The Duke and the Prince

As my eyes scrolled the invite from Garry I could sense my dream realising. This is a place  I had observed from a distance on social media and learnt who the Leopards are but never expected to set foot on.  It floats about in the ether, perfectly suspended just out of reach or so I thought.

Time to focus, DJUMA! Neatly situated in a couple block formations in the Sabi Sands lies this piece of Heaven. It is all private land and the owners discuss who may traverse where, fortunately  we were allowed to cover a substantial area. As we drove into the lodge the hairs on my arms stood on end, the atmosphere filled up with anticipation and disbelief. 

We unpacked, met those we hadn’t and at 16:00 boarded an open safari vehicle with a guide and tracker. The tracker seated front left corner of the bonnet. Just like you see on all those clips flitting about the web. Rexson and Mike were the men burdened by the significant task of finding Leopards for a vehicle of Leopard obsessed individuals, to make matters worse almost all of the passengers were serious photographers. 

Quarantine and Inkanyeni

After an hour or so a call came in about two leopards seen mating on the eastern side of the reserve, you can imagine what that did to the mood of those aboard. We arrived and this was when I realised what ‘off road’ meant. With relative ease the open safari vehicle traversed difficult terrain, Mike being the ninja that he is, always managed to crouching Tiger, leaping Dragon his way around the brush. Enter Quarantine male and Inkanyeni female, I knew of Quarantine and was stunned to see him in the flesh, he is in his prime with a fairly pale coat and a stocky physique, this Leopard can fight. Inkanyeni was clearly in her later years, ears well worn and notched, her eyes more sunken in and a face that told a story. Still every second minute she vocalised quietly and harassed Quarantine until he obliged her advances, interestingly when mating is this frequent it is a clear sign they have only just started. For those so inclined, a leopard sighting always brings a deep sense of peace and satisfaction, the levels vary but this spot was in a league of its own.

The Prince

Another call came in, a Leopard was right by our Lodge. The sun had set and darkness slowly began to envelope the landscape as we rolled on to our next beauty. HOSANA! He is a three year old male and is special, he was raised by one of the most successful mothers on record, then one day she vanished and so did his sister. He is very tolerant and habituated, you see this Leopard and can sense his self belief. With spotlights out, we watched him use the vehicles to hide from two rutting Impalas, once in the open he froze, waiting for the horns to clash and only then progressing at an astonishing speed towards them. The odds were heavily against him and the hunt failed. This Leopard is followed by scores of people and is affectionately dubbed the ‘Prince of Djuma.’ 

We left him to it and headed back to the lodge for a lovely evening with great food, company and a not so pleasant scorpion sting. He wasn’t a Parabuthus Transvaalicus but he packed a punch and I suffered mildly for days to come. Needless to say my paranoia had the better of me and I never slept that evening, not for fear of dying but just paying attention to the level of pain because I didn’t want to miss my early morning game drive. I drew some real comfort from hearing a leopard vocalise just outside my room at 02:00, I couldn’t lay eyes on him though.

It didn’t matter, I have lived off pure adrenaline before and this trip was no exception. 

The Duke

We endeavoured to try find the mating leopards again but with no luck, driving through and over some really thick brush alongside the river bed. A call came in, leopard. We arrived to find this absolute brute lying in the open. Tingana, the dominant male in the area that surrounds the lodge and a killer in every sense of the word. Mike refers to him as Douglas after a serial murderer in the Limpopo area. Tingana had killed two young females that he hadn’t sired as well as an older female. Rexson believes that in males as old as Tingana the hormone levels are out of whack and he may mistakenly view an older female as invasive. The heat was becoming unbearable and the light a little too harsh for the photographers so we left and sought out a cooler refuge.

That evening we were called in for another Hosana sighting. Wow this was epic, we watched him stalk and chase a scrub hare just past our vehicle. The light went to sleep and we followed him with spotlights. As the darkness took over completely we set off back to camp for the evening. 

Age and confidence

Now comes the real treat. We had one more drive left before departing, the mood was somewhat somber in the vehicle as our third day hadn’t produced a leopard sighting. After a couple hours Mike gestured to Rexson and he hit the gas. Taking a sharp right a bit further up the road and linking onto another. We all noticed the squirrels calling frantically then Mike spotted him, Tingana! It turns out Mike had seen very fresh tracks cross the road and this sent us on our way. The tracking ability of these guys is really mind blowing. 

It’s a honour so few have witnessed, this mythical creature roaming alongside your vehicle, a golden coat dappled with rosettes and spots drifting through pockets of sunlight and shade, silently. He moved through a river bed and we followed before being alerted to the presence of another Leopard! Hosana was tracking his father, each shrub Tingana marked was met by Hosana shortly after. Why is he doing this? 

Once Hosana noticed his dad it wasn’t very long before he moved back into the bed and left our sight. We stayed with the old fella and the other vehicle followed his son. Tingana came to rest on a termite mound and assumed that regal pose many of us have seen in photographs. He may be over 12 years old but he is the King. After 20 or so minutes he casually rose to his feet and strolled onto the road going about his territory and making his presence known. We noticed him sniff the ground and become aware of something, he walked on into thicker brush and we followed, in the middle of this dense shrubbery we saw fresh tyre tracks? Rexson lent back and said he is tracking Hosana. On tender hooks we watched, why is he tracking his son? Is Douglas going to show up and destroy the Prince? It was an uncomfortable period and we sat, heads in hands as Tingana closed in on Hosana. 

The Prince lay under a small tree with the Duke 10 meters behind and using a floored branch as cover. At this point it was pretty clear Hosana wasn’t in danger, in fact my opinion is that Tingana is tired of hunting and just wanted a free meal. I watched him glance up at the trees, clearly searching for a kill. Rexson was certain that Hosana knew his father was there and after quite some time the youngster turned, snarled and approached, grimacing. Tingana has to be 20 kilograms heavier than his son, yet Hosana confronted him. What happened next I doubt many if any have ever seen. This killer rolled over onto his back like a submissive kitten as his son approached. It was confusing but such a relief! We know so little about these animals but this relationship between father and son is clearly one that holds a bond. The Leopards swapped places, Hosana lay in his dads spot and Tingana went off to lie in his sons, they sniffed the earth and grass before coming to rest. Why? Hosana  got up and went about hunting again, we followed him and later found out that Tingana got up and followed.

Rexson believed that Tingana knows he is towards his ending and kills the younger females to make room for his offspring, he also believed that Hosana went on hunting having seen his father is a little thin and knowing he will lose the kill to Tingana. He wanted to help his protector. A male named Hukumuri is moving in on Tingana and so is Quarantine. Tingana is a warrior but age is not on his side and Hosana needs another year to get big enough and fend off other males. His dad is tired of hunting and the son needs protection for now, it is a simple theory that works I think. What an experience.