Ranger Dean de la Rey had a very pleasant surprise when enjoying his morning cup of coffee from the Founders Camp deck recently.
The Marula tree that grows out of a small rocky outcrop just north of the camp looked slightly different in the half light of dawn, and peering through his binoculars, Dean could make out the shape of a bushbuck carcass hoisted in its scraggly branches. Scanning around the base of the tree, Dean soon picked out the outline of a leopard’s head; a female, judging by the small size.
The bushbuck kill hangs awkwardly in the Marula tree just after sunrise. The leopard had already moved off into the thickets in the background.
Just then the light started strengthening, and the local monkey troop saw what Dean was already looking at. They immediately went wild at the sight of their mortal enemy, sounding their distinctive alarm calls, which prompted the leopard – as yet unidentified – to hastily make herself scarce in the Matumi thicket further out in the riverbed.
Leopards are a constant presence around the camp. Their tracks often tell of where they slunk through during the small hours, and the Camp managers see them from the deck more than once a week.
When they make kills and hoist them within sight of camp (the leopards hoist, not the camp managers), particularly near somewhere where there might be a lot of activity, we generally find that they won’t feed during the day. The human presence acts as a deterrent, and they will usually wait until darkness falls before returning to their kills.
Knowing this, we strongly suspected that whichever leopard had made this kill would slink back in come evening time and in all likelihood bring the kill down and re-hoist it somewhere else where she could feed in peace.
A couple of us made our way down to the Founders Camp deck towards sunset, and took our seats well back from the railings. And waited…
30 minutes later, just as the sun had dipped below the western horizon, the telltale flick of an ear in a reed-bed caught our attention, and suddenly, there she was.
Understandably nervous, as she had probably been watching people moving around on deck all day, she slowly moved closer to the boulders out of which the Marula was growing:
The bushbuck kill can be seen at the top left of the picture. We immediately recognised the leopard as the Nhlanguleni female.
She paused briefly to look towards the deck – where she no doubt had already caught sight of us – and then launched herself into the tree. The sun had already gone down and the light was fading rapidly, so ISO had to be cranked right up.
After jumping up onto the low branch, she looked up at the kill, planning how best to bring it down. She is licking her lips here, seemingly in anticipation of the meal she is about to enjoy after waiting for the whole day to access it.
We thought she might jump up onto the branch the kill was on in order to better manipulate it, or even feed for a short while first, but she didn’t waste time, standing on her back legs to hook her claws in and bringing it straight down. Notice how she is steadying herself with her front right leg.
The bushbuck was swiftly dragged off the branch above, and the leopard stopped for a moment after she had regained her balance. After the brief bit of commotion of getting the kill unhooked, she was checking to see if any danger was approaching, brought in by the noise. If that had been the case, she almost certainly would have re-hoisted immediately in the same tree.
Our last sight of her as she disappeared into the river thickets.
With enough light left, some fairly dense Matumi trees only about 50 metres away and no sign of hyenas, we presume the Nhlanguleni female managed to hoist her kill again in safety, and is possibly still feeding on it.
We didn’t see her cubs from the deck, but either they were staying out of sight, or she has abandoned them completely and they are now fully independent. We have been hearing many bushbucks alarms coming from the Sand River much further west of camp, which is where the cubs (or sub-adults as we should probably start referring to them) spent much of their youth being stashed by their mother. Most likely it is the young females still hanging around that the bushbuck keep bumping into, about to launch into their own lives.
With three of the Nhanguleni leopards now roaming the river and its banks towards the western side of Londolozi, we seem well-set for some fantastic leopard viewing in the upcoming months.
Dean de la Rey – who discovered the leopard in the first place – stares longingly out at the tree from Founders deck. Dean nobly volunteered to be in this photo to give context to how close the tree was to camp (it looks much further because of the wide-angle), and is secretly smouldering that he missed the female returning for her kill in the evening. Thanks for being a sport, Dean!
Amazing sighting. You never know what you see from the deck.
Amazing sighting, James! The strength of the leopard is remarkable. Thanks for sharing!
Would have loved to have seen this during our stay at Founders 3 weeks ago!
James, Thanks for this days incredible capture. This is one of the magical moments of a visit to Londolozi
James, what a great sighting🤗. I hope we get to see a leopard up close and personal we come in Sept 2020
Oh wonderful, unless you happen to be the bushbuck, in which case you may have a slightly different view of the leopard
Great storytelling – and a good example of anticipating an animal’s next likely move. And there you were, waiting for chapter 2 to unfold! Brilliant!
How exciting for all who witnessed this fascinating leopard behavior. Founders Camp is a perfect viewing spot- I watched so many animals in and around the water from the deck.
The trust level for humans by leopards in Londolozi is amazing. That, and coupled with wisdom, again shows how cunningly smart these animals are. Between monkeys stealing food and leopards choosing to be fairly close to the deck, guests are in for visual treats. Dean you are a sport and am sure you are privately still wishing you had seen the return of the female for her kill. But at Londolozi you never know what tomorrow brings! Good luck!
Sooo jealous. Please let her know I’ll be at Founders next week and would really appreciate a repeat performance!
Incredible sighting!!!!
Obviously with an “abundant” leopard population in the Reserve, we presume there is an occasional leopard sighting within camp during the quiet hours (guests on safari, meals, etc) or more likely during the night. Is there any interesting story you would like to share?
James..good tight shots, even with an 800mm. Fun stuff
Thanks Jim, I was shooting with a 200-400mm, the one that comes with a 1.4 converter built-in…
Thought it said “800” but that may reference shooting with the converter..I use 100-400 mostly (w 1D and 5D). Haven’ t sprung for the 1.4 converter model yet because of cost mainly. Also, I don’t take 600 often (Unless I have special assignment) because of weight and bulk thru airports and need to use mounts on top of LC’s. etc. Don’t know how you use a 600 out of the back of an open LC like you do…the one thing I use fairly often that you don’t use is a flash w extender..but your stuff is terrific. Wish we could use you and Londolozi sometime but we are so locked into TZ and the safari tracker/guide and company we have always used. Hard to switch from TZ/Mara/Ngorongoro etc. once you get started there. Next trip..all of May 2020. Keep up the good work. Your leopard stuff is great
Thanks Jim,
Maybe we can do a trip exchange sometime? I’ll leave the 600mm here for you 😉
Thanks, guys. A great story with pics to go with it! Wendy M