Day 19 –Mala Mala Game Reserve, South Africa

Ok, today was the day of all days. Leopards, leopards and more leopards. I am overwhelmed, to say the least, and here is how my day went in the paragraphs below.

We left Rattray’s by 6:30am and worked the road that borders Londolozi to the west. Within 1km of camp we heard a commotion of francolins, and it was clear we had a leopard in our midst. We stopped the vehicle and noticed not one but two leopards in a tree: the Dudley Female and her subadult cub. The cub was working an imapala carcass, and the Dudley Female was too busy paying attention to the young hyaena on the ground. We didn’t have a clear view, unfortunately, and we couldn’t go any closer than about 125 feet. Londolozi and Mala Mala are different properties, and none shall go between them. It’s just how it is, unfortunately. We watched as the Dudley Female jumped down out of the tree towards the hyaena, which totally freaked me out. Typically you will never see a leopard do such a thing, however this time the hyaena was too young to be much of a threat, so she obviously felt comfortable enough to get near it.

2 leopards by 6:45am.

We left the Dudley Female and her cub, and worked our way north and east towards the Sand River. We tracked and intercepted the Bicycle Crossing Male leopard by the river, and we had multiple attempts at photographing him as he walked down a game path. Our approach was to drive around and forward of him, turn around and photograph him as he walked towards us. We did this about 5 times, and I was happy with the photos from this session with him. I last saw him in 2008, and it was great to be near this great leopard again. His size and stature remind me of the late Tjololo, who made it to the cover of National Geographic a few years back. Kim Wolhuter photographed and shot video of Tjololo, and one should seek out some of Kim’s work if interested in beautiful leopard photography.

We followed the Bicycle Crossing Male offroad, and he came upon a skeleton of a wildebeest. He absolutely snuggled and caressed the bones, which was one of the more unusual acts I have seen a leopard engage in. After his intimacy with the dried remains, he then scent marked it as his own and then moved on. We lost track of him in the dense bush, and we had to backtrack to get back to the road.

3 leopards by 7:28am.

Above one of the picnic sites we found the Daughter of Ngoboswan Female, and boy was she a gorgeous leopard. She had a new impala carcass in the tree, and was happily munching away with an adult hyaena at the base of the tree. We were able to move the vehicle around to find some good vantage points, which explains some of the images down below.

4 leopards by 9:45am.

We were so chuffed when we got back to camp, that we decided to eat a quick brunch and head back to the Daughter of Ngoboswan Female to see what else we could yield photographically. Our other vehicles stayed with her when we ate, and when we got back to her the other vehicles moved on for brunch. Rotating vehicles is the only way to make sure that everybody gets good photographs, and I am a fan of this method.

After an amazing set of leopard sightings, we returned back to our mating pair of lions for some more ‘action shots’. J

Dinner was indoors, due to the high winds and cold temperature. It has really turned cold in the past 24 hours, and this morning was 40F with a colder morning forecasted for tomorrow. Time for winter gloves and a winter hat, for sure. It should be around 3C tomorrow morning. BRRRRRRRRR.

Note: All images in these daily blog postings are very very rough edits of the things we have seen, and I often omit the photographs that take too much time to process. I don’t take much time off during the day, as I am working with people with their photographic needs. All of my images in these posts will have to be re-processed when I get back home, and they are only included in these blog entries for illustration purposes.

The Dudley Female barely makes it into the open

The Dudley Female jumps from her tree in front of a hyaena

The Dudley Female

Bicycle Crossing Male

Bicycle Crossing Male

Bicycle Crossing Male

Bicycle Crossing Male

Daughter of Ngoboswan Female

Daughter of Ngoboswan Female

Daughter of Ngoboswan Female

Lone hyaena, looking for some scraps

Daughter of Ngoboswan Female

Dean, James, Filemon, LaWayne and George

Comments

[Terry in Indiana]

I LOVE the names of the leopards...and wonder how you are able to identify them so confidently! Amazing day...thanks for sharing!

[Carla M]

That's got to be the luckiest Friday the 13th I've ever heard about. The Bike is ga-ga gorgeous!

[shelly hummel]

great shots of all these leopards, I especially love Mr. Bicycle with the skull. Likewise, have some amazing photos of all these leopards and of Daugher of N. when she was a cub. She looks just like her mom. thanks for the interesting reading, and moreso, the photos.