Recently I was spending a lot of my nights out in the bush trying to find nocturnal animals like Brown Hyena, Honey Badger, Caracal, Civet and Aardvark. Overall it wasn't overly successful in terms of seeing those particular animals, but it was really interesting learning a bit more about them and trying to find them and I personally was lucky enough to have a night that I will remember for a long long long time.
On a few of the nights out I was joined by a couple of 4x4'ers who were staying in camp over the Easter weekend. Over the two nights I was out with them we managed to see a grand total of one Mellers Mongoose, which in itself was pretty cool since it's a rare, and fairly unknown species.
The first night I was back out there by myself I was sat in my usual spot, in our open-topped Landie playing sounds of a "Rabbit in distress" (although no-one is entirely sure what was causing the screaming), which would hopefully bring in some carnivores curious by the potential of an easy meal. There was also a chunk of Kudu carcass tied to a rock about 15m in-front of me, which on my arrival to the sight I had been tying up. After tying up the offal I was sat waiting for about 10 minutes before I thought I heard something at the bait; I shone my little torch and saw eye-shine near to the ground in front of me: had my Mongoose returned? I switched on the cars headlights to see a Leopard sat bolt upright in the middle of the road, staring at me from about 10m. It's fair to say my heart began to race as I was sat in a car that smelt of rotten flesh we'd been carting around the reserve for the previous few weeks, playing sounds of dying animals, with a Leopard looking at me with great interest from about 10m away. After a few minutes I managed to take a few pictures of him, before eventually he lost interest in me and the bait and moved off in the vague direction of camp. It was pretty cool being able to have my own Leopard sighting, so I wasn't too bothered that he had wondered off presumably to try and find a fresher meal.
At about 11:30 I decided to call it a night because a thunderstorm was heading in, and began to head home. On the way I ran into the giraffe, and sat with them for 5 minutes just listening to them make their way slowly past my vehicle in the pitch dark. I got back to camp at around 23:55, but as I was driving in I noticed eye-shine at our pond, located about 5 metres from where we park the car. I swung the car round and there the spotty little bugger stood. He proceeded to have a drink for a few minutes before moving into the thick bush right behind the pond, out of sight. So I had a slight predicament: stay in the vehicle which offered little protection from the incoming storm or risk getting out of the car with only a tiny head-torch to offer any light with a Leopard potentially only a few metres away. I stayed put for about 10 minutes, but I got a bit bored of waiting and so decided to write a step-by-step guide to what was happening, which I thought I would share:
23:55 - Arrived at camp to find Little Cub having a drink at our pond. It has started pissing it down and the thunder/lightning is F****** close - the one time I don't want to see a sodding Leopard and he's right next to me!!
00:00 - He's just wondered off into the bushes; I can't see shit and need to walk past there to get to my tent...storm is getting worse so I can't exactly stay in the car all night!!
00:10 - Going for it; tent isn't that far. If he gets me tell my family and friends I love them all very much.
00:11 - Actually gonna stay put, just seen him pretty close by...
00:20 - This storm is pretty epic, wish I wasn't sat in the open in the middle of it though!! Also kinda dying for a pee...
00:22 - Rain is getting much harder...
00:24 - F*** that lighting is getting a bit too close for my liking...sod this going to go for it!!
00:25 - In bed :-) fun night!!
