Sabi Sand Safari Report - Day 12

Today was a crazy day with my saying goodbye to my first safari group and then saying hello to my second safari group, all done in the space of about 5 minutes out on the airstrip here at Singita. This happened after brunch, but we still here able to fit in a game drive, and it included more leopard cubs to cap off a superb safari over the past 8 days. I cannot think of a better send off gift than that.

We all had a final brunch out on the lawn, everybody but me said goodbye to the staff and we headed to the airstrip. The privately chartered aircraft arrived 20 minutes early, and I am glad that we arrived just as they were landing. That would have been an interesting experience for my travelers to arrive without anybody to greet them.

We all exchanged hugs and handshakes and I had greetings and more handshakes for my arriving crew. Back to camp with everybody and I knew deep down that the group is going to have a great time out here for the next 8 days. Changeover days can be chaotic, but this went off without any glitches.

We had an introductory ‘hello’ meeting back at Castleton Camp, grabbed a nice bite to eat and took off on our afternoon game drive. I hoped this first game drive would be a good one, but I had absolutely no idea just how incredible it would be. We wanted the drive to be on the easy side, but we heard sounds of mating leopards as we drove the scenic River Road East in the north of the reserve. You know we couldn’t leave those sounds unattended, so we quickly put our tracking to work and located Kashane and Nlabankuzi mating on the top of a termite mound. In all of my safaris I have never had mating leopards up on a perched position for me to see clearly.  Two thumbs up, and 6 more as I looked back from my front seat at my vehicle mates. Oh heck yeah. The light was warm, the action aggressive and extremely exciting. They mated a few times near the termite mound and eventually moved off into the thick brush. We got our best photographs early, and later attempts weren’t as fruitful.

We had our sundowner drinks on the way back to camp, and I hoped (and still do) that expectations don’t rise because of the amazing sighting we had this afternoon. Some drives are great and some are slow, and this first one was one of the best sightings one could ever ask for, and we have 8 more days to go.

Mating Leopards

Nikon D800, 300mm f/2.8 VRII, 1/800 @ f/4, ISO 500

Mating Leopards

Nikon D800, 300mm f/2.8 VRII, 1/800 @ f/4, ISO 500

Hlabankuzi Female Leopard

Nikon D800, 300mm f/2.8 VRII, 1/640 @ f/4.5, ISO 500

Camera bags on this safari are sponsored by Gura Gear, which I started in 2008. Check us out. We make the best camera bags on the planet.

Some of the gear on this safari has been provided by Borrowlenses.com. I rely on borrowlenses.com for both my own needs as well as my safari travelers’ needs. When we need big lenses, cameras or anything else photographic, we turn to borrowlenses.com to help out. They are the best resource in the industry for traveling photographers.