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what lies in the unknown…

on Mar 05, 2015

For most of us rangers, being in the bush is a very definite choice. We have chosen long hours, variable work, distance from family and loved ones, long term planning and simplicity of living, all in exchange for a faith that one day there will be THAT sighting that ignites a passion within us with such ferocity that it makes it all worthwhile. Last night, I had one of those sightings; the leopard sighting of a lifetime.

We were on our way to a sighting of a female leopard (Little Bush female) on a waterbuck calf kill up a tree, with the knowledge that another female leopard, Outcrop, was laying below the tree in hope and anticipation for a share of the kill.

A herd of elephants had other ideas though and delayed us while we watched the herd drink water in a stream. With the Outcrop female a substantial distance from her territory, and distance sisters to each other (Outcrop born in 2001 with her sister from the same litter Warthog Wallow and Little bush born in 2005), I knew this was not a typical kill – same sex leopards do not have overlapping territories and generally encounters are seldom passive. Anyone who has come across the Little Bush female knows her reputation far from exceeds her. At barely 45kg she is the fiercest leopard on the property by far. Many male leopards would not argue – a fight last year to save one of her cubs from the late Sandriver male (in his prime this male weighed approximately 90kg) easily saved her now present cub and sent him fleeing. Earlier that day when Outcrop had arrived at the kill a fight had broken out but apparently it was not enough to scare Outcrop off. And then the radio went, a third female had entered the sighting; the young Kelenge female, Outcrops recently independent cub. A favourite of many of the rangers with her green/blue eyes and bright pink nose, we all feared what might happen to her with such little experience or exposure to Little Bush’s temper.

Steve LBC

It felt like the elephants were drinking the stream dry by this point! At last! Narrowly bordering an anxiety attack they moved off and we sped off at 25km/hr – the maximum speed on the safari roads, no more, no less. During this time the radio was going mad with reports of Little Bush attacking Kelenge – more verbally than physically but some contact must have been made within the long grass as Little Bush re-emerged with a bloodied tail. Admittedly I was cursing the elephants. We arrived, drama over, Little Bush had left... But not for long. I said to Voster (my tracker) that she would undoubtedly never give up her kill against these females; especially with a cub waiting patiently for her – she was fetching the cub. With opportunity knocking, Outcrop swiftly made her way up the tree to devour all she could in the time she had all while little Kelenge lay watching and hungry. Outcrops snarling ensured Kelenge wouldn’t dare to try to join her. Almost an hour of watching Outcrop feast and snarl at Kelenge every time she inched closer passed and we decided to go for a quick drink and return afterwards. After 10 minutes of being back at the sighting, another ranger called in to say that he had found Little Bush with her cub and they were making their way straight towards us. Game on.

Courtney Dalziel Kelenge 1

Cameras all set to go, we watched as the lights of the other vehicle following Little Bush and her cub approached. Outcrop had spotted her well before we had. Strangely Little Bush’s cub knew not to follow her to the kill and waited patiently 60m down the road – having had no visual of Outcrop and no vocal communication with her mother, one can only presume that she had learnt this behaviour from feeding on previous kills. Little Bush picked up pace and made her way straight up the tree, attacking Outcrop with no hesitation. Outcrop was forced on to the outskirts of the branches which bent under her weight. We all thought they would give way, leading to her falling 7m to the floor. Through clever navigation and doing well to avoid Little Bush, she made her way down and out the tree and moved off.

Little Bush had reclaimed her kill and now it was time for her cub to feed. She called out to it, only to have Kelenge answer in earnest. Little Bush’s cub walked up to Kelenge to see who was replying and the two starting play-fighting together. Concerned, Little Bush came down from the tree to watch over her cub but did not interfere. Kelenge rolled around playing coy, with Little Bush’s cub growing bored she eventually left Kelenge to climb up the tree and start feeding.

Jonathan McCormick Kelenge Outcrop

I don’t know if Kelenge ever did feed, and Little Bush and her cub were still found finishing up the kill the next day, but the dynamics and interactions between leopards still amaze me and always leave me with more unanswered questions. Why did Outcrop and Kelenge venture so far from their own territories? How did they all know where the kill was? Did Little Bush’s cub know not to enter the kill because of previous experiences with hyenas or is there some form of communication we are missing? Are leopards more social than we originally thought? – Kelenge and Little Bush’s cub, to the best of our knowledge, have never met but played with each other beautifully. It brings the idiom “the more we learn, the less we realise we know” to mind. But it is what lies in this spectrum of unknown that our imaginations go wild with possibility and that fire burns for us to see more, to know more, and inevitably to be rangers.

  • BY COURTNEY DALZIEL (BUSH LODGE RANGER)
  • IMAGES BY COURTNEY DALZIEL, JONATHAN MCCORMICK AND STEVE VOLKWYN
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