The next afternoon was even hotter than the first as the temperature soared to 48 degrees. Now in most cases when the temperature climbs this high everything runs for cover and tries to get away from the scorching heat but all the animals seemed to be getting an early start on the afternoon activities. We had great sighting of rhino, kudu, buffalo, zebra and wildebeest. We spent lots of time watching all the animals interacting and feeding as the days heat started to fade away with the dropping sun.

As the sun was setting we went in to see the Southern pride as they too decided that it was better to just hide in the shade and wait for the cool of night before starting to move. All 17 of them slept for a while and as the sun dropped over the horizon they got up and went for a drink from the river and headed off for their evening hunt. They look in desperate need of some food as we could see the pelvic bones of the cubs protruding and the females had concave stomachs. It was our hope that they would find some food but we wouldn’t know till morning as we all had to head back to the lodge for another wonderful dinner and to be entertained by some of the local dancers and drummers from the nearby community.

The next morning we went to go visit the hippo that has been hanging around the pan in front of bush lodge. When we got there he decided that it would be more comfortable outside the water and went on grazing around the open area. We also saw some great giraffe, buffalo and rhino that morning.

After having a much needed cup of coffee we went to join the guys who had just found a female leopard. When we got into the sighting she was on a definite mission to find some food and we followed her as she searched the bush for a potential meal. As we followed behind her I could see her demeanor change to acute concentration. We hung back so as not to scare off the prey that she had spotted and that we were still looking for. My tracker then spotted a duiker no more than 20 meters in front of her. This is still a great distance as these tiny antelope are lighting fast and have very acute senses to avoid becoming breakfast to every passing predator but this duiker had no clue that she had just jumped to the top of the menu. The leopard sat watching and assessing the situation to see what the best angle of attack would be but all of that didn’t matter as the duiker started strolling straight towards the leopard. The leopard crouched behind a bush ready to pounce as soon as the duiker got close enough.

The duiker just kept on coming closer and closer... 5 meters.... 3 meters... eventually the duiker was no more than a meter in front of the leopard when she launched forward to grab her breakfast. I was certain that the duiker had taken its last breath but she had different ideas... she launched off like a rocket in the opposite direction with the leopard now in full pursuit. The duiker gained more and more distance on the leopard and eventually she gave up her chase leaving the little duiker to live another day.

I was completely flabbergasted that the duiker had been able to get away after almost standing on top of the leopard but she did and it just goes to show how incredibly adapted these antelope are to their environment. It was incredible to see and it all happened no more than 20 metres away from us.