Leopard sighting on Boxing Day drive

A late afternoon drive on Boxing Day produced a very exciting find – this beautiful young leopard in a tree not far from our waterhole. 

We were on our way back to the lodge, passing a large group of impala.  They suddenly stopped feeding, became very alert and began alarm calling to each other, a sure sign of a preditor in the area.  We set off, following the source of the calls and drove slowly down the valley, scanning the bush and trees as we went.

 

 

 

We did not really expect to find anything as the bush is very thick at the moment, but quite soon we were rewarded with the fantastic sighting of this leopard in a tree, very close to the track.

The leopard was sitting in the crook of a marula tree where it stayed for some time, but it was not comfortable and climbed higher into the tree where it took up a classic 'leopard in a tree' pose. This of course was the one time we had not taken our camera.  Luckily our daughter was with us and took these wonderful pictures. 

 

Our neighbours were then lucky enough to see a second, larger leopard with the smaller one - possibly a mating pair or a mother with a sub-adult.  We hope they will stay around our area, we will definitely be searching the trees very carefully on future drives.

What a great way to celebrate Christmas!

 

Best wishes from Leopard's View for 2013.