As we pulled out of the lodge on another beautiful summer’s morning, the birds were chirping their chorus and the rangers started chirping over the radio. We had literally just pulled out of the gate when one of the rangers, Calvin, found a female leopard close to Little Bush Camp. I didn’t hesitate to respond as we had spent a long time with the Southern Pride the night before and our goal was to find a leopard.

As we pulled into the sighting the leopard was nowhere to be seen. Calvin directed me to a clump of grass and said that she was flat cat in the grass... this could only mean that this was the female leopard that stays around Little Bush Camp who has been adopted as our rarely seen mascot. She is by far the most temperamental leopard on the reserve and has been known to charge at vehicles. Armed with this knowledge I gave her some space and we waited patiently for her to get comfortable with our presence. She eventually showed her gorgeous face to all of us as she bounced out of the grass in a few leaps and then settled.

She had spotted some impala that were feeding along the tree line of the open area and stalked to stalk closer. She found some good cover and then decided that all the fun was over, lay down flat in the grass leaving us with no visual of her as she began to groom herself. Not to be unsettled, we sat and waited patiently for her to get moving again.

Eventually she set off again in the direction of where the impala had been but they had moved off already. We followed her for a little bit longer hoping that we would see some action but to no avail. We had to make some space for the rest of the guys to see her and there was much more to see.

We enjoyed some great rhino sightings, buffalo and other general game before coming across a herd of impala with a whole group of small babies. One of the little ones was in a very playful mood and bounced around testing and flexing its young muscles. Play is a vitally important part of their growing up as it strengthens their muscles ensuring that they are strong enough to get away from the many predators that are looking to make a meal of them.

One of my best sightings of the day was a beautiful Violet-backed Starling, which was kind enough to pose for this pic! Yet another great morning in the bush!