There are certain leopard sightings that live in the imagination long before they happen: a leopard stretched across a granite boulder, one silhouetted against the last light of the afternoon, or one walking straight towards the vehicle with every rosette picked out in the soft glow of the setting sun. And then there is the leopard in a dead leadwood.
Born 2018, skilled huntress and determined mother. Dominated Sand River territory until her tragic end in 2024.
For years, seeing a leopard draped amongst the pale, skeletal branches of a dead leadwood has been one of those quintessential safari dreams of mine, and I know I am not alone in that. Ask most people who spend enough time looking for leopards what their ultimate sighting would be, and somewhere in the conversation a leopard in a tree will inevitably feature.
So when the call came through that the Shingi Male was in the area, we headed towards the sighting with no idea we were about to experience exactly that. He had made an impala kill and left it safely tucked into the branches of a knobthorn tree, and with his meal secure he had moved off towards a series of muddy wallows nearby. We soon found him. He stopped at the edge of the water and lowered his head for a brief drink.
After feeding on an impala ram carcass for the best part of two days, the Shingi Male decided that with his kill well-positioned and safe in the canopy of a nearby tree, he would quench his thirst at the nearest mud wallows.
The last surviving cub of a litter of three, he is on the cusp of independence.
Then, all of a sudden, something changed. The Shingi Male lifted his head, and his attention shifted completely. Nearby, a hyena was approaching to investigate whether he had any scraps to offer up. The change in his behaviour was immediate. His relaxed demeanour disappeared, and he locked onto the threat, because he knew exactly what the hyena meant: competition. His impala was still hanging in the knobthorn, and the last thing he wanted was for his hard-earned meal to be discovered and stolen. He left the wallow and headed away from the hyena, quickly finding the nearest available refuge. A dead leadwood.
For a brief moment, as the circling hyena passed our vehicle, I locked eyes with the Shingi Male as he gazed over us, keeping a close watch on the movement of the pestering scavenger.
Watching a leopard ascend a tree is something that never becomes ordinary. The power in their forelegs, the ease with which their claws find purchase and the seemingly effortless way a heavy-bodied cat can pull itself upwards is remarkable. Within seconds, the Shingi Male was several metres above the ground, stretched along the branches of the dead leadwood, his golden coat standing out against the pale, weathered wood. As the hyena carried on investigating the scents around the base of the tree and the wallows where he had been drinking, the young male kept repositioning himself to watch it below, giving us one fantastic frame after another.
As the scene unfolded and the hyena continued to investigate scents and smells near the base of the tree and around the mud wallows where the Shingi Male had recently had a drink, the young male continued to provide us with fantastic photographs as he repositioned himself to keep an eye on the hyena below.
It was exactly the image I had imagined so many times before, something I had long dreamed of seeing since I started guiding at Londolozi.
The right leopard in the right light can transform an already remarkable sighting, and in this case it was the gloomy grey cover of the clouded afternoon that made it. Perhaps it is the contrast: the white-grey wood against the golden coat, the intricate branches framing the rosettes, the leopard’s powerful body appearing almost weightless several metres above the ground.
Leadwood trees have an extraordinary presence throughout Londolozi. They can stand for decades after they have died, their hard wood resisting decay and weathering into those characteristic pale trunks and twisted branches. For leopards, they offer another advantage: elevation.
Leopards are exceptionally capable climbers, and trees play an important role in their survival. A kill is a valuable possession. After investing all that energy into hunting and bringing down prey, a leopard needs to protect the food from competitors, and with lions and hyenas both capable of stealing a meal, the safest solution is often to get the carcass off the ground. This is where trees such as knobthorns and marulas become so important. The Shingi Male had used the knobthorn for exactly that, leaving his impala suspended above the ground before moving away for a drink.
The dead leadwood, however, served a different purpose. It gave him height and security the moment the hyena appeared. From his position amongst the branches, he could watch everything below while remaining safely out of reach, shifting every so often as his eyes followed the hyena on the ground. He was alert, but no longer exposed, and for us the timing could not have been better. The pale leadwood seemed almost purpose-built to showcase him.
Truly, a sighting I will never forget.
Great sighting and I can well imagine your excitement! In 2025, we heard that the Shingi male was up a dead leadwood… Jess Shilaw did her best to reach the sighting, but by the time we got there, he had alreafy come down again! All hope dashed! Things change so quickly! So, I am glad for you that you were there to see him him aloft such an awesome tree!