Wouter our guide from the Netherlands who conducts German tours for Sunway had the following experience in the Greater Kruger National Park and had this to share... On my most recent Walking South Africa JJa14, a hiking tour through South Africa and Swaziland with 11 clients from Switzerland and Germany, we had the most incredible encounter with a wild Leopard. It all happened on a game drive in Balule Game Reserve, close to Kruger National Park.

Between Balule and Kruger there are no fences, so basically all animals that occur in Kruger also occur in Balule and they are free to roam around through both parks. But because Balule is a private game reserve and not a National Park like Kruger, the only way to do a game drive in the reserve is to overnight in one of the few lodges. Because of this, the number of tourists in Balule is quite low and during a safari you will most likely see very few other vehicles. This makes a safari experience in Balule really a ‘wild’ experience because you feel all alone in the bush!
On one of those game drives, we got a call from the radio saying there was an ‘Ingwe’ that killed an Impala, quite far away from us. Ingwe, in many African languages, means Leopard (Panthera pardus), so I got quite excited but I decided not to tell my clients because then they might become overexcited and very disappointed if we don’t get to see it! It was very difficult to hide my own excitement! The sighting was very far away though, but we already had some amazing sightings with other animals so we decided to give it a shot and speed towards the Leopard. It was about 45 minutes driving, and as we got closer, the sun started setting giving us the last bits of sunrays and beautiful light. As we arrived on the spot it was not difficult finding the animal at all. It had climbed into a dead tree and was now resting on one of the branches, completely uncovered in the most beautiful light you can imagine!
I didn’t have words for it as first, and all I could think of saying was: LEOPARD! It was an unforgettable moment.

Normally, when Leopards catch prey, they drag in up into a tree to feed high and safe from predators, so of course I wandered where the carcass was. Soon after discovering the Leopard, it climbed down and we saw it yawning and jumping branches a few times. Then it moved away into the bush to start feeding on the fresh Impala carcass. It was only about 25 meters away from us, so it was a very impressive sighting. By the looks of it, this is still quite a young female Leopard. When Leopards are young, their noses are usually lighter and as they get older, they gradually turn darker and darker. Males tend to be a little bit bigger and heavier built, especially around the forearms and neck, making them a lot stronger than females. Although Leopards are very opportunistic animals, and they can prey on pretty much everything, the males generally go for bigger prey then females, making this catch of an adult Impala a very successful one for this female Leopard! We watched the Leopard for about 20 minutes and then decided to leave it in peace because the lodge was still far and light was fading away. Of course we had a few ‘sundowner’ drinks afterwards to celebrate this spectacular and rare sighting!