6th September Skukuza to Biyamiti
We were moving to Biyamiti today, which was now needed after spending 3 nights at Skukuza as we were sick of the noise and crowd. The only reason we book at Skukuza is because of the various route options and the good game viewing area, but we can only handle it in small doses. I expected it to be quieter outside of school holidays, but it wasn’t due to the popular time of the year and the only difference we noticed was the absence of uncontrolled shrieking kids which was 1 plus point in Albert’s book.
I made noise when packing the car at 5:30am to get my revenge on our Moni guest house neighbours, but ended up getting frustrated as my minor packing noise wasn’t loud enough to wake them, so as we pulled out and alongside Moni, just before 6am, I hit my car hooter, but then got greased by the Cow, so we left for the gate.
We had no real plan to pass the time until the 2pm book in at Biyamiti, but decided to 1st see if we could find the one-eyed female leopard that we had left hunting the previous evening and then to reassess once at Nkuhlu.
The drive down to Nkuhlu produced buffalo, kudu, giraffe, ellies, etc, including some hyenas, but no one-eyed female leopard.
We stopped briefly at Nkuhlu for a loo break and to choose the next move. After some negotiation we decided to just continue down to the H5 and towards the private S139 Biyamiti road to duck the crowds and to spend some peaceful alone time in the bush.
Literally 300m further down the H4-1 from Nkuhlu we spotted a hyena at the base of a tree between the riverbed and the road and then when I inspected closer with binoculars, a leopard was in the tree.
“@#%^ there’s a leopard in the tree!”
“What, where?”
“It’s there, it’s on your side take pics!”
Browns in Kruger September 2024
Re: Browns in Kruger September 2024
The leopard then climbed up the tree into the dense foliage and we lost all visual, but suddenly wild snarling, growling, etc, erupted from within the dense foliage and I instantly knew what was up.
“S@%t, there’s another leopard in the tree, be ready, it’s on your side”
The Cow looked at me as if I was mad, but then the commotion erupted bigtime again and 1 leopard fell out of the dense foliage from a serious height and landed on the hyena, which was actually hilarious when I think back on it now, but at the time I was super hyped up for the Cow to capture pics of the incident, however she was still trying to find the leopard in the tree, but it wasn’t in the tree anymore, so we were having a scrap also.
Fortunately, Albert had grabbed the camera and she managed to snap a split-second semi blurred pic of the impact.
The hyena and leopard got a big skrik and took off in different directions.
The leopard stopped though and stood staring up into the tree for around 15 seconds and then she started to approach the tree again. The hyena had also recovered from it’s skrik, so it had returned to hover around the base of the tree, hence there was plenty hissing from the leopard as it approached and climbed back up the tree.
“S@%t, there’s another leopard in the tree, be ready, it’s on your side”
The Cow looked at me as if I was mad, but then the commotion erupted bigtime again and 1 leopard fell out of the dense foliage from a serious height and landed on the hyena, which was actually hilarious when I think back on it now, but at the time I was super hyped up for the Cow to capture pics of the incident, however she was still trying to find the leopard in the tree, but it wasn’t in the tree anymore, so we were having a scrap also.
Fortunately, Albert had grabbed the camera and she managed to snap a split-second semi blurred pic of the impact.
The hyena and leopard got a big skrik and took off in different directions.
The leopard stopped though and stood staring up into the tree for around 15 seconds and then she started to approach the tree again. The hyena had also recovered from it’s skrik, so it had returned to hover around the base of the tree, hence there was plenty hissing from the leopard as it approached and climbed back up the tree.
Re: Browns in Kruger September 2024
Two OSV’s had now also stopped, much to my irritation, but at least they had given us some space.
We knew that another tree fight was about to explode, so we watched the spots climb higher and out of sight into the dense foliage again, there was a pause for a few seconds, and then the wild growling, snarling, etc started again, but this time it continued for at least 15 to 20 seconds, there was plenty movement in the tree and it sounded like they were seriously climbing into each other.
Suddenly 1 leopard bailed out and went left, another bailed out and went right, and to our surprise, a 3rd came down the tree and charged off towards the Sabie river.
As you can imagine, there was total chaos in our car now and we had to pick a leopard to follow. The 2 OSV’s took off after the leopard that went right, so we followed the leopard going left.
We followed for around 100m and then she disappeared into thick bush, but just as I was about to move towards the OSV’s, another leopard walked up from the riverbed. It was the hyped-up female that had fallen on the hyena and she seemed to be sniffing around to find a trace of the other leopard and then she disappeared into the bushes on the same path.
We knew that another tree fight was about to explode, so we watched the spots climb higher and out of sight into the dense foliage again, there was a pause for a few seconds, and then the wild growling, snarling, etc started again, but this time it continued for at least 15 to 20 seconds, there was plenty movement in the tree and it sounded like they were seriously climbing into each other.
Suddenly 1 leopard bailed out and went left, another bailed out and went right, and to our surprise, a 3rd came down the tree and charged off towards the Sabie river.
As you can imagine, there was total chaos in our car now and we had to pick a leopard to follow. The 2 OSV’s took off after the leopard that went right, so we followed the leopard going left.
We followed for around 100m and then she disappeared into thick bush, but just as I was about to move towards the OSV’s, another leopard walked up from the riverbed. It was the hyped-up female that had fallen on the hyena and she seemed to be sniffing around to find a trace of the other leopard and then she disappeared into the bushes on the same path.
Re: Browns in Kruger September 2024
We then went into the little dirt loop next to Nkuhlu to try for a visual, but no luck, so we turned and went back down the road to where the OSVs were parked.
I stopped next to the 1 OSV driver and explained that we had lost sight of the other 2 leopard and that they were both female. He then explained that they had followed what he thinks was a young teenage male the other direction, but had now also lost sight of him in the thick bush. We couldn’t work out the dynamics, but this younger teenage male was possibly a teenage cub from 1 of the females and was up the tree with mom when the faulty female arrived.
The leopard tree scrap had dislodged what the scrap was about and the kill had fallen out of the dense foliage and was now dangling lower down the tree from a few twigs.
With all the chaos, we didn’t get the best pics, but it was a magic sighting, so we continued on while chatting like excited vervets.
To be continued
I stopped next to the 1 OSV driver and explained that we had lost sight of the other 2 leopard and that they were both female. He then explained that they had followed what he thinks was a young teenage male the other direction, but had now also lost sight of him in the thick bush. We couldn’t work out the dynamics, but this younger teenage male was possibly a teenage cub from 1 of the females and was up the tree with mom when the faulty female arrived.
The leopard tree scrap had dislodged what the scrap was about and the kill had fallen out of the dense foliage and was now dangling lower down the tree from a few twigs.
With all the chaos, we didn’t get the best pics, but it was a magic sighting, so we continued on while chatting like excited vervets.
To be continued
- Flutterby
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Re: Browns in Kruger September 2024
Wow, what a brilliant spot by you! Three leopards in one tree...amazing!!
- Lisbeth
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Re: Browns in Kruger September 2024
With so many trees around.....
A leopard landing on a hyena is not something you see every day
This time you got lots of great shots
A leopard landing on a hyena is not something you see every day
This time you got lots of great shots
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
Re: Browns in Kruger September 2024
WoW Bushcraft,
as even one leopard would not have been enough but you even got 3 even in the same tree
What an incredible sighting
as even one leopard would not have been enough but you even got 3 even in the same tree
What an incredible sighting
PuMbAa
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Please visit our website: www.photomaniacs.de
Re: Browns in Kruger September 2024
Thanks Flutts
Luckily we spent some time checking out the hyena and his interest in the tree
Re: Browns in Kruger September 2024
Thanks Lisbeth
That leopard fell from a height and I'm amazed that there were no injuries