Let the tracking begin!

As I said yesterday, the plan of action for the afternoon was to find the bloody leopard that just kept getting away from us. Easier said than done... After watching a herd of elephants we headed into the area where the leopard was left in the morning. Brett picked up tracks early and headed in on foot to see if he could find anything but was unable to find her. For two and a half hours we searched for this leopard with the only sign being the tracks from earlier, eventually after stopping for a drink to wait for the sun to go down and for her to get moving again. As the sun was setting we picked up tracks on top of the old tracks and our many tyre tracks from driving round in search of her. We hadn't driven 20 metres before we completely distracted by a two metre african rock python. We then left the snake and got our eyes back onto the prize and followed the leopard tracks. They were leading straight to an open area where we had seen a herd of impala and wildebeest and we were certain that she was going to pop out that side. We scanned the edge of the tree line hoping to get a view of our prize. Time was moving on and we all reach a consensus that we would check one last time and then move on to the lodge. As we scanned the area, Solly picked up her eyes...we all watched in amazement as this magnificent creature, which had proved so illusive, walked straight up the vehicle, slipped under Solly's seat and used the vehicle to cover her approach to the unsuspecting impala. We went lights off and watched in the moonlight as she leopard crawled closer and closer. After about a half an hour and she was no longer making any progress we decided to show the guests the leopard under the spotlight and then leave her to her activities. All that patience eventually paid off and we enjoyed a spectacular dinner under the stars.

This morning was the last drive for my Swiss ladies and I decided to see if we could find the lion cubs and show them the Sabi River. We found the tracks and followed, looking for the lioness but there was no sign of the cubs with her. She had obviously stashed them while she went off in search of a meal. After a while we saw tracks of buffalo running and lions in pursuit, we walked round a bit to see if we could figure out what had happened. By all signs it appeared that the buff had lived another day and we carried on following the newer tracks. We followed the tracks till we found the whole pride of 5 females lying on the road. Again the end to another great tracking mission. 

There is nothing more rewarding than tracking and finding animals!! Morning coffee was enjoyed looking over the Sabi River and the trip was topped off when we found a female waterbuck and her week old calf!!