In the many blog posts to follow we will be sharing all these wild and wonderful experiences with you so it will feel like you were with us in the bush. It is a magical feeling being up-close and personal with these magnificent wild animals in their natural habitat. The adrenalin to be so close to them (even though your'e in a closed vehicle) and just to admire their unbelievable beauty and presence, especially when it comes to the Big Five: Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo. And even though they might all look the same to us they can be individually identified when you get to study them and spend lots of time with them (see post on 'How to identify individual leopards').
© Leopard Glimpse by inXS Wildlife
The photo (above) was one of those awesome moments that we've experienced... It was just before sunset so we were on our way back to the Lower Sabie Rest Camp after a jam-packed day of amazing sightings - exactly what the Kruger National Park in South Africa is known for. We were hoping to see a leopard before we get to camp because the H4-1 (the road from Skukuza to Lower Sabie) have a few leopards living in that area so they are seen very often along there and it was the perfect time for them to be walking around too. Well, as we slowly drove towards the camp we got a glimpse of what we thought to be a leopard. We quickly reversed and there it was... a leopard was sitting down in the riverbed.
As we all know leopard behaviour, it didn't sit for long then got up and started walking. It looked like it was coming up the riverbank towards the road where we were sitting, waiting expectantly. Unfortunately we quickly lost sight of it because of the dense bush and because they are so well camouflaged.
Now we were anxiously looking around to see where the leopard was going to pop out. The next moment this beautiful male leopard (see photo at the top of the page) made his appearance from out of the bush right next to our car. He paused momentarily, had a look down the road as if he was checking if it was clear to cross, and then proceeded to cross the road in front of our car and into the bush again.
Needless to say that I was taking pictures like crazy because he was just so beautiful and so close. It was an amazing, adrenalin-pumping moment but he gave us exactly 2 seconds to capture this magnificent stare (see post on 'Practise makes Perfect'). And to crown it all, we were the only car there and the light was just perfect... an unforgettable moment in the last rays of 'golden hour'.
All the glory to our Creator for His magnificent creation!
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