A magnificent day in the bush comes to an end.

The African sun still blazes on our skin.

A crescendo of colours, creating one last performance before it hides behind the earth.

Suddenly, our ranger stops.

Straining his ears as the creatures of the bush whisper gently.

From the recesses of my memory the word comes to me… leopard!

Worlds famous Sabi Sands
The Sabi Sands Game Reserve is situated in the south-west of South Africa’s Kruger National Park on the Sabie river. It is famous for its spectacular leopards sightings, who are some of the most relaxed in the world around safari vehicles. 

The history of the leopards
The first to be viewed was known as „the Mother“. In, 1972 the filmmakers John Varty and Elmon Mhlongo spent years of their lives following this female, documenting her movements and trials through film, which resulted in the first documentary of its kind: „The Silent Hunter“. „The Mother“ was the first of a long line of leopards in the reserve who have passed on their tolerance of people through the generations. Through careful habituation of the Mother Leopard’s cubs to the presence of safari vehicles the reserve has enjoyed generations of almost unrivalled Leopard viewings.

As far as the eye can see
In 2017, Panthera and Singita partnered unterdaking a camera trap survey. They photographed a total of 22 individual cats on 160 separate occasions. 43 other species were also photographed, including some more elusive animals like aardvark and Meller’s mongoose. Upon comparison of these figures with previous studies, it has been established that with 12.2 leopards per 100 km2, the Sabi Sand has the highest number of leopards of any protected area surveyed in South Africa.

Conservation at its best
The Sabi Sands has strict regulations at animal sightings that are controlled by the guides who have radio contact with each other. Through years of habituation and careful game viewing, the normally shy and elusive leopards as well as other big cats such as the lions have now become almost oblivious to the game viewers and this attitude has been passed on through the generations and will hopefully pass on to many more.