The language of the wilderness is an important skill to attain when pursuing the little treasures the bush leaves for us here at Londolozi. It is an art that one constantly needs to work on and never feel like you’ve ever mastered. However, the trackers of Londolozi have come as close as possible. One particular day a few months ago being in tune with the language of the wilderness certainly found us a treasure that unfolded in front of our eyes.
While out on a game drive being in tune with the language of the wilderness is of paramount importance to find its hidden treasures.
We set out on our afternoon drive to look for the Skorro Breakaway Male Lion in the area west of our camps. We had seen his tracks earlier that morning but had not found him. No more than half an hour into our drive we stopped to watch a herd of elephants cross the road in front of us.
With the engine turned off tracker Tshepo Dzemba turned to me and asked if I could hear the distant alarm snorts of a herd of impala. Once the elephants had moved off we raced in the direction of where the impalas were frantically alarming. Something that always amazes me is the precise direction that the trackers can pinpoint from a distance where they think the alarm calls are coming from.
A herd of impalas alarmed at a nearby leopard.
We must’ve driven about a mile west of where the elephants were before Tshepo pointed north into a block of vegetation saying it was definitely coming from in here. Without hesitation, I manoeuvred the vehicle around a few rocks and into the bushwillow thickets. After another 200m, Tshepo shrieked with excitement, “Leopard, leopard, leopard.”
Once a leopard has caught an impala it grabs it by the neck to suffocate it.
The Xipuku Male, a leopard we don’t often see, had just caught an impala. This in itself was an unbelievable find as he must’ve caught the impala mere moments before we had arrived. But that was just the beginning of what then played out in front of us that we luckily managed to capture on video.
The Xipuku Male had been frantically trying to feed on the impala ewe carcass before a hyena showed up. Probably being drawn in by the alarm calls too. Hoping to dissuade the hyena, the leopard had a go at it and after an initial scuffle, the two swiftly returned to the carcass and began feeding side by side. This was an incredibly rare scene to witness, but I guess they both accepted the fact that at least if they did it this way they would walk away with something in their bellies.
What they did not realise, was that they weren’t the only ones to have been drawn in by the alarm calls and subsequent interactions between the leopard and hyena. After the two had been feeding for a good few minutes together, the hyena looked up after swallowing a mouthful and caught a glimpse of movement in the shrubs nearby, once confirming that it was indeed a real threat, the hyena wasted no time in retreating. The leopard uncertain of the imminent threat, continued to feed until a twig snapping in that direction caused it to lift its head, locking eyes with the very Lion we set out to find. A rapid retreat now sent the leopard off in the same direction as the hyena.
The Skorro Breakaway Male then strolled in, somewhat nervously, before picking the carcass up and running off into the distance to claim the prize.
Barry Bath
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