Leopards, Leopards and More Leopards

As the title of this blog would suggest – this last week has provided us with amazing leopard sightings on more than one occasion, as well as Ellies, rhinos, buffalo and Lion –all of the Big 5!

Our students have certainly had a good week. Amazing! A two day sleepout on Makalali Private Game Reserve (the Big 5 reserve Bushwise traverses on) afforded us the opportunity to basically have a full 2 day game drive and walks. Brilliant sightings were witnessed, as mentioned above. Perhaps the most memorable of those sightings was sitting with a female and sub-adult leopard cub on a warthog kill for over an hour – 2 days in a row! The sub-adult cub had quite an adventurous spirit, even though he was stuffed from the feast he had just had and moved up and down and around a Marula tree, delighting the students and instructors with his acrobatic movements. Unfortunately, due to the dense foliage on the Marula tree – photos blurred, however videos are soon to follow on the Facebook page!

For those of you who have not yet experienced a sleep out on a Big 5 reserve – you are certainly missing out. During each course we try take our students on sleep out as much as possible. This is a great experience as students learn how to survive with limited resources for example, how to make fire (without matches!), how to find water, how to deal with dangerous game in and around camp, how to cook on a camp fire, how to make a comfy bed with nothing but a sleeping bag (no tents allowed!). As well as learning the above skills, you are also able to experience the magnificent wildlife on the reserve by night, under the African skies and by day under the African sun! On the first day of sleepout alone, the two leopards above were seen, as well as a herd of elephants with a male Elephant who gave us quite a show (as seen below), and two adult male lions and a lioness in an open field! (One of the males seen below)

Africa is truly an amazing continent and we at Bushwise, students and staff, are certainly very fortunate to be experiencing its beauty and magnificence in person, everyday.

The Bushwise Team

Leopards, Leopards and More Leopards