Africa Wild

Kendall is cute

You're kind of lighting a fireworks here, steamtrainfan... third travel tale in a row...
and the fireworks also goes for the leopard. After all those years looking for it, you get it as a farewell gift
after your last visit and a welcome present for your next?! That's very lucky (and still very much deserved!)
Awesomeness!!!

Stunning Leopard shots, steamtrainfan,

really awesome

Lisbeth wrote:Starting with a leopard the rest gets a bit of an anti climax

No Lisbeth the rest of it just gets better.

Mel wrote:Kendall is cute You're kind of lighting a fireworks here, steamtrainfan... third travel tale in a row... and the fireworks also goes for the leopard. After all those years looking for it, you get it as a farewell giftafter your last visit and a welcome present for your next?! That's very lucky (and still very much deserved!)Awesomeness!!!

Hi Mel. Thank you for the lovely comments. So glad you are enjoying the trip so far - more to come and more fireworks. We were very blessed indeed to see the leopard first. Never thought of the last sighting from the last trip and the first sighting for this trip. Brilliant.

Pumbaa wrote:Stunning Leopard shots, steamtrainfan,really awesome

Thanks very much Pumbaa. We were so blessed to see Aurora so clearly.

DAY 2 - SATURDAY 8 OCTOBER - AFTERNOON.

Back at Manyane during lunch I picked up a WhatsApp Pilanesberg Sightings posting that a leopard had been seen earlier in the morning along Mankwe Way lying on a rocky outcrop and had a zebra kill tucked up in a tree next to it.

After lunch we decided to travel Mankwe Way in the hope of seeing this leopard. Along the way we came across this Osprey with a kill in a tree.



Mankwe Way was quite busy as it was still school holidays and mostly everybody was looking for the leopard. After a while we saw an SUV pulled over on the side of the road and no other cars in sight. This looked like the spot , rocky outcrop on the side of a hill with a nice tree clinging to the rock. We scanned the rocks and eventually saw him.

May we introduce Maximus fast asleep.



We could not see a zebra kill in the tree so we settled to watch and wait to see if Maximus would do anything.

After about 30 minutes he looked up and glanced around.





He flopped back down and promptly fell asleep. We watched for a while before moving on as traffic was beginning to form a road block.

Two leopards in one day - we were over the moon.

We popped in at Manwe Dam hide and saw this on the ceiling. Can anyone tell us what it is?



A lovely baby hippo.



On our way back to camp near Hippo Loop and Thlware Loop..



Baby following Mommy.



We did Thlware Loop in the hope of seeing our leopard - Ikethla - from our last trip.We stopped at the parking area over looking the dam as out friends who we see every where were parked there. They told us that a leopard had just walked right past their car and gone behind a bush quite far in the veld. As we looked to where they pointed we saw it. He/she was walking away from us and within a seconds had disappeared behind another bush. Not a chance to get a photo. Third leopard in one day.

We always pop in at Tilodi Dam in the late afternoon just before having to go back to camp.

Out of the late afternoon shadows came this guy for his evening drink. We later learnt that he had a kill very close to where our leopard had her kill in the tree on Tilodi loop.





Three leopards and one lion in one day.

A very successful day.

We drove back to camp feeling satisfied.

Wow, absolutely fantastic!! We must come and follow you.

Oh, and not to mention the Osprey...so lucky!

Wow what an amazing start to your trip! Fabulous leopard sightings... 3 in one day must be some kind of record in Pilanesberg?

Flutterby wrote:Wow, absolutely fantastic!! We must come and follow you.

Oh, and not to mention the Osprey...so lucky!

Thanks very much Flutterby. You are more than welcome as long B.B. and your Dad come with for spotting purposes.

PJL wrote:Wow what an amazing start to your trip! Fabulous leopard sightings... 3 in one day must be some kind of record in Pilanesberg?

Hi P.J.L.. Welcome on board. We could not believe it ourselves. You could be right about the record but only for an individual. One of the tour guides has a claim of 5 in one day but he specialises in spotting leopards for his guests. He also has a Facebook page "Pilanesberg Leopard Identification Project" in which he identifies and names the different leopard in Pilanesberg. I think he has identified and named 35 leopard so far.

Just can't wait to get back to the bush, but too much going on for now!

wow the fish is almost big than the Eagle
beautifull Maximus
could be a wasps' nest
baby Hippo already with small wounds... a male

my prefered the Osprey

Great to see an osprey and moreover with a BIG fish

Another leopard

Strange thing in the hide. Probably a wasps’ nest or similar

A third leopard and on top a lion

You were right, no anti climax that day