Pilanesberg
National Park
Leopard cub & mom
in Pilanesberg National Park - 22 May 2011.
I hate what these people are doing, as it is the surest way to scare animals
away, but I do have to thank them.
Please take note that if you are sticking your head out, most animals sees
you as a threat and disappear.......
They did feel guilty and said leopard cub just now, so we combed the area
for 12 - 15 minutes, switching off,
and waiting.....my SA client Shaun Bouwer saw it 1st. It was hidden &
blending in, an extremely good spot!
We switched off immediately, as running engines normally scare leopard away.
So this is what happens if you know what you are doing. The curious cub had
to come and inspect.
I just know that this
cub was born just before 14 Dec 2010, thanks to her mom's behaviour on the
14th
& 15th, so this will make her 5 & 1/2 months old. I also know that
she has never been spotted by any
other guide, so we were probably 2nd to have this privilege. Then mom appeared
to come keep an eye.
So the cub came right up to us, and would have come even closer if some idiot
didn't arrive from the front.
I did show him to stop and that he did, but he left his engine running. These
morons then scared the cats off.
When they saw the cub, both the driver and the passenger behind him shot their
arms out the window pointing.
You don't
even point a lens out a window where leopards are concerned. Earlier this
year I had a male at
400m, and just the running engine behind us scared him off. Needless to say,
as soon as the arms came out,
the mom snarled, and that could have been the end of our sighting, as they
both vanished. Luckily the idiots
then also left, so we had to start all over again looking for them.
We did find them twice again, with no one arriving to ruin the 2nd sighting.
It did take another 15 minutes. This
was the best shot at about 30 m at the 2nd sighting. We did see the cub playing
with mom, but very obstructed.
The 3rd sighting we had the cub in
the open coming to about 15 m away from
40m, just sitting. The 2nd
car arriving 5 min later switched off, but the 3rd diesel 4x4 3 min after
that also had shit for brains,
so the cub ran back to her mom. I could only see the mom's tail, so it was
time to go. An absolute
exceptional sighting. My 2 foreign clients
just don't know how fortunate they were.
Can you experience such a sighting if you are on a scheduled 2,5 hour open
vehicle drive?!?
