About the Author

Rich Laburn

Head of Digital

Rich is the driving force behind Londolozi’s online storytelling and the founder of the Londolozi blog. His passions of digital media, film and photography have seen him build Londolozi's online ecosystem into a unique platform for advocacy of the restoration and rewilding of ...

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10 Comments

on A Quintessential Leopard Hoist

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Thanks again David and Ben for catching this on film. This is by far the most impressive ‘hoist’ i’ve seen in the last 7 years!

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How cool was that! I am not the biggest leopard fan in the world but I think a leopard like this could change my mind……

Linda, Agreed! She is spectacular to watch and just so interesting to observe as she grows up towards maturity. Thanks for your thoughts.

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Actually these shots are all Ben’s, not mine. Thanks, Tom, for a truly memorable few days!

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I think this female leopard is a warning to us about the objective impossibility of putting in a standard the physical and mental characteristics of the leopards .
This is the culmination of individuality and diversity, the nemesis of standardization.
Greetings to all

Allesio, your comment is spot on. Many naturalists learn huge amounts about nature through textbooks which have a paragraph or two devoted to animal behaviour. However, as most guides will tell you, nothing is certain out here in the wild and as much as a specie’s behaviour may indicate standardization, each animal does in fact have its own unique individuality and diversity. It is the uniqueness of each of these animals lives and how they consistently rewrite the rule books which interests me so much. Thanks for your thought provoking comment. Rich

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Hi guys, my wive, Yvette, and I have been to Londoz about 20 times by now in the last 10 years. We have seen, filmed and photographed at least over 30 different leopards over that period.
I learned the following quickly: do not rely on textbook! rely on your own observation and accept it as it is. Don’t convert (y)our views into exceptional stories and rewrite “rule books”. It often need to much assumptions to back up the stories.
As soon as you start read textbooks you think you know the whole story, and that is a totally wrong assumption.
Every leopard is an individual, developing from it’s birth till the day is dies and we simply don’t know how they develop, we only witness a maximum of 5% of their live span. This is far to less to become scientific. The 5% is valid for Londoz and then for some leopards only, at all other game reserves it is far less then 5%.
But you know what: I am back in May, can’t wait to see leopards again.
Jos

Thanks for your thoughts Jos, it is not hard to see why you keep coming back to view these magnificent cats. In addition to being extremely beautiful to photograph, their behaviour and lives are just as inspiring to watch and appreciate as they unfold. I think that rulebooks provide context, however they are not absolute and it is this unknowing of what could potentially happen on any given day which makes spending time with these cat and many other animals so fantastically exciting. Thanks again for your thoughts. Rich

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She is amazing. I’m sure (I hope) that she will be around till 15 or 17.

Morty I am hesitant to talk to soon, however if she continues to occupy her current territory and mature into an established female, she has the potential to become one of the legendary leopards of Londolozi. Our fingers are crossed.

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