Finally a Leopard

I did not realize this when we began the trip, but there is an official Big Five when it comes to viewing animals in Africa. Hunters designated them as the most dangerous animals to hunt. They are elephant, buffalo, lion, a rhinoceros, and leopard. Sometimes you hear of the Big Seven by adding the second rhinoceros and the cheetah. There is also a Wee Five which include things like the rhinoceros beetle and the leopard tortoise.

We saw three of the five easily at Zulu Nyala. The first evening we started with the elephant and quickly added the buffalo and white rhinoceros. We added the lion on an extra excursion to Phinda Reserve in what was one of the the highlights of the trip. (I’ll share more of that when I get some pictures from Jim to show just how close we were. We also added the Black Rhinoceros on that safari, getting up close and personal with a family of three.

We continued to see more of these animals as we traveled to Spion Kop in the Drakensburg Mountains, Toka Leya in Zambia and Chilwero on the Chobe River in Botswana. I asked Raymond at Spion Kop if he worried at all about leopards attacking his cattle. He said that they are not a danger because even the calves are too big for the leopard to get excited about. Leopards like to drag their kills into a tree where they can eat at their leisure without competition.

But even though they were advertised everywhere, the leopard remained elusive until we got to Tubu Tree, our last stop on the trip.

Tubu Tree is a small camp with only five tents for guests, so we were really able to feel alone as we rode around the reserve. The down side of that is that with only two other vehicles out there, the sightings were harder to come by.

Nevertheless, we met up with a magnificent female leopard on our first day there. Another vehicle made the spotting so we quickly headed off in that direction. I fully expected that this animal would be gone by the time we arrived, but she was still walking down the road as we arrived. She acted completely as if we were not there, walking right by the Land Rover within a couple of feet. After she passed, our driver took off in chase. After doing this twice, the guide said we needed to leave her be for the evening.

We were amazed at her beauty and strength, but mostly we were amazed at how little she seemed to care about us. She was almost close enough to touch on two occasions as she walked by and did not do much more than glance at us.

The pictures are a bit dark as they were taken in the late evening and it was a bit cloudy, but they clearly show her power and elegance. Linda also managed to take a video with her iPhone.

Attack Elephant

Our Young Bull Approaches

 On our last morning we had one more chance to go out on safari. One of those beautiful mornings in the Okavango Delta where the light just shimmers with its golden hues. We started early so our fellow travelers could make their plane at 10:30 so we had even more of that great light. At about 7:00 a lone young bull elephant came out of the woods looking none too happy to be interrupted by a Land Rover full of people. In heat (musth), he was not happy seeing anything that might be a rival to his efforts as he search for a female that might be interested in fulfilling his needs. He glared at us and made some aggressive noises before taking a couple of quick steps in our direction. We understood he was only making a false charge to see how we would react, but it is still a bit unnerving to have a bull elephant, even a young one, feint a charge at you. We complied easily Gibson’s admonition that we stay still and quiet although that did not stop us from taking a few more pictures.

Closer

Feinting His Charge

After the feint, he made some more noises and then walked by us getting close so he could show he was the boss. We watched quietly relieved as he passed within about 10 feet before heading off to our rear. Gibson said that one of these bulls had recently actually grabbed one of the Land Rovers with his trunk and given it a shake. Our approach was close enough, thank you.

Eying Us As He Passes

Still the Eye

Perhaps there are females this way?

 In the 15 days we spent out looking at the animals, this is the only time we felt anything other than a mild interest on their part even though there is another young elephant that likes to hang out by the camp itself. The supposition is that he was part of a herd that has been trained to accept riders, but that he escaped and isn’t quite sure what to do with himself since he hasn’t been welcomed into one of the established herds here at Tubu Tree.

The Camp Elephant

Under Our Deck

 We also had an interesting walk back to our cabin one evening. Everywhere we have been, the mantra has been that you don’t walk alone to your cabin/tent after dark. Even though it is only about 30 meters to our cabin, we accepted the directions and always accepted the escort. The previous evening Linda and I had spent about an hour just talking to the manager who had walked us back before heading in to bed. This evening was different however. With only 10 meters to go to reach our cabin, our escort stopped us. We saw nothing until he pointed out the small herd of elephants off to the side. Since there are youngsters with the herd and he could not see all of them, he asked us to quietly follow him off the trail along the side of the cabin to the entrance. All was well as we learned the need for the escort.

Other Elephants at Tubu

The Youngster Applying the Dust Bath