THE game drive

Our flight to Hoedspruit

This morning we flew in a small plane to Hoedspruit airport and then made the two-hour drive to our first game lodge, Simbambili. After settling into our room, seeing the monkeys on our deck and the elephants across the way at the waterhole, we went on our first game drive. Liam, our guide, and Mumps, our tracker, drove us through the Sabi Sand private game reserve (which borders Krueger National Park without a fence between them). We saw some cape buffalo, blue wildebeest, waterbuck, impala, a pair of rare ground hornbills and a beautiful gray-headed bush shrike. They then showed us the remains of an impala that a female leopard had killed. We were told that several hyenas stole the carcass from the leopardess but while they were fighting amongst themselves, she stole it back and lifted up into the tree. We searched the area for her but didn’t find her.

Monkeys on the deck

Elephants coming to the water hole

The remains of an Impala put there by a female Leopard

The Leopard on the prowl

After the catch

We stopped for refreshments then headed back out. We soon encountered a full-grown male leopard walking along the trail. We followed closely and then alongside him as he left the trail. We were just a few feet from him when he grunted out his call warning other male leopards that this was his territory. We watched him try unsuccessfully to stalk a duiker. We smelled him mark his territory (leopard urine smells surprisingly like popcorn!) As the sun set we followed him as he loped along. Soon he turned quickly to the left and froze. We watched him slowly advance, lie down, and then advance again. He moved about 5 feet in ten minutes. Then we saw his prey: an aardvark. The large pig-like creature was only about 10 feet from the leopard and didn’t realize he was there. He would have walked right into the leopard, but the aardvark saw our Land Cruiser and turned back into the bush. Liam exclaimed that he had never before seen an aardvark in Sabi Sands and turned the Land Cruiser off into the bush. Mumps shined a spotlight first on the aardvark and then on the leopard as Liam followed them both deeper and deeper into the bush. We were blazing a new trail as Liam plowed ahead, knocking down whole trees or whatever stood in our path. The hunt continued as the aardvark moved away from us, leading both the leopard and us in the rear through the bush. Finally, the leopard pounced. The aardvark let out a series of moans and escaped once, twice and a third time.  The fight was just a few feet away from us. The aardvark’s large size (bigger than the leopard) and powerful kicks let it break free time and time again. The two were so quick the battle was a blur under Mumps’s spotlight. But each time the leopard attacked his prey weakened. Once when the aardvark escaped it looked for a moment like he was going to jump into the Land Cruiser and into Kathy’s lap! We were certain the leopard would follow! But he veered away. Finally, the leopard got ahold of the aardvark by the neck and with his powerful jaws suffocated his prey.

Enjoying his dinner

The leopard was wounded with a deep gash in one leg and looked around for a tree to carry up the aardvark so he could enjoy his dinner. But as he rested and panted, looking around for the best tree, a hyena arrived and scared him off his prize. The hyena dragged away the carcass and got distracted. The leopard reclaimed his prey and enjoyed a meal as the hyena nervously prowled the area. It was time for us to leave, but in the chase cross-country through the bush, the clutch on our vehicle went out. Another driver was told by radio of what we had seen and quickly joined us. By dragging us a few yards the clutch was freed and we headed back to our camp.

Back at camp we had springbok (one of the local antelope) for dinner.