Final Game Drives

Our 3 nights (6 game drives) have come to an end. Although sad to be leaving, we think 3 nights was perfect.

In an earlier blog, we mentioned that Sabi Sands is known for leopards and that was one of the reasons we decided to come back to Inyati. Being known for leopards does not mean that they are easy to track. It took the morning and evening drives on the first day to find the female with her cub (they called the mom Khokovela).

Gabriel/Cliff talked about a magnificent male leopard (called Ravenscourt) so that became their focus for our last few drives. Ravenscourt’s territory is large, he has well-camouflaged fur, and he is elusive, even more so than the females. A very difficult animal to track.

A few more details before we answer the question “did we see Ravenscourt?”. We asked how the leopards were named – Gabriel explained that the guide/tracker who first sees the cub gets to name it. It seemed that they only named the leopards. Gabriel explained that the male leopard is a solitary animal and only associates with the females in the mating season (unlike the lion who we would see with his pride). Leopards fighting is typically limited to defending territories from intruders which is why they do not have the scars that we see on the lions.

Now back to tracking Ravenscourt – it was our last game drive – Cliff and another tracker from a neighbouring safari lodge started tracking on foot as a last resort. It was music to our ears when we heard Gabriel on the radio saying “great job guys”. Five to ten minutes later, Cliff appeared from the bush with a big smile on his face.

Cliff guided us to Ravenscourt – as you can see Ravenscourt was fast asleep deep in the thicket (and he was well-camouflaged). Getting the two vehicles near Ravenscourt was difficult. The other vehicle, whose tracker helped find Ravenscourt, watched him sleep for about 5 minutes and then headed off…but not us…Cliff was sure Ravenscourt would soon wake up.

We stayed for an extended time, just our vehicle, admiring this magnificent animal – thank you Gabriel and Cliff.

This was such a special way to end our time at Inyati. Just a few pictures of the Inyati grounds as we close off our Inyati blogs.