Happy new year kind people and thank you all for the support in 2019! I know it has been a while since my last camp fire story. My B-Tech Nature Conservation studies have kept me very busy for most of last year. All to hopefully become Section Ranger one day!

Linda shared a story with you about the leopard in Berg en Dal last year. And thinking about it the other day brought to memory an interesting and quite dangerous situation we had at Lower Sabie many years back. I had just started at Olifants trail and had moved from Lower Sabie to the Letaba staff village. I came down south to pick up Ava and Aiden.

When I pulled into Lower Sabie, I bumped into the Head Guide Irving who was in a flat spin. He was out of breath and really shaken up telling me there is a leopard in the camp. It was an extremely hot day and the general workers were clearing dry bush behind the safari tents. Apparently the leopard was first sighted by a guest and then one of the general workers in that area. It was just after midday and I said to Irving I’ll help out but I don’t have uniform with me. I really was not expecting to now run after a leopard that day.

The Section Ranger showed up and somewhat anxious handed me a R1 semi auto rifle. He asked me to assist them with the leopard in camp. I again reiterated I didn’t have uniform and he said he was desperate to get this leopard out the camp before the guests started returning to their tents.

So after I took the rifle and immediately making a game plan, we set off after the cat. What we wanted to do was slowly with not too much pressure make the cat move towards the gate and hopefully it would make a clean exit. As always, Murphy is there to make sure such plans and especially plans with wild animals, go pear shaped. And so it did… The cat went in every direction except towards the gate.

New plan. We decided then to set a fire and control it to stop the cat moving behind us again. A risky move but we had the general workers there to ensure the fire did not get out of control. A very interesting and I must say intimidating moment occurred. With a fire behind me and burning strong, the bush in front of me suddenly exploded with intense growling, snarling and spitting.

I could see nothing of the cat. But I stood there with the rifle shouldered, aiming at this snarling bush, shouting at this leopard to come or go. But it had to make a decision now! I could feel the heat behind me on my legs and neck as the fire was fast approaching from behind. Then suddenly the bush went quiet. The leopard slipped away as suddenly as it had started its growling.

We moved cautiously around the bush looking for tracks as the general workers quickly beat the fire where I was standing. I must say, I really missed my thick jacket. Not just for the possible mauling but also some heat protection from the fire. My tekkies were also not equipped for this and got a bit melted on my heels. And it felt like my shirt was melted into my back. Luckily I had no burns or teeth marks on me ; )

Now you must know we all where trying our best to get this leopard out alive but it was fast becoming a very dangerous situation. Especially now that she started showing intense aggression towards us and refused to move towards the gate. I called everyone back to adapt our plan a bit and allow the cat to calm down. And to be honest to let my own adrenaline levels normalize too.