Before departing on this evening’s night drive, I was told that the guests from the last tour reservation accepted that day would like to see a leopard (hopefully in the singular). I commented somewhat “tongue in cheek”, “Gee” they are easy to please”, as leopard are totally unpredictable. The caller was used to these comments from me, as this type of banter was typical of our conversations from time to time. So when the moment of arrived for our night drive, we departed with a vehicle brimming with flasks, hot chocolate and rusks*. After collecting all and sundry we headed towards the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, under the cover of darkness.
Chameleons and bushbuck were plentiful – cold – and warm-blooded critters. In fact, after a sprinkling of rain there are always plenty of animals. Even the nightjars were 20 to the dozen, and although there was no moonlight for them to hunt moths, they seemed fairly optimistic at the potential of the clouds clearing and moonlight re-appearing to aid their feeding. We had just listened to a chorus of frogs, when we happened upon a very large leopard. When locating animals there is a certain predictability, the location and plant life attracts certain animals, or there are traces of their activity – like droppings or feeding evidence. Leopards are unpredictable. One moment you are bouncing along in the vehicle, and the next minute you have this remarkable beast in your spotlight. In this particular incidence it was a very large and well-proportioned cat. “Leopard, leopard” was the call from those in the vehicle, which brought us to a dead stop. Since this male was close to the road and definitely out on a hunt, it was a great sighting. In that moment I had a lot of very pleased guests. This particular male was fairly relaxed, and we managed to follow him a short distance. After leaving this spotted cat we turned onto the Cape Vidal tar road and headed north.
Now, one of the nice things about our resident population of buffalo is that they can be regularly found resting in the road at night. This is what happens when you are a ruminant, (A ruminant is an even-toed, hoofed, four-legged mammal that eats grass and other plants). You tend to lie down and start regurgitating grass with no due concern to the possible presence of night traffic. We see this often on tar roads in the reserve, as there are few ticks or bugs on the road, and it is possible for the adults to watch out for potential predators.
When finding buffalo on the road like this, they are often reluctant to move. So, barely 200m North along the Cape Vidal road I noticed a ‘line of eyes’ across our path, with what looked to be a herd of buffalo. So, gaining a little speed I flicked off the engine and glided up to what I predicted was the herd of buffalo, but when we closed the distance, five hyenas filled the road. This pack seemed to be going nowhere. And at that moment I almost expected them to walk up to the vehicle and demand. “Passports and driver’s license please!”. This was the first time that I had seen five hyenas in the park on the road. Later we did find a herd of buffalo standing in the road, so I was redeemed by the buffalo and educated by encountering this new pack of hyena.
This excerpt is from Kian Barkers chronicles (owner of ShakaBarker and Eco Lodge.)
*Rusks (a light, dry biscuit or piece of twice-baked bread, traditionally South African eaten with coffee or tea and sometimes hot chocolate). These are a totally foreign concept to Germans as is cricket. Shoving a rusk into a cup of hot chocolate … well this habit is only permissible in South Africa. Never try this with a slice of bread and God forbid a Marie Biscuit.
Tourism Tails 