By Philip Pendael, Guide - Chada KataviAs elsewhere in the bush, Big 5 or Big Cats expectations is the most often asked question we meet when we pick up guests at Katavi airstrip. “Philip, do we have any chance to see a leopard here?” – Yes, there is, let’s cross our fingers. “Good!”
Last week, we went out for our afternoon game drive at 4.30pm and after thirty minutes, we found a young female leopard sitting on the road. The leopard jumped a few metres off the road and hid in the tall grasses. I started thinking how to catch this elusive animal, particularly as in Katavi they are very shy. So I followed gently, without confidence. But it was different: the leopard was waiting for us, quite relaxed and we started taking photos quickly. After a few minutes the leopard started walking on the ground, then climbing the trees, and it was the most wonderful sighting I have experienced. We stayed there for more than two hours and then headed back home.
Early the next morning, we went out again and about 2kms away found the same leopard hunting impalas. We waited to see if she could make a kill for almost two hours, but nothing happened, although there was very good cover and the leopard was less than 30m from the impala. I realised that lack of experience was the reason, because I would age the leopard at about 1.5 years old.
Leopards are more wide spread than any other African carnivore, and can exist in lowland forest, mountains, and even desert. They are very beautiful to watch, but difficult to spot due to their camouflage colour and mostly shy solitary behaviour. Here in Katavi they are not very habituated because of low tourism activities. However, they are easy to habituate from an early stage of life and this makes me refer back 9 months ago: around the same area we found a baby leopard up in the trees for three days. Although it was difficult to tell the sex, it was relaxed, and was never bothered by the presence of cars around. I would say it’s the same leopard.
“ I have seen many of the animals from Okavango Delta, Sabi Sand, Kruger National Parks and other areas in Africa, but this is remarkable” said one of the guests, after the morning sighting in the second day, having taken hundreds of photos in different poses.
Last week, we went out for our afternoon game drive at 4.30pm and after thirty minutes, we found a young female leopard sitting on the road. The leopard jumped a few metres off the road and hid in the tall grasses. I started thinking how to catch this elusive animal, particularly as in Katavi they are very shy. So I followed gently, without confidence. But it was different: the leopard was waiting for us, quite relaxed and we started taking photos quickly. After a few minutes the leopard started walking on the ground, then climbing the trees, and it was the most wonderful sighting I have experienced. We stayed there for more than two hours and then headed back home.
Early the next morning, we went out again and about 2kms away found the same leopard hunting impalas. We waited to see if she could make a kill for almost two hours, but nothing happened, although there was very good cover and the leopard was less than 30m from the impala. I realised that lack of experience was the reason, because I would age the leopard at about 1.5 years old.
Leopards are more wide spread than any other African carnivore, and can exist in lowland forest, mountains, and even desert. They are very beautiful to watch, but difficult to spot due to their camouflage colour and mostly shy solitary behaviour. Here in Katavi they are not very habituated because of low tourism activities. However, they are easy to habituate from an early stage of life and this makes me refer back 9 months ago: around the same area we found a baby leopard up in the trees for three days. Although it was difficult to tell the sex, it was relaxed, and was never bothered by the presence of cars around. I would say it’s the same leopard.
“ I have seen many of the animals from Okavango Delta, Sabi Sand, Kruger National Parks and other areas in Africa, but this is remarkable” said one of the guests, after the morning sighting in the second day, having taken hundreds of photos in different poses.
Female Leopard (Panthera pardus), Picture taken by Phillip Pendael in Katavi National Park, July 'o9
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