OK, so hands up … these photos WERE taken in the UK … but wouldn’t you just love to see a leopard like this in its own habitat ?

The world-famous private game reserves and safari lodges near the Greater Kruger Park offer possibly the best Big 5 game viewing opportunities to be found anywhere, with lion and leopard tracking a particular speciality.

These lodges are either located within one of a handful of concessions in Kruger itself, or in one of the neighbouring private game reserves (such as Sabi Sand, Timbavati, Balule, Klaserie, and Manyeleti) on the western side of the Park, or in one of the nearby fenced reserves such as Thornybush and Kapama.

The land is privately owned, so the game viewing vehicles are not restricted to the road network and it is therefore possible for the experienced guides to follow the wildlife through the bush and to get extremely close to the animals.

Oh, yes … back to the photos … these photos were taken by a photography student at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire , England. The brave little mouse apparentely appeared just after the keeper had dropped in the meat for the leopard.

Seemingly totally unaware of the huge leopard, the mouse scampered right up to the meat and started eating away.

The leopard, Sheena, stood and looked on in amazement at such boldness. After a few minutes, she tried to gently push the mouse away with her nose, but the mouse refused to budge, and stayed munching until he was full.

Simply amazing !!

Fpr guests recently staying at the Inyati Private Game Reserve, in the Sabi Sands Reserve which forms part of the Greater Kruger Park, they have been treated to some wonderful elephant sightings.

The lodge itself is situated right on the banks of the Sand River, and their particular stretch of the river has become a firm favourite with the eles, providing guests with some awesome game viewing from the lodge deck !

In particular, the elephants seem to congregate together for a midday drink, so what better background for lunch than a herd of elephants - although guests do have to be careful that they remember to eat their delicious lunches inbetween snapping photographs !

As well as the elephants, leopards have visited the lodge too - and one even wandered through camp during dinner one night !

But lets not forget the ’smaller’ sightings in and around the lodge that have also generated a lot of excitement - such as a small spotted genet, a white tailed mongoose with a black tail, a serval and her cub, and even a Cape clawless otter.

Generally, otters are very rarely seen, but it is thought that the low water level in the Sand River had encouraged this particular otter out of the thick reeds in search of food.

This week has been witness to a remarkable milestone in the 16 year history of the AfriCat Foundation, with 1,000 big cats now rescued!

The sheer determination and unshakeable belief that has allowed the foundation staff to achieve this goal is staggering. Every single one of the rescues has meant a lengthy drive or light aircraft flight, careful liaison with the owner of the land or the community (at best curious and at worst plain hostile towards the predator) and then the laborious and dangerous task of extricating the cat to sanctuary.

In many cases, that is simply the beginning of a period of rehabilitation with the aim of releasing the cat back into the wild.

So who was lucky number 1,000? He was a 3 month old leopard cub rescued along with his mother (cat no. 999) from a farm in the Grootfontein area. Fortunately both mother and cub were in excellent health and were released together into the wild just 24 hours after their rescue.

The 1,000 cat statistic represents 650 cheetahs and 350 leopards. It does not include the scores of smaller predators that find themselves in need of AfriCat’s help. Every single one of these predators would have been destroyed were the AfriCat Foundation removed as an alternative option.

If you consider the fact that 86% of these cats are released back into the wild to continue the species, the impact AfriCat has on preserving Namibia’s predator population is quite amazing. The influence that AfriCat has on the awareness and tolerance for predators is impossible to quantify but just as significant long term in the survival of these species.

The AfriCat Foundation is able to operate because of private funding and the support of their single biggest donor, Okonjima, where guests can stay one (or ideally 2) nights at either Okonjima Main Camp or Bush Camp, and participate in the many activities on offer including the tracking on foot of the rehabilitated cheetahs on the Cheetah Tracking Trail, or radio-tracking leopards from an open game viewing vehicle in the 4,000 hectare rehabilitation area; bushman trails and walking trails; and a visit the Cheetah Project, an invaluable insight into the welfare work of the Foundation.

A particular female leopard in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve has become a regular sighting for guests at Lion Sands on game drives over the last couple of months. On most occasions when the she has been sighted they have seen her moving in and around the dry riverbeds and the thicket vegetation surrounding the riverbeds. She had been in the same area for about 3 weeks now and this lead the rangers to believe that she might have cubs in the area …

On Saturday morning one of the rangers located both the female leopard and her cubs sunbathing on an old dead tree stump in the area that she had been frequenting!!

This litter includes 2 cubs which are approximately 2 months old as their coats appear to be smoky gray as the rosettes are not yet clearly defined. This was an incredible sighting for the guests!

Female leopards are capable of breeding at 2 years and will produce litters of one to 3 cubs after a pregnancy lasting about 3 and a half months. Leopard cubs weigh around 500g at birth and their eyes open after about a week. For the first 2 months the mother keeps her cubs hidden in dense bush, rock clefts or hollow tree trunks to minimize detection from predators.

The cubs will venture from hiding after about 6 to 8 weeks by which time they are rather successful tree climbers.

Mothers leave the young cubs for periods of up to 36 hours while hunting and feeding before returning to suckle them. She brings solid food to her cubs when they’re about 6 weeks old and the cubs are weaned at about 3 months but stay with their mother for the first 22 months. Less than half of the cubs from a litter will on average survive to adulthood.

Keen to see leopards in the wild?   This video (appropriately enough taken at Leopard Hills) is a good example of why the Sabi Sands Reserve in the Greater Kruger Park is probably the best place anywhere to see leopard. 

We get a monthly update from one of our favourite lodges in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, Savanna - and this month’s newsletter has some very interesting wildlife stories !

The first one involves an unusual incident in the middle of the month when a leopard was confronted by a large male baboon. The baboon seemed to show no fear or respect and it was the leopard which showed the aggression and respect to the baboon. The baboon walked backwards and forwards, displaying itself to the leopard, no more than 4 or 5 metres away.

Finally the leopard, trying not to lose face, turned around and slunk off into the bush. This is an unusual incident, as many people believe that baboons are a favorite prey species of the leopard. This may be the case in areas where other species are not as prolific as they are in the Sabi Sands, but in this area it is very rare that a baboon will kill a leopard.

With all the recent rains in the area, the dams are full, and as a result there has been an influx of hippo into the Savanna area and at the nearby pan - at one point they had 8 hippos !

After the elephant, the hippo is the heaviest land animal, and a fully grown male adult can weigh up to 3,200 kg. During the day, a common sighting of hippos is of them half-submerged in lakes or rivers.

One female gave birth in the dam at the beginning of the month and guests at Savanna have had wonderful viewing of this little “blob” bobbing around its mother in the water. Even a baby hippo can look cute!

Adult hippos can submerge themselves completely under water for up to 5 minutes by closing their nostrils and ears, but on average surface every minute and a half. Young hippo calves can only stay submerged for 20 - 40 seconds.

A very rare bird has been discovered on the Savanna property: the striped crake.

This bird has only been recorded in South Africa a few times and it was discovered at a little pan where it had bred and had 2 chicks.

There has been great interest in this bird within the birding fraternity of South Africa and the lodge has also had a number of guests travel large distances just to come and see this nondescript little bird.

And finally, probably one of the most amazing stories for a while … there are 3 adult wild dogs that have Savanna as part of their territory.

One of these adults was caught by a lioness and feigned death while the lioness walked off with it in her mouth.

As soon as the lioness put the dog down and was distracted by the remaining 2 dogs, the 3rd dog got up and ran off, making good its escape.

And they say animals are dumb …. !!

A couple of days ago I mentioned that Savanna Private Game Reserve is one of our personal favourites, and today we just received their newsletter which included the picture below. 

The story behind this is that the Makubela female leopard has given birth and has produced two cubs that are now approximately 2½ weeks old.  She has them in a secluded den, which makes viewing of them fairly difficult, but Paddy and the team at Savanna are reporting getting fleeting glimpses of them on a regular basis.

We are sure that over time the viewings of these cubs will become more frequent and less fleeting as the Sabi Sands Reserve is probably the best place anywhere to see leopards in the wild.

This is why we love Savanna and the Sabi Sands!

The AfriCat Foundation is a leader in the rescue and relocation of big cats (mainly cheetah and leopards) in Namibia, and probably the best way to gauge their impact is to look at their statistics for the last 13 years:

Total cats rescued 946

Total cats released 796

In reality those figures equate to thousands of hours of animal welfare, complicated rescue missions, expensive veterinary procedures and an unwavering belief that one organisation can make a difference.

Harder to quantify is the impact made on the thousands of individuals who have visited Okonjima and gained a better understanding of the real issues faced by large predators in Namibia. These include tourists who become donors or ambassadors for conservation in their home countries and Namibian school groups who return to their villages with an interest in their national wildlife treasures.

The last two school groups to be hosted at Okonjima in 2008 came from Windhoek and the Kavango Region. They stayed at the Environmental Education Centre and the primary goal of the programme is to bring about change in the national attitude to predator conservation. Most of the children had never been on a school trip before and none had seen a cheetah or leopard in the flesh. The experience of both combined was dramatic and will remain with the students for years.

Okonjima and the AfriCat foundation are leaders in the field of animal rescue and rehabilitation, and we strongly recommend that anyone visiting Namibia consider staying at Okonjima Main Camp or the luxurious Okonjima Bush Camp and to see for themselves the excellent work that is done at this inspirational place.

On Monday 7 January, His Serene Highness Prince Albert, will officially hand over 2 leopards to the Founder of the Born Free Foundation and actress and wildlife campaigner, Virginia McKenna OBE.  

The leopards will be sedated in preparation for transfer to their new African home; the Born Free Sanctuary at the award-winning Shamwari Game Reserve in South Africa’s Eastern Cape.

The Born Free Foundation is at the forefront of drawing the public’s attention to the plight of wild animals confined in impoverished captive environments and promoting through education and public awareness.

It is the mission of both The Born Free Foundation and Shamwari Game Reserve to promote the conservation of species and the protection of habitat while maintaining a humane and compassionate approach to the welfare of animals.

In partnership with actress/conservationist Virginia McKenna’s Born Free Foundation, Shamwari Game Reserve designed the Born Free Foundation Animal Rescue and Education Centre to incorporate a museum and educational facility whose goal is to create an awareness of the horrific way in which wildlife is exploited in captivity around the world.

Over the years the Born Free Foundation has been able to rescue several big cats from situations where they are in serious danger and provide them with excellent life time care. Guests at Shamwari are able to see some of these rescued animals at the Born Free Foundation Animal Rescue and Education Centre.  

The leopards, Pitou and Sirius (brother and sister, both 16 years old), have been resident at a zoo for 5 years and originated from a French travelling circus.