The other main event in Sabi Sabi is the last animal of the Big Five that we had yet to see – leopards.  And what a show!  We saw a few different leopards on a few different days, including a fast-paced off-road chase of a leopard on the move.  We were amazed at how the guides were able to find the first cat – another car had seen it but it had moved a little since then.  They were right on and led us to it.  It took a while for me to see at all, and I knew where it was!  I’ll give you a sense of what a leopard laying in the grass looks like:

Can you see it?

He Sits Up

Eventually the sun started to set and we began to leave since he hadn’t been doing anything interesting and another car wanted to move in and see it.  That was when the leopard decided it was a good time to make its move, and a chase began.  This was when our driver’s skills came to the test.  They have a list of trees and bushes which they are allowed to run over – the faster growing ones – and have to dodge spiky acacias and other endangered or slow-growing bushes.

Off Road

It gets harder at night...

We kept following it after dark, using bright spotlights to keep the cat in view.  Eventually it stopped in a place we could really see it, and we got a few great shots showing his identifying facial features.  Sweet!

Night View

He Seems Harried

Fortunately for the animals, all the tourists go back to have dinner at 7 and they can get a little rest.  But we were really happy to see him!

The next day turned out to be even more spectacular.  While we were looking at the lions eating the buffalo carcass, our guide Creamson heard a leopard call out.  This was the opportunity we were hoping for – a daylight spotting!  We quickly left and got on the trail.  Creamson had a good idea of both direction and distance, and soon we found a fresh track:

The Track is In The Circle

Creamson assured us that this track was around 5 minutes old.  How did he know that??  I don’t know, but it turned out to be right and soon we got a call from a car on the other side of the woods (in the direction of the track) that they had found this leopard.  Creamson had gotten it just right!  It seemed magical to us.

Anyway this leopard was much bigger than the last and had an injured eye.  Being blind in that eye, it had stopped chasing prey since its depth perception was no good.  It devised a better idea: wait at all the ant hills and other holes in the ground and pounce on escaping warthogs.  Slick!  We saw it go over and inspect a hole (empty).

Blind in One Eye

This cat was fearless – unlike me – as he walked up to our car and right behind it.  I was about 2 feet away from this cat.  It looked like it was going to jump up into my seat!  Fortunately for all of us in the 4×4 it decided that walking around was the better strategy and I instead got a really nice top-down view of this cat.

VERY close...

We even got to hear it let out a roar.  This was an exhilarating day!

Cat Hits The Road

After a while we moved out to let other cars see the cats (Sabi Sabi has a policy of no more than 3 cars at any one site, so crowding never gets too bad) and that was the end of our time with this leopard.  Fortune was with us that day, though, and we got one last chance to see a leopard.  This time it was a leopardess and she just lay in the grass when we came up:

Lazy Leopardess

That was the last chance we had to see a leopard.  I had hoped to see one leopard – and had no idea we’d be in for seeing 3 different ones in only 2 days!  Fantastic!