Skip to content

... and then I saw this silhouette

It was a completely normal game drive, with new guests, the first trip into the bush, and it was an afternoon with a beautiful setting sun. Alasdair, Rhulani’s head ranger, wanted to create a "wow" effect right from the start, so he got out of the vehicle to search for lions on foot across rough terrain, as he had discovered footprints of them on the road. And then something completely unexpected happened.

Alasdair tells us: “My guests were a family from Brazil and a family from South Africa, and they both said to me they wanted to see a leopard.

When I saw the lion tracks and I decided to follow them. I was walking, and walking and walking, and then, all of a sudden, in the distance I see this silhouette in the tree and I was like ‘nooooo ways!”. It was a leopard!

20240817173532 IMG 7528

So I walked back to the car, started the engine and somehow I slithered through the bushes. And we arrived there, and it was true. There was a leopard in the middle, of the tree!

I went like mad, like crazy! That is the most awesome thing in the world. It's been ages since I've tracked a leopard on foot, but now to find one by accident, while tracking lions, was just incredible!

Related articles

  • Life of a Ranger: Bushbuck baby
    Life of a Ranger: Bushbuck baby
    | Rhulani Safari Lodge
    Did you know that a bushbuck family has been calling Rhulani home for some time now, and they're regularly having babies, much to the delight of our guests? Rhulani's head guide, Alasdair, introduces ...
  • Rhulani Minute Safari - Steenboks in the high grass
    Rhulani Minute Safari - Steenboks in the high grass
    | Rhulani Safari Lodge
    Steenboks, one of the smallest antelope species, are rarely seen in the high grass, but we spotted them anyway. These animals, who live in monogamous pairs, are protected from predators and find food ...
  • Rhulani bush stories: The lions and the rock monitor
    Rhulani bush stories: The lions and the rock monitor
    | Rhulani Safari Lodge
    "The bush always holds new surprises," says Rhulani's head ranger Alasdair, as he was actually looking at the lions and their cubs when he heard a strange hissing. This led to a hilarious encounter be...
  • Rhulani Minute Safari - The hump of the giraffe's neck
    Rhulani Minute Safari - The hump of the giraffe's neck
    | Rhulani Safari Lodge
    The “hump” you see at the base of a giraffe’s neck is actually a distinct anatomical feature, not just a random bulge. It essentially acts like a “biological crane support.” It compensates for the eno...
  • Rhulani bush stories: A massive leopard
    Rhulani bush stories: A massive leopard
    | Rhulani Safari Lodge
    "That was a gigantic leopard, the biggest I've ever seen, almost as big as a lion," says Rhulani's field guide Willem, upon seeing this big cat high up on the rock at Ambush Alley, which later reveale...
  • Life of a Ranger: Wild dog killing machine
    Life of a Ranger: Wild dog killing machine
    | Rhulani Safari Lodge
    Did you know that wild dogs in packs are among the most successful hunters in the African wilderness, tearing their prey to pieces and devouring it whole within minutes? Rhulani's ranger, Willem, show...