What moments in your life have inspired you? This year, we are celebrating our bucket list moments, the times we have been left in awe, and those that we have yet to experience.

We recently shared our South African wish list, places that we feel everyone should explore when they visit our country. Today for something a little different we spoke to three Londolozi Rangers about their wildlife bucket list moments – the ones they have experienced and the sightings that they would still like to see…

Werner Breedt:

“When I started guiding, a leopard kill was something I had longed to see. Following a female leopard in our game vehicle, my tracker suddenly motioned for me to stop. I wasn’t sure why. The leopard at this stage was only two metres away from us and ahead in the road I spotted the duiker that my tracker had seen.

The leopard froze and crouched down in stalking mode before shortly pouncing on the duiker. Death was imminent. The leopard had the duiker in her mouth for about 20 seconds before it died. She proceeded to drag the kill past us and then like a flash of light, she was in a tree. From her perch in the tree she began calling. What followed will stay with me forever. A cub of roughly 3 months, appeared and climbed the tree. Together mother and cub enjoyed feeding on the kill. My first-ever leopard kill and a mother and cub to top it off!

A leopard seen pulling its kill from a tree. David Dampier

An approaching thunderstorm lights up the sky while a leopard feeds. David Dampier

The sighting I would love to see:

I would love to see a caracal (my favourite animal). I have only seen one before and it was a very brief sighting of the animal walking away. Pound for pound they are the strongest predator in Africa (if not the world). Their jumping abilities as well as their agility is second to none. From a sitting position they can jump as high as three to four metres!

Daniel Buys:

“I would say my bucket list moment was the first time I saw a cheetah hunt at Londolozi. There were a variety of different species interacting to make it one of the most exciting afternoons of my life. We were driving along and weren’t looking for anything specific. This all changed when we spotted a cheetah. Cheetah especially at this time, some years ago, were not often seen on the property. Lying on the side of a termite mound and perfectly positioned in the afternoon light, the cheetah stretched lazily before strolling down the hill toward a large herd of impala. The area was open and difficult for the animal to conceal himself. He used the apex of the crest to hide away and we positioned ourselves at the bottom of the hill. Ahead of us, we had the impala in view, the cheetah stalked down the hill but the impala soon noticed him and took off. The cheetah bolted after them, rapidly gaining ground on an impala ewe he had singled out. The cheetah and ewe ended up doing a loop and within the space of only 150-200 metres the cheetah had successfully caught the impala. The cheetah lay down with the kill, exhausted.

Chris Kane-Berman

It wasn’t long, before the Camp Pan male leopard had sniffed out the kill and came bounding in, licking his chops, only to steal the kill from the cheetah!

The sighting I would love to see:

An elephant birth, to see the social interactions in a group of elephants during a birth and to witness this miracle of life, would be a wish come true!

Andrea Campbell 

I had never seen cheetah cubs before – cheetahs are fairly vulnerable creatures and they don’t do too well in this area. Bennet and I were on our first drive back from leave and were trying to track a leopard. Instead of finding the leopard we came across a female cheetah that was walking away from the remains of an impala. Typically a cheetah after feeding will walk off a bit and then lie down. The cheetah however continued to walk and this is when we noticed she was lactating. My adrenaline began to surge and my heart started beating faster. We kept following her, hoping for what was to come next. Eventually she stopped and started contact calling and this is when we saw a flash of fur pop out of the bush followed by another three flashes. We switched the vehicle off and gave her space. We were able to watch the small cubs run to mom and suckle, a highlight for both Bennet and I.

Andrea Campbell

Cheetah Cub. Andrea Campbell

Cheetah and cubs. Andrea Campbell

The sighting I would love to see:

A martial or crowned eagle swooping down to catch prey, even better a to see an eagle catch a young antelope!

Have you had a wildlife bucket list experience? Share your thoughts below or write to us: kate.collins@londolozi.co.za