Idube 3: Leopards

By Wednesday morning, we had the routine down: collected from our chalets like goslings at 5:30 am and escorted to the lounge for a quick hit of beverages and muffins. Into the safari vehicle by 6am to greet dawn in the bush. About 4 hours hacking around looking for wildlife (broken by a “coffee stop” for more beverages and cookies), then back to camp for an (enormous) breakfast ~ 10am.

Four hours off to digest before more food appears in the form of high tea (picture a BIG lunch) around 2pm. Back in the vehicle at 4pm, sundowners (drinks and snacks) at – well, sundown (around 6pm at this time of year) then back to the lodge in the dusk and gathering dark spotting nocturnal animals. An enormous dinner is waiting on return to the lodge, after which we goslings are escorted back to our chalets in the dark. All of the food we were served was excellent – I would not recommend safaris as a weight loss regimen…

It was a misty morning, adding  a sense of mystery to the dawn.

It was a busy day for birds at the waterhole.

A flock of White-faced Whistling Ducks were hanging out on the shoreline, enjoying the peaceful morning.

Suddenly, two male ducks started squabbling, flapping up into the air to dive-bomb one another, squawking noisily all the time.

Meanwhile, a crocodile lurking in the water nearby was keeping a watchful eye on the ducks. When the fight began, the croc reversed course and glided silently towards the shore.

The Water Thick-knees ignored both duck-boys and croc.

And the hippos were completely unperturbed. 

Leaving the waterhole, we joined a legion of guides who were quartering the block looking for a leopardess with cubs.

The leopardess was finally spotted walking through the brush and followed to the spot were she had stashed her cubs along with breakfast – half a duiker carcass from yesterday’s kill.

This leopard is known as Tsayla, “the patient one.”  Her mother broke a leg when Tsayla was 6 months old – half a year younger than leopards usually learn to hunt. But she and her brother Shambala, “the swimmer,” kept themselves and their mother alive: Tsayla by patient stalking and Shambala by hunting fish and water birds. Mom’s leg healed and she has continued breeding – the leopard we saw yesterday with the puff adder was Tsayla’s younger sister.  Tsayla has taken over as prime female in this Idube territory, while Shambala has moved across the river to control a different territory. We really enjoyed watching Tsayla and her cubs playing and grooming one another. 

We stopped again at the waterhole for morning coffee, then headed back to the lodge for breakfast.

After breakfast, Barb, Dominique and I took advantage of the gym to get in a little bit of exercise.

For the afternoon ride, we were joined by Lee and Jennifer, a lovely couple from Georgia.

We got another look at the mother and son rhino from the day before. They are not the most active animals – although they can charge at 25-35 mph when disturbed. 

We spent some time looking for the leopards without success. It was a very hot day, so FJ took us on a lovely drive down to the Sand River for a little relief from the heat.

We parked near the boundary of Singita Lodge, one of the Sabi Sands properties that does not give traversing rights to other lodges. The rack rate for Singita lodge begins at ~$3,000/night (compared to $650/night for Idube). FJ joked that he’d likely be shot if we trespassed on Singita land.

A solitary hippo watched us for a while, then submerged.

We drove across the river for the evening’s sundowner.

Two large bull elephants passed within 2 feet of the vehicle as we headed back in the dusk. Mike also spotted a scrub hare in the dark – swinging a lamp side-to-side finding a lump in the dark that he somehow recognizes as a critter. (Note that lamps are never used on diurnal animals, since their eyes react differently, causing them to freeze in fear.)