7th Lower Sabie continued
We sat with the snoozing leopard for around 20 minutes, which is a long time for me to sit still and I was getting irritated with the building crowd and the rats who were scrapping about something in the back seat, so we took one last pic, turned and headed back down the S1 towards Skukuza.
Just before the S1/H11 intersection we spotted a couple of cars and then a moving leopard which immediately got me overexcited.
“There, no it’s moving again, there!”
“Take pics!”
This started the Cow “Stop moving so I can take a picture!”
It never escalated into our normal blowout as the leopard stopped for a minute, but then he went into hunting mode which got me going again. The Cow was huffing and puffing at me each time I moved, but I had to keep up with the leopard and take snaps when we got a gap in the bush.
Suddenly the leopard disappeared into a bush next to the road which caused some frantic searching
“Who still has it?! It was 10m away!”
No answer.
My frustration was boiling over but the Cow’s huffing and puffing was escalating so I decided an outburst would result in a massive drama, therefore I quietly bit my tongue.
The leopard had lost a few of the initial cars who were still looking around 40m away and just ahead of us were some kudu next to the road and then I spotted the junior kudu.
“He’s after that lightie one” and I repositioned halfway between where we had last seen the leopard and the kudu.
Minutes later the darn kudu jumped and started snorting, so we knew they had either smelt the leopard or had spotted it. Seconds later the kudu took off into the bush.
“Game over!”
The leopard is like a ghost in the long grass and he suddenly popped up where the kudu had been. The Cow’s huffing had been because I kept on moving, so I decided it would be more peaceful to wait while the Cow snapped a few pics before moving forward.
The Cow’s puffing slowed, so I decided it was safe to move forward, but as I moved the leopard did a disappearing act into the long grass again.
We hung around for 10 minutes in case he popped up again, but it was getting late and we still had to head down to Lower Sabie, so we ducked.
All the normal locals were hanging around on the H4-1, but although we stopped a few times, we never took pics.
We arrived back at Lower Sabie around 3:30pm and I was faulty again, so we decided to rather relax around camp.
The rats went for a swim while I started an early braai and checked out some availability options.
“Cow, there’s a spot open at Biyamiti and Mel will be there, so should we change?”
After some discussion the Cow went off to Lower Sabie reception to make the change.
To be continued
Awesome sighting and pics! 
