Now, I haven’t posted nearly as much as I have wanted to, but there are severe limitations with regard to internet access and places where I can plug in my laptop so I am going to try and put quite a few out over the next few days if/when I can!!
After an opening stint of 7 ½ weeks working at Thabo
Tholo I am now well into my second week of leave. The over-riding memory of the
past few days will be of rain!! It has absolutely smashed it down, so much so
that in some areas of South Africa half of the average annual rainfall fell in
2 days!!
But I was also given one hell of a send-off the night before I
went on leave!! I had initially intended staying in camp for my two weeks off
so I could study for my FGASA exam, which I will hopefully take towards the end
of March or more likely beginning of April. That plan was quickly put down by
everyone here though; they were all pretty insistent I not only get out of
camp, but out of the reserve if possible (I wonder if there was a hidden agenda!?
haha). Of course, I had stupidly left planning my leave until literally about 2
days before it began, so I was kind of stuck for ideas. Luckily Will and Carol,
who began the Leopard research 10 years ago, very graciously offered to put me
up in the house they are currently renting on the other side of the reserve to
our camp, which would give me a break and a chance to book something for the
following week. So the evening of the 23rd February I was beginning
to pack to go to theirs the next day.
I should here just quickly mention the time (it was
around 17:30 at this point) and what I had just been doing. At 16:50 I had
walked from camp by myself about 15 minutes up a hill to change a camera we
hadn’t been able to properly see to on our walk that morning. So I went at did
that, no issues, and was back in camp at around 17:20. I should stress I hadn’t
heard or seen anything untoward on my little jaunt. However, I had come
directly from the direction of the subsequent interaction, so it is incredibly
likely I had walked past the key players in the rest of this tale.
So, as I began packing a Bushbuck began incessantly alarm
calling from just outside our camp; we often hear various antelope alarm
calling around camp, so this wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, apart from
the fact the persistence of his calls. There was a definitive purpose to his
behaviour!! I looked out of my tent to see Tara and Becky had gone to
investigate it, but gave up shortly after. Or so I thought. A few minutes later
I heard Becky frantically whispering/shouting (at the same time) for me to come
down to the entrance to camp, which is about 15 meters from my tent. So I went
down to find her absolutely bouncing with excitement.
“I’ve
just seen a LEOPARD!!”
I was both ridiculously excited there was leopard right
around camp again and FURIOUS with myself for dawdling coming from my tent. Had
I missed my chance to see him? Well, it turns out no, I hadn’t. The leopard had
been about 15 meters from Becky when she had seen it, but had moved away into
thicker grass and a bush line about another 15m back from that position.
When Tara returned we frantically tried to catch a
glimpse of the cat. The bushbuck was still calling with just the same
intensity, and it was getting louder, so we knew he was still about. And then
suddenly we got a glimpse of him? Possibly? No? YES!! It was ridiculous how
difficult it was to say for sure if it was him at first, but eventually our
eyes trained to him…for about 5 seconds before he moved off apparently away
from camp. So we moved around a little bit to see if we could get a glimpse of
him moving off down the road…no such joy! So I left Becky and Tara there and
moved to where we had originally caught that oh-so-brief glimpse of him. And
there he was. Much clearer this time, and staring straight at me!! It is an
incredible, incredible feeling to get eye-contact with a leopard on foot. It is
also something normally to be avoided with leopards, which are believed to
regard eye-contact as a threat. But in this instance he posed practically no
danger to us. He was a good 30m away, knew we had seen him and had shown when
Becky had originally spotted him from about 15m that he was not likely to react
aggressively to us. This was awesome because it meant I could just enjoy the
moment!!
The Bushbuck was still barking away, and actually moving
closer to make sure it kept the leopard in view. If the leopard had been
stalking the bushbuck, it would have long known that the game was up, and
eventually he did make a move away and down out of camp. So we jumped in the
vehicle and moved off after him. Luckily the road out of camp was quite sandy,
and straight away we picked up fresh tracks leading down a road we call Voortrekker. We followed
the tracks for about 40-50m down the road before we lost the trail. Had he left
the road, or were his tracks just no longer showing up? The light wasn’t great,
and we could only look from the vehicle so it was tough to tell either way. So
we went back and forward down about a 20m stretch of the road for about 5
minutes straining to see if we could find him in the thick grass. And then, as
is a leopard’s way, he was just there!! Very intently watching a small heard of
Kudu. 10 points if you can spot him!! I only had my iPhone with me so I’ve done
a screen grab from a very poor attempt at filming the whole sequence. He is
“revealed” at the end of the blog.
We sat and watched for about 10-15 minutes while the Kudu moved around, closer towards him. This was the “smaller” of the two “cubs” that have been spending so much time around Thabo Tholo since I’ve been here, and for the year before that (they are now nearing prime age to be kicked out by their dad to find their own territories). He wasn’t exactly being overly careful with how he was sitting while watching the Kudu, and was also upwind of them, which meant they were likely to catch on to his scent before they saw him. But still they moved around, apparently oblivious to his presence. We were all tense, ready for him to explode. He sat, patient while also seeming like he couldn’t wait to go for them. Alas, something gave the game away for him, be it scent or maybe he had been seen, but a short sharp bark made it clear they had seen him. Initially they didn’t run, and he didn’t move. But then another bark and the Kudu were off. The leopard shot off after them, but it was really quite a half-hearted attempt. It was getting pretty dark by this point, and that was the last we saw of him because we gave up looking shortly after.
I’m struggling to find the words to describe how
incredible it is to have sightings like this. This cub and his brother have been fantastic
for sightings and we’re just hoping their dad will take his time kicking them
out of Thabo Tholo so we can enjoy moments like this for as long as possible!!
They really are very special and keep providing moments I'll never forget.
Now…did you spot him?
Finally, for some shameless plugging. if you want to see more pictures check out my Facebook when I eventually get around to putting more up.
https://www.facebook.com/joe.arnold.716
I'm also on Twitter and I'm hoping to be able to put regular updates on there while on the reserve.
@JoeArnold03
Contact me on: a_j_a@hotmail.co.uk
I, along with the rest of our team, have another blog which posts a lot more regularly than this one!! Please follow it if you want to see a bit more about what we do out here.
http://predatorresearchnews.blogspot.com/
Till the next time.
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