Hide and seek

Since the floods the leopards on the property have found every far off corner on the property to hide in. The rains have made it hellishly difficult to find the cats because the bush is so thick. Yesterday was no different...3 night guests on their last drive and only one last animal to find...the ever elusive leopard.

We headed out straight away and started to track ghosts. One of the trackers had seen a leopard while on their way to one of the other lodges and we scoured the area looking for any sign that he was not hallucinating...after 30 minutes of searching we came to the conclusion that he must have been drinking on the job... 

We then headed to the next area where tracks had been spotted and started to track another ghost. Fortunately our tracking took us in front of Bush Lodge where there was a troop of baboons, a herd of impala, herd of elephants and a saddle billed stork. The evening sunlight bathed the scene and we all watched as the matriarch elephant chased all the other elephants away from the marula buffet, baby baboons sat playing and the stork started its evening grooming session.

With no luck on the leopard we headed back to the lodge and fortunately saw a african barred owlet, chameleons and to top it off, a lioness.

With the unlucky guests gone and a new morning safari to look forward to, we hoped that our luck would change. And then the call came in that there was a leopard sleeping in a tree...I bounced the guests around as I chased towards the sighting before she decided to climb down and disappear. Fortunately that did not happen and we got to watch as she looked so relaxed she might just have fallen out of the tree (below).

This made my day and she posed for a few snaps before we had to leave to let some of the others get a chance to see her...