, I by-passed the lions to go see the leopards.

Eventually we were rewarded with a sighing of one of the cubs walking around the car and the sounds of the other two eating. Shortly afterwards the lions chased off the leopards and took the kill for themselves.

In other Leopard news we received a lovely gift this morning. Mbilo was spotted with her third and last cub safe, healthy, and happy. She was very relaxed with the vehicles which is also a good sign!

By: Roel van Muiden – River Lodge Ranger