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Two weeks in SLNP - tales of leopards


Gregor

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@@Gregor, love the leopard sequence. What a find

 

I take pics of cats no matter what they are doing; I just love seeing them over and over...such personalities, even when just watching the tourists watching them :)

Of course I delete them but it reminds me of the day!

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Quite a performance from the leopard. Your first photo of her in the tree has excellent colors, too.

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Day 6, 12th November

 

A new fantastic morning with that lovely African light. We start out going south. Out intention is to follow up on the leopard from last evening. On the way there we stop and watch a big herd of Buffalo walking like a train down to the river. The "train" is several hundreds meter long. Impressive.

 

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As we watch the buffalo we suddenly hear the impalas alarm right behind us. We turn around and se this:

 

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Obviously a leopard have just the moment before jumped up from the gorge and caught an impala. The other impalas still close watching and alarming. The morning changed in a moment from calm and relaxed, to a electric feeling in the air. All the animals suddenly aware of the danger, and very tense. We quickly drive over to the other side of the gorge and watch as the leopard slowly strangle the impala. As we watch we can see blood (drops) flow on the impalas neck and how the light in his eyes goes out, and he dies.

 

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What a beautiful morning. A beautiful magnificent leopard and then death. From a photographic point of view, this is fantastic. We left of last night with a leopard out in the open, and here we continues :) The leopard then start dragging the impala through the gorge, while we follow him and my Nikon D4 continues shooting 10 pics every second.

 

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The leopard drags the impala into the woods and up a tree. Filled with emotions the day feels complete although it is still very early. We watch the leopard for a while relaxing under the tree with the impala safely stored in the tree. Not much more will happen here, so we go back to the buffalo herd that now is returning from their morning drink.

 

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We go back to the tree where we left the leopard from last evening, but she is not there only the carcass from the impala that the leopard had there. Later we pass by the spot where the leopard from this morning is resting all through the day. We leave him there and continues.

 

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What can I say. The leopards of SLNP delivers :) In between the predator shows there is lot of other animals and birds to work with. There is always a new angle to look for as a photographer.

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Beautiful landscapes and great photos of the leopard with the prey, the buffalo herd and the elephant reaching up the sausage tree @@Gregor! I continue enjoying your report and photos, looking forward to seeing the next installment...

Edited by FlyTraveler
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madaboutcheetah

Ditto - wonderful images and report @gregor

 

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Yep, really enjoying the leopards and buffaloes. Well, and the rest! Makes me itch to go back :)

 

Oh, and I'm more than a bit jealous of you seeing wilddogs. I still haven't seen them, after visiting SLNP, Mana Pools, Chobe, ... I guess that means I just have to keep coming back!

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Hi

 

Glad you all likes the trip report and pictures so far. Just halfway through. I´m also very happy that I saw the wild dogs. It was one of the reasons for me to go to South Luangwa. I would like to see more of them, and with better possibilities to make good pictures. I guess that means that I also have to go back, to Africa :) But SLNP is really something extra when it comes to leopards. They seem to be everywhere. I actually saw leopards more times than lions. I think if you go there a few days a leopard sighting is guaranteed (at least in the dry season). Not many places in the world that can guarantee that.

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Enjoying the TR & images so far Gregor, I was there the same time as you, but a little further north @ Tafika (SLNP) & Mwaleshi (NLNP) ;)

Edited by africaaddict
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Beautiful golden color on the leopard kill photos - and remarkable visibility!

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Beautiful photos. I love the 'feel' of the 'buffaloes leaving the river' photo.

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Day 7, 13th november

 

After a few quiet morning hours we get a call from our lodges other guide. He had found a leopard with two older cubs. Leopards, of course. :)

 

So we drove over there. And found a older female leopard they called Alice, with her two year old cubs. They were resting on the ground under some trees.

 

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Alice had caught a baby impala, and left it immobilized but alive to her cubs for practicing the art of killing. At first for maybe an hour the slightly bigger brother cub played around with the baby impala. It was screaming and heartbreaking, but still fascinating to watch. From a photography point of view, it is a dream to photograph leopard cubs "playing around", but difficult to get good pictures as they was in the shadow all the time. I´m getting spoiled here...

 

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Circling around the victim. How to tackle this?

 

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By the neck, ... hmm.

 

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Not so cute looking, revealing some other sides of the leopards personality.

 

After tossing around with the poor baby impala for a long time, the cub got bored and went to mother for some cuddling.

 

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Then his smaller sister decided it was enough, and her turn. She fetched the baby impala and took it away and tucked it up in a tree.

 

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After two hours and 2500 pictures it was time to leave Alice and her cubs. Another eventful leopard day..

 

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In the afternoon we went north, and through some of the woods. There groups of elephants move around. This is a strange land, so dry, dead and there is always a kind of spooky mist.

 

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In the riverbed close by some other elephants where taking a drink. Lots of elephants everywhere.

 

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But they are not alone and have to share the riverbed :)

 

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After this the sun went down. Since I and my mother was not so found of night game drives, we drove straight to a water hole where there was an uneaten carcass from a Zebra. The Zebra had got stuck in the mud, but still after a few days not been eaten. This time is a time of plenty for the local predators, and as mention before in this area there were several recent carcasses from buffalos who had succumbed and died. When we arrived, we turned of the engine and lights and just sat there in the african nights for maybe a hour. This was so lovely. Experiencing the sounds and smells, hearing the hippo moving around in the mud, other animals coming and going. Then at the same time we could see a hyena arriving from one direction and a leopard from a other. They were first not aware of the other. Then they suddenly were, and the leopard made a mock charge and the hyena took of into the night. This startled me, I would think that normally the leopard would be the one to run off, but not this one. Of course no pictures of this as it was very dark, and we didn´t want to light up the spotlights. I must recommend this, stop your night drives for a while, and just sit there, at a good spot, and spend a moment undisturbed with the african night.

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Alice the leopard is beautiful, of course, but the wider shot of the elephants in the forest is stunning.

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Wonderful report, Gregor and superb pictures. Thanks for posting. Also, any more details on how you planned your trip and chose this particular lodge- was the transfer from Addis done by Ethiopian air ( part of your international ticket) or through the camp.

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Hi

 

I booked the parts my self. A return ticket with Ethiopian Stockholm-Addis-Lilongwe for about 700 $ and then a return ticket Lilongwe to Mfuwe with Ulendo air for 400 $. I negotiated the price with several lodges, and I also had a independent guide with car as option. In the end we got a reasonable price with T&T including private guide. One factor was that my mother thought the pictures from the T&T was very nice, and she was prepared to pay a little extra for a nicer lodge. And we were very happy with T&T. Very nice chalet, very good location with restaurant, pool and chalet at the riverbank, mostly good food, good service and a very good guide.

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@@Gregor

 

As all else mentioned, a most enjoyable ride along with you. Love the leopard cubs - I never tired of a leopard's face; and of course all elies, esp with the lion in the river bed! Two hours and 2500 pics, wow. I don't take that many in a year. Guess I need to up my game!

 

Looks like you also got a very good price for this adventure and a great guide.

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Hi Everyone

 

Thanks for all encouraging and friendly comments. So here it continues.

 

Day 8, 14th november

 

Next morning we drove back to where we left the dead Zebra, and where we had the encounter between hyena and leopard. The Zebra was still there, uneaten. Since nothing was happening there. We drove along the norther riverbank. It was an uneventful morning and we crossed the Luanga river. On the other side we found a lioness. She was patrolling along the riverbank. A behavior we often saw the lions have. I can understand, they have great overview.

 

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And finally som rest in the shade :)

 

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Down in the riverbed giraffs and impalas were looking for a drink.

 

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In the afternoon we visited the Wafwa lagoon area, which is close to the bridge. Here a large herd buffalos were going down to the river. Watched in the setting sun from others then us.

 

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And so time for a sundowner, while my mother continued watching the big herd. Or maybe she was more watching the people around.

 

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The fishermen to the right, other turists on the left bank. And to ur surprise a couple of turists far out in the riverbed on foot. Center in the picture, behind the herd. What if a buffalo would get annoyed of the human approaching them? I don´t think they would have time to get to safety. People and some guides take stupid risks.

 

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Day 9, 15th November

 

Ready for a new day. This small monkey welcomed us over the bridge in lovely morning light. There is never a dull moment with the monkeys, always playing around, always up to something. And at the same time the best watch guards for everyone.

 

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The warthog and Impala is proudly patrolling their rich kingdom ;)

 

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No lions, leopards or hyenas in sight this day. So we had to do with some birds. A slow day.

 

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A burchell's coucal

 

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A Verreaux´s eagle-owl

 

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And finally a nightjar.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Day 10, 16th November

 

This day I and Friday had planned a full day trip, going out to the salt pans/Chichele Hot Spring in the morning, and then exploring areas in the northern part of the SLNP before heading back.

So we left of early, going public roads before entering the park inte the northern sector. As always in Africa, a lot of people out going somewhere on fot or a bike.

 

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It was a drive of about two hours before we reached the salt pans. There it was some herds of wildebeast which is not seen in the southern parts of that park, zebras, antilops and a few hyenas. It seems like a nice and interesting area, and a place I would like to spend more time in. But we had to go on.

 

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We then explored the northern part of Nesfu area and there was still a camp open. There BBC had a team living there. Friday know some of there guides and we got a tip where we could find the local lion pride. On the way there we meet the film crew (they were leaving for lunch) with Simon King. It was at noon and the lions was resting under a tree.

 

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Well, some cute lion cubs, but not much happening here.

 

Down by the river, as always in South Luangwa, there where pools with hippos.

 

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We then stopped in a open place and under a big tree we stopped for lunch. We had a couple of chairs to rest in and som nice food. This was really lovely, having lunch out in the park and sitting out the hottest hours of the day in the shadow under a tree. I got to say, the lions are doing some things the right way. Arranging full day drives is something I will do more of in my future safari trips.

 

An African Jacana

 

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We than had a beautiful sighting. A herd of elephants coming down to the river to drink, with the sand banks lit up by the sun in the background. They also had a couple of small calves. Sweet.

 

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We drove along the banks of the Luangwa river. Watching the beautiful landscape and the wildlife. Here is a crocodile.

 

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Late in the afternoon we arrived at the river crossing point. A place where it is possible to drive through the river. Just as we came down in the river bed, a big male lion steps out behind som debris.

 

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He walked slowly down to a smal water pond. There we got some lovely shots of him.

 

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A puku on the other side of the river saw him and shouted a alarm, answered by another puku on this side of the river up on the river bank. The lion couldn't care less. He put his big head down to rest.

 

The puku on this side of the river was obviously not aware of the lion, and started to walk down to the river. Approaching the spot where the lion was. We could se this happing just in front of us. What is happing?

 

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Slowly the Puku got closer and closer. Very careful. I and Friday figured that the lion must be fully aware of the Puku approaching.

 

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And closer. What is that? A stone?

 

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Now the Puku is about 3 meters from the lion. Still not realizing what it is. The Puku let his eyes go of the lion and is just about to bend down to drink, when the lion just so slightly raises his head.

 

And the Puku explodes. I and Friday laughs out loud.

 

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The puku races away a few steps. He stops maybe 10 meters away. Looking back, wondering what was that. The puku and lion is absolutely still for about a minute, before the lion raises his head full up.

 

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Then, and first then, the very lucky Puku realizes that he just came very close to this very big lion. This must be the closes encounter for him ever. He runs away. I and Friday looks att each other and laughs. This was just great, and what a sighting. Before we continued we stopped in the river (the water was about 20-30 cm high) and took a photo of this hippo.

 

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On the long and very nice drive back, we came across some beautiful Kudus just as the sun set down.

 

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This was a very nice day. And full day drives is definitely my cup of tea.

Edited by Gregor
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The shot of the puku bouncing through the water (the fourth picture after it notices the lion) is brilliant.

I always admired Simon King, I guess they must be doing another doc there.

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@@Gregor some lovely photos of life along the river, and that puku was lucky the lion wasn't hungry.

 

Did Friday say what the BBC film crew were working on?

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Thank you. He sad they did follow the lion pride, but I didn´t get more details than that. The area they stay in is quite remote from the Mfuwe area, so there is no turists around. And the few camps in the area is closed except the one they had for them self. Before I left I saw the three films they made before from SLNP, Countdown to the rains. It was in a way an inspiration. But I didn´t really like it. I like it more when they follow a certain group of animals during a longer period (like big cat diary), then just showing a large number of different clips from an area in a short time period.

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Day 11, 17th November

 

In South Luangwa, at least when you stay as we did in one of the camp just close to the Luangwa bridge, you basically have two options. You drive south along the river or north. Inland I guess it is to dry and not much to see. If you don´t enter the park via the bridge, there is the option as we did yesterday, to go the public roads to the gate at Nesfu. But that is seldom done, as that requires a full day drive.

 

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This two weeks our findings/sightings and experience was that on the south side we found Leopards, actually all Leopard sightings was on the south side except some night-drive sightings. But on the south side it was more bush and much more tsetse flies, we got bitten quite a lot. On the north side we spotted most lions. Some on the south side to, but they were predominantly in the north. Maybe there is a correlation here, as I guess Leopards like to avoid lions. I do guess this was temporarily for just these weeks. Anyway, this morning we started out going south, choosing the leopards and tse-tse :) Friday told us that this leopard was in a tree, that is lika a home-tree to Leopards. They mark there scent there and it is very usual to find a Leopard in this tree.

 

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Here he is sniffing out the scent marks :)

 

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This day (and the following) was to be quite slow. For some reason, the activity in the park was less in all regards compared to the first week. I guess it is a natural fluctuation.

 

After lunch we decided to go north. Just before the sun set down we got a call from Peter (owner and guide of the T&T lodge) that he was further north were a lion pride just had killed a buffalo. He had tried to call us for an hour, he and the group he had in his car had followed the hunt the last hour. We drove there. Unfortunately it was all over. It was a feast for the lions, and quite a gore to see. Me and my mother hesitantly stayed to watch for a couple of minutes as Peter drove away. We talked about it, shall we to stay, or just watch a little more? They are just eating anyway, it is not so nice to see. Well, we stayed. And we did regret this decision..

 

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A lion cub approaching the pack eating the buffalo.

 

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Can someone leave some place for me. No?

 

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And this is I am reluctant to show you. So be warned, it is not nice.

 

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The buffalo was pregnant and the cub got hold of the fetus and start eating it.

 

This is a horribly sight. And It got to both me and my mother. We drove away silently with heavy hearths straight back to the lodge. Friday didn´t even ask if we should do a bit of night driving.

 

For some reason to see this was much more agony to see than the other kills. The first case was when a leopard killed a grown impala. It was so clean and natural, I had no problem with it. For me it was a fantastic photo opportunity. The second case was when the leopard cubs was playing around with an alive but injured baby-impala. It was a long hour to watch and the baby impala was crying. It touched our hearts. But I didn´t really feel bad afterwards, and during I had no problem focusing on my photography. This was different.

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@@Gregor Interesting comments on the buff kill and yet you could still take images. That is nature in its savage beauty and I find it fascinating. There is no way i would have asked the guide to leave this kill.

 

It is a gory sight but the last image is an exceptional behavioural shot.

 

Whilst there are some other nice images in your TR I especially like the 1st image in post #48 with the low angle point of view & closeness to the subject providing a feel for the power of lions.

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Powerful photos. I think I'd have a harder time watching the young impala that you describe, since it remained alive for so long, but I definitely understand your thoughts and appreciate their inclusion here.

 

Eager for more.

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