Not only did we find Xivambalana in the first half an hour of drive, but he had also hauled a young kudu up a jacket plum not moments before.While driving along Shiromberombe road, Sydney asked me to stop so that he could climb off the cruiser and check the road behind the vehicle as he was sure he had seen tracks of animals running across the road.
Moments later Sydney returned to the vehicle, asking me to come give my input on the tracks.
Upon arrival we could clearly see a single leopard track running in a northerly direction. As our eyes drifted in the general direction the spoor headed, we caught sight of the kudu in a tree. We decided to walk into the bush to see if we could locate the predator but within the first few steps off-road we realised that there, above the kill in the canopy of the tree, was a cat, watching our every move!
Exalted, we returned to the vehicle where we calmly informed the guests that behind them, was a leopard with a kill in a tree. Needless to say, our calm demeanour left them with sceptical glares, not sure if April fools had come early or not.
We sat with Xivambalana for the majority of the afternoon and returned first thing the following morning, only to find him resting on the ground in a clearing created by the tracks of the vehicles where he lay for ages, yawing over and over again, giving us some of the best photographic opportunities we’ve had in a very long time!
Moments later he glanced up the jacket plum, procrastinating for a while before eventually rising and a hop skip and jump into the tree. Our placement was a little off when we realised that instead of heading up the tree to his kill, he chose to rather climb out on a low horizontal limb right towards our vehicle.
Hearts in our throats he stared out across the savannah not meters from us! Luckily, the allure of the meal above soon had him scampering up the last few branches where he got comfortable and gorged himself.
On the way home we also bumped into Mvula (dominant male leopard in the East and one of the largest leopards I have seen in a very long time!) as he rested in a drainage-line next to the road.
As we were about to pull in to camp, Craig radioed to say there was a massive herd of buffalo moving eastward past the camp. Instead of returning to breakfast, we decided to go immerse ourselves in the middle of the herd.
What an amazing experience! After an unknown amount of time we pre-empted the buffaloes’ intentions and drove to a waterhole on the Kruger boundary where we sat in the shade of a tree and waited.
Our patience was soon rewarded as the first buffalo started arriving at the water’s edge. The sound of water splashing soon drove the rest of the herd into a stampede as they all stormed into the water, splashing about and cavorting. It was truly a special, special moment!
Suddenly something spooked the mob and they all stormed out the water disappearing as quickly as they had arrived, leaving us speechless and in awe.
I hope the pictures do our adventure justice! Until next time
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