THE LEOPARD AND THE LAMB

We were on a bush walk on a lovely warm morning recently in Leeuwfontein (a popular areas inside the reserve) where we had already encountered a white rhino cow and her young calf, and a black rhino female and her calf with a bull amongst them. After these amazing encounters for the morning we decided to take a breakfast picnic on a koppie called Euphorbia Hill that is overlooking the entire walking area. As we started to climb the koppie there was a herd of impala with young babies. They started to alarm call and all of them immediately started running to create a bigger distance between us and them.

We looked for a nice big Wild Olive tree where we could sit and enjoy our breakfast and share our thoughts on everything that we had seen and encountered. After about ten minutes our conversation was interrupted by the entire herd of impala alarm calling again. I immediately knew that they weren’t alarm calling for us as they were looking in the opposite direction to where we were positioned. We started scanning in the same area that they were looking at when we noticed the tip of a white tail and knew that this tip belonged to an all elusive leopard. The leopard’s eyes were locked on a little impala lamb, and as he started giving chase chaos ensued. Impala scattered in all different directions, and the leopard managed to cut the lamb off from the rest of the herd and now chased the little impala straight towards where we were sitting. About 20 meters from us the little impala took a sharp left turn managing to lose the leopard on his tail. The leopard then realized the distance between him and the little lamb was now too great and his opportunity has been lost.

He stood about 40 meters away from us and looked up at us as if to say “what? Could you perhaps do better? He then shook his tail and slowly started to walk away, vanishing into the thickets below. We all stood amazed as none of us could believe what a special encounter we just witness right in front of us. This was a once in a lifetime encounter and one of my most memorable encounters on foot.

Dyllan Smit. Senior guide. Bakubung bush lodge.

KWA MARITANE BUSH LODGE UPDATE

After the heavy rain we had mid-year, the dirt roads in the Pilanesberg have been in a bad state. Fortunately, we are pleased to report that these roads have now been graded and are in a suitable condition again for all types of vehicles.

As we await our summer rain to arrive, the water in the Park is only limited to the big dams. This results in the majority of game concentrating around these water points during the better part of the day. For game viewing, spending time around these major water points will result in the best game viewing opportunities.

Currently all our game drives concentrate around the centre of the park, close to ‘Mankwe dam, for the best animal sightings which include herds of elephants, prides of lion, cheetah, leopard and various other species of general plains game. Of course, our very own watering hole at Kwa Lefikeng Restaurant, and at our underground hide, also remain a popular drinking and cooling off spot for many small and large animals.

At Kwa Maritane we keep record of all game sightings encountered during our game drives and upon visiting the lodge you’re welcome to visit us in our Wildlife Centre where we can share all the latest sightings to enhance your game viewing experience with us.

Eugene Le Roux Head Guide Kwa Maritane Bush Lodge