Leopards of South Africa’s Kruger National Park

I'll share with you now my most impressive photos.

On a trip to South Africa I visited Kruger National Park. I've actually been there on two separate trips. This place is so awesome and unique it was worthy of a second stop when I was visiting nearby Zimbabwe. It didn't disappoint the second time.

Kruger National Park is huge. You can take a guided tour through the park or you can self-drive. Given those options I will almost always self drive as I did here. Driving alone allows more freedom to explore and more privacy with nature.

Driving through the park is a bit like fishing. You can go some time without seeing anything, then you spot a great siting and bam, you caught one! That's how I viewed it. Some animals were more difficult to spot than others. The big cats were usually the most difficult to spot.

This post I will focus on one particular cat, the leopard. I have a hard time distinguishing between a leopard and a cheetah. They look so similar to me. I learned one of the things to help distinguish is their habitat. The leopard can climb trees but the cheetah cannot. The cheetah just doesn't have the claws for it.

I was very lucky in my travels through the park. I got some amazing photos. I'll share them with you now.

This was a rare shot of a leopard perched high in a tree surveying his prey. I was so fortunate to see this!

How cool is that!?

I thought at the time this would be the best viewing of a leopard on this trip. They are so hard to spot. But I was wrong! I actually was lucky enough to see a leopard with his prey.

The following photos are a bit more graphic. Unfortunately they are not as clear as the ones above. They're probably better viewed on a laptop vs a phone for the bigger image,

The first time I drove by this tree I only saw this dead deer hanging from it. It was a big curiosity for me as I had never seen anything like this before.

I took a few pictures but nothing was happening so I drove away perplexed. But the curiosity was too much and it warranted a second visit. About 30 minutes later I returned and the puzzling question was answered!

The victor returned to his prey. The leopard had dragged the deer up the tree! What a powerful animal. I wish I had caught him in the act!

But why? Why would he go through all that trouble to drag him up a tree?

As I sat there and watched from my car the answer became transparent.

Because of these scavenger hunters. The hyena.

Enjoy the videos of these freeloaders circling the tree as the leopard guards his dinner.

These pictures, although not high in quality, are likely the best I've taken on any trip anywhere. I say that because of their uniqueness. It may be more impressive to photo the Devil's Throat at Iguazu Falls in Argentina, but that's always there and can be filmed again. This scene cannot be recaptured, at least by me in my lifetime.

The Lions of Kruger National Park

This is a continuation of my series documenting the Big 5 at Kruger National Park. The Big 5 include the 5 most dangerous animals that have historically been hunted in the African jungles.

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The Lion, the King of the jungle! Perhaps the scariest of the Big 5? But for me it is the elephant. I mean, after grabbing a tiger by the tail, why would I fear this kitty kat?:

https://www.kirkstravelstories.com/post/i-ve-got-a-tiger-by-the-tail

These were among the most difficult to spot at Kruger National Park. All these photos were taken during my first visit to the park. My second visit I think I only had one encounter.

It's unfortunate I didn't have these Lion sitings during my second visit as my iPhone camera was greatly upgraded by then. I don’t recall which phone model camera I had for this trip, but it's obvious the resolution was not that great.

Regardless, here are some of the best photos of lions I got on this trip:

The lions were always traveling with others in a pride. The females outnumber the males in most prides. They have to since they do all the work! They are the principle hunters of the pride as well as care to the young. The male lion's life seems to be a good one!

I rarely saw much activity from them. Would have loved to seen a good hunt on their part. There were plenty of zebras they could feast on there.

Lions actually are helpful to the environment. By hunting zebra and wilderbeasts, they prevent overpopulation of these herbivores. Too many plant eating animals wipe out the food source and leads to starvation to all who rely on the green stuff.

Lions actually sleep up to 20 hours per day. They typically do their hunting at night. Likely the reason I never saw many while there.

Looks like a mirror image doesn't it?

There are only around 20,000 of these magnificent beasts today. There were likely hundreds of thousands before European settlers came. Not only has hunting diminished their numbers, but also the loss of natural habitat.

I see the same thing play out in my Florida neighborhood. As more and more land is cleared for buildings, the bear in particular are more visible in populated neighborhoods. They simply don't have food in their limited habitat and resort to garbage hunts instead.

I'm happy to see game preserves be the source of their habitats rather than zoos. Kruger National Park in South Africa is a rare gem

This was an early morning shot. My first encounter of my second day in the park. It is common for lions to claw trees to sharpen their claws. It keeps them pointy not only for hunting, but also for tree climbing

I was lucky to find a Lion so photogenic!

I saw these just after the entrance to the park that second morning. What a great treat! Never got a better shot of them after that morning. Not only do they own the jungle, but the road too. It didn't seem to bother them at all with the cars by their side.

These are really impressive animals to watch in the wild. Although I never saw them perform anything spectacular, just being in their presence was a huge treat.

But, I can tell you, I would never dare to grab a Lion by the tail like I did the tiger. Not even in a "controlled" environment.

The Rhinoceros of Kruger National Park

I find the Rhinoceros to be the most impressive of the Big 5 animals simply because of the ruggedness and unique shape of their bodies. Like the elephant, they made me a little nervous to be close to, even in my rental car. They far outweighed and out muscled my compact car and I am sure they could easily flip it over if they desired.

However, they seemed such a peaceful creature I'm unsure why I was nervous. They never made any aggressive moves even though I had a close encounter with one as I posted here:

https://www.kirkstravelstories.com/post/south-africa-dangers-part-1-rhino-crossing-in-south-africa

This post documented one crazy encounter I had with this amazing animal.

But most my encounters were from afar:

The Rhino likes to hang around water. Not only for drinking but to stay cool in the hot African sun. They can be found wallowing in mud also to stay cool and to keep the parasites and bugs off of them.

Rhino sitings in the park were special to me simply because they were not abundant. I would drive for most of the day in the park, starting from the early morning opening time, and I would be fortunate if I had two sitings. But maybe because I didn't always know where to look.

There are black and white Rhinos in the park, but good luck trying to identify them. That's because they are the same color! The terms black and white is in reference to the mouths. The wider (whiter) mouth of the white Rhino as opposed to the hooked mouth of the black. Really the color terms mean nothing at all in terms of actual color.

The Rhino is an herbivore so they can often be found grazing. It's amazing to me they get to be this size and strength without ample amounts of meaty protein in their diet. The adults can weigh in excess of 2,000 pounds. I wonder what they eat when they go on a diet? No keto for them!

Although some carnivorous animals are known to attack small Rhinos for food, by a large margin the biggest predator is man. Poachers are lured by the horn of this magnificent creature.

The horn is made of keratin, the same thing in your nails, but somehow there is a belief it has some strange medicinal purposes. Additionally, it is used to make daggers in some cultures. The appeal of this horn has been the source of the diminished numbers of these animals.

The Black Rhino is now considered to be critically endangered while the White species is merely threatened, there are an estimated only 3,000 Black Rhinos left on the planet while there are approximately 15,000 White Rhinos.

I feel quite fortunate to be among these incredible animals in their natural habitat. It is a humbling experience to see these majestic creatures up close in a personal experience.