The hunt for leopard continued as we went in search of the ever elusive leopard. We went to the best spots for leopards and searched every road for the signs that there may be any feline life. Nothing! Eventually I said to Solly that we should just take it easy and go have an awesome sundowner. We watched the sun set over the Drakensberg from Koti view and discussed the in and outs of the bush. It was a great stop and was about to get even better. As we packed the vehicle up I heard one of the other rangers call in that he had found two honey badgers wondering along the road a stones throw away from where we were. As I rounded the 3rd corner there stood a honey badger in the middle of the road! It was incredible, notoriously shy animals we were even more surprised when he started posing and paid no attention to us! We followed him for a while and then lost him in some really thick bush. This seemed to cure my frustrations about the leopards for a little while.
We hadn’t driven another 2 km when leaping out of the bush jumped a majestic serval. With his long legs and spotted coat he hopped across the road and we followed him with the spotlight and he stopped briefly to have a look at us before he moved off.
What a night this was turning out to be. On the way home we saw a side striped jackal and a cheetah which REALLY put the cherry on top! Unfortunately we not allowed top view diurnal animals with the spotlight so we stuck with him for about 5 minutes and had to leave him be.
The next morning we went on the cheetah hunt and after an hour and 15 minutes we only got a view of his tail as he made his way into the property next door! We then went to view the lions, which were sleeping as usual. On our way home we were enjoying a bachelor herd of waterbuck when suddenly all hell broke loose 300 metres in front of us. Monkeys alarm calling, waterbuck alarm calling so we sped off to see if we could find the culprit. We found some leopard tracks again but no luck finding the culprit. Ego bruised I took the guests back to the lodge. We would have to wait till that evening!
That evening was even more frustrating than the morning. We went gallivanting all over chasing ghosts, finding tracks that led nowhere, hearing alarm calls but never getting to see the intruders. Clearly the smell of my desperation was wafting and the leopards didn’t want any part of it. This would be the 10th drive without leopard… We eventually called it quits and went home, the guests could all sense my frustration and I had to put a smile on my face and pretend that the next morning would be worth it
SO…THEN…this morning we headed out with a fresh lead…at about 4am a male leopard had been in the lodge and we had heard him calling after that…so again we picked up the trail, following the spoor feeling slightly optimistic that my curse may be broken today. How short lived that optimism was…my smile faded as I saw the tracked crossover into another reserve…
A little later another vehicle called in bushbuck alarm calling so we went to investigate. Three vehicles looking everywhere to see if we could find the responsible cat. Just as I was about to pull out of the area one of the vehicles found her…our resident female and she had her 2 cubs with her…What a way to break the drought…three leopards around the vehicle. The cubs slipping under the vehicle for cover and playing in the bush around us! AMAZING!
We also walked up to 2 giraffe, saw and animal aggregation consisting of kudu, impala, rhino and a troop of baboons, we also bumped into elephant and a group of rhino with a young calf in theor midst. What a morning, what a day…
I am so excited to get out there again tonight and look forward to a enjoyable relaxing drive this evening, followed by some amazing dinner and a bit of Soccer World Cup 2010!
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