*A version of this article originally appeared in the July 2024 Bush Telegraph newsletter. You can read our recent newsletters and sign-up to receive these in your inbox on our Bush Telegraph newsletter page.
One of the joys of our work is hearing about the amazing wildlife encounters our travellers experience. Recently, we heard an encounter that most of us can only dream of.
In May, Norbert Berndt visited Lebala Camp in Botswana’s Kwando-Linyanti area, and had an incredible encounter with two leopards – a father and son – and captured some phenomenal photos (all images courtesy of Norbert Berndt):
“This was our second visit to Lebala Camp. Two and a half years ago, this camp was about mating lions, but this time we were rewarded by an experience that we won’t forget.
As everybody who has been to Africa knows, leopards are very shy and elusive, so they are difficult to find and see. Thus, to see one leopard is almost always a highlight of any safari. But to see two at the same time is exceptional.
Elvis and Hakim (our guide and our tracker) found the leopards’ tracks just shortly after embarking on our morning game drive. We eventually spotted them 2km away from camp, hiding in dense bushes, about 30 meters apart. They were growling and not looking very happy. Our guides explained that they were arguing about their territory.
We watched these two (a father and son – I called them ‘Senior’ and ‘Junior’) for three and a half hours, starting at around 7am. They started walking slowly in parallel, increasing the distance between each other for about 90 minutes. Then something changed their minds, and they kept walking in parallel but now decreasing the distance between each other. During all of this they sat or lay down numerous times to think about what to do next, or so it seemed. After about three hours, I had them both in one frame. Now they were almost running when, all of a sudden they attacked each other. What followed was a brutal fight of almost a quarter of an hour.
For most of the time it looked like Junior would have the upper hand, but eventually Senior turned the tables and towered over his son, who lay there defeated.
We were literally shaking for fears that one of them would die. But, as it turned out, both of them were wounded, but not seriously. According to Elvis their injuries would heal quickly. He told us that if lions were caught up in a fight like this it would be much more brutal and probably end fatally for one of the combatants, but leopards, being solitary, are more hesitant to cause or receive serious injuries, because that would increase the risk of starving to death.
I think we witnessed something that even very few professional photographers or filmmakers get to see during their lifetime. We have to thank our dedicated guide and tracker for finding these two cats in almost impassable terrain.”
