Three years ago, I found myself staring at a huge male lion, my face less than a metre away from his… and I wasn’t in a circus but lying in Londolozi’s custom photography jeep; my camera barely jutting out from the customised photography gap in the side of the vehicle.
What a spectacular sight to have one of the Majingilane brothers walk past my face…
Since then, I have been back several times with my family and we have shared some magical moments in the bush thanks to our rangers and trackers, in particular Jessica, Mike, Tom and Jerry.
In late August 2014, we spent four fantastic days with Tom and Jerry and witnessed some incredible thrills, as illustrated in the pictures below:
DAY 1:
Some travellers wait their whole lives to see this but we were privileged to spend precious moments with a family of wild dogs!
DAY 2:
To keep in tempo, we observed at dusk, a leopard, chasing impalas and taking with her the last rays of sunshine as she disappeared alongside a hill… We were fortunate to see a few leopards during our stay as seen below.
DAY 3:
Day trek in Londolozi’s deep south. The zebras and the giraffes were waiting for us and showing off their reflections in the lake. An African fish eagle, invited us to a spot of fishing. We gazed at the elephants and the rhinos, sipping Amarula infused hot chocolate (it is in fact forbidden to consume hot chocolate without Amarula in South Africa!)
DAY 4:
To finish in style, we came across an amazing scene: two leopards mating while a third finished his lunch in a nearby tree. Meanwhile, a bold hyena, completely unimpressed by the goings-on, neared the leopards to claim her part of the feast (in fact the entire spread, seeing as she then proceeded to attack each leopard in turn to steal their meal!)
Next June, back for new adventures in Londolozi! The extraordinary bush scenes are, like life, an eternal beginning…
Written and Photographed by: Bruno Bervoets
Bruno and his family visited Londolozi in the last week of August – visiting from Brussels.
Incredible sightings. Fantastic images. Beautiful leopard pics.
Beautiful photographs Bruno! Thank you so much for sharing them!
Wonderful photos….. thank you for reminding us of our visit to wonderful Londolozi!
WOW!!! Thanks for sharing! The photos were fabulous!
Thanks so much for bringing Londolozi back to me……Each day is a wonderful adventure made indelible by reality and the photos in our minds….
Wonderful photos that brought back lovely memories of our Christmas visit several years ago.
Wow! Stunning images!
Unbelievable photos the leopard drinking in black and white is spectacular!
Wonderful pictures Bruno, thank you for sharing your special trip with us at home bloggers 🙂 Look forward to more
Fabulous photos. I worked in East Africa teaching at the medical college in Kampala and getting out on safari whenever I could. These pictures so graphically remind me of those days. My one encounter with a leopard was captured on my Lieca 3 F with 135 mm lense . The colour film never came back from Kodak!
I would love to use one of your pictures of a leopard in the book I am writing on evolution. Is that possible? If so how would I give credit?
Thanks
Michael
Yours
Michael