Our game drive started as normal with a few general game species allowing us to view them up close and personal. We were then privileged to see a herd of elephants as they chased the smaller Cape buffalo out of a mud wallow (size dominates in the bush). Having taken some awesome photos we carried on towards Klein Kariba dam. Jeffery my trackers keen bush eyes spotted where a leopard had dragged a kill across the road. He grabbed the hand radio and started tracking the leopard. It wasn’t long when he informed me that he had found a dead impala, not too far from the road. Unfortunately there was no sign of the leopard. We returned later that night and still the impala was the only thing we saw. Not much had been eaten, so my guests and I decided we would leave a little earlier the next morning and try to see if we could see the leopard before the other cars came into the area. As we got closer to the area to where the kill was, Jeffery said to me, “It’s not our lucky day”, as there were now fresh lion tracks in the area. We proceeded to the impala which had been completely eaten by the lion since his tracks were coming straight from the kill site. The male lion had stolen the leopards feast…serves her right I thought since she had not placed the dead impala in a tree for safe keeping as leopards often do. We did manage to see the thief during the drive and he was so full he could barely walk. The afternoon safari did not disappoint as it wasn’t long before Sebastiaan called in to say he had found a leopard. It was not far from where Jeffery had seen the kill from yesterday and was most probably the same animal whose food was stolen. Fortunately we still had the same guests so we made our way to the area and were rewarded with a few very good views of this illusive animal. She had now completed the “Big 5” experience for my guests.

Dean Robinson

Head Ranger

Kapama Main Lodge