Seeing Spots

44 Travel Africa Summer 2010 Summer 2010 Travel Africa 45

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Steve and Ann Toon are wildlife photographers and photojournalists with a specialist interest in conservation issues and southern Africa. Their first book, Rhinos, was published in 2002 by Colin Baxter. Their latest book, Giraffes, is out later this year.

here’s a storm coming! Ha ha ha.”

This is Daryl. He has this way of

ending every sentence with a chuckle –

it is as infectious as his enthusiasm for

everything. Don’t get him started on mice and frogs

though. They are his two greatest passions, if you

don’t count birds. He is the first person we’ve met

who uses two bird identification guidebooks at the

same time. Amazingly, the two books are identical.

He refers to one as ‘my bedside copy’. However, his

fervour for feathers is great for us – we notched up

a dozen new birds yesterday; they were all hard-to-

recognise species that we would normally struggle

to find, let alone identify.

Before his chuckle has even tailed off, Daryl

excitedly leaps onto the vehicle. Meanwhile,

we are rubbing the sleep from our eyes – it’s dark

and the other guests at Mountain Lodge are still

snug in their beds.

“Have you got your jersey, Bernard? Ha ha ha.”

He’s at it again – this time ribbing our tracker

because he’s wrapped up against the morning chill.

Yet the day will be another hot and humid one. It

was the same yesterday, hence Daryl’s quip about

the impending storm. It’s actually a running joke

now, because the rains have been forecast to hit

Maputaland for several days, yet the earth is still

bone dry and the grass is still bleached blond.

Although we’re keeping eyes peeled for two side-

striped jackals, which Daryl and Bernard spotted near

the airstrip recently, we’re on a different mission. This

isn’t your ordinary early morning wildlife drive.

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Veterans of the African bush, journalists Ann and Steve Toon join a specialist leopard-tracking safari in the heart of KwaZulu-Natal. Will it leave them seeing spots or licking their wounds?

spotsSeeing

46 Travel Africa Summer 2010

South Africa

Summer 2010 Travel Africa 47

just like the Lord of the Rings,” chuckles Daryl, pointing

out giant torchwood and tamboti trees and a 1000-

year-old Lebombo wattle. He shows us orchids that

grow on them, including, a pinhead orchid (Africa’s

smallest) and, fittingly, a leopard orchid. “That’s stink-

bushwillow,” he says. Some people say it smells like

perfume; others, obviously less impressed, believe its

odour resembles that of sweaty socks. Ha ha ha…”

“Hear that?” Daryl says suddenly. “It’s a Tonga red

squirrel. They’re special to see”. We finally spot the

squirrel launching itself from a low branch. This is a

first. We’ve been coming to South Africa for years and

didn’t even know they existed.

Now holding the aerial high above his head, Daryl

starts listening for signals. He explains that the project

started in 2002 partly because leopard viewing on

the reserve was then so poor. “The project has even

managed to change legislation in favour of leopards,”

he says. “This is a high rainfall area. The bush is thick

and there’s an abundance of prey, so we should have

one of the highest densities in South Africa.”

We hear a ‘blip’ above the crackles on the receiver.

“That’s a really good signal.” We’ve picked up one of

Ngaya’s grown-up cubs. He says it’s the one that’s

more relaxed around vehicles and we start getting

excited. Barnard, who’s been upfront on the tracker’s

seat, hushes us.

There are just the four of us, and we’re going at a

reasonable lick to make it to a particular part of the

reserve before sunrise. Our quarry is unlikely to hang

around if temperatures soar, so we head straight past

a herd of zebra, three beautiful nyala bulls and a lone

buffalo standing by a wallow…

There has been an important leopard research

project at Phinda Private Game Reserve in South Africa’s

KwaZulu-Natal province for several years now. We’re

on a specialist leopard-tracking safari that is linked to

this initiative. A number of the leopards in the project

are radio-collared, making it possible to track their

exact whereabouts on the reserve using telemetry.

And, if you’re very lucky, you can enter their world,

even in extremely thick bush, to observe their natural

behaviour up close.

Daryl Dell, who is specialist ranger at Phinda, has

been trained to use the same equipment the researchers

use to track the leopards, and he feeds back information

to the project’s staff about the sightings from the guided

leopard safaris. He explains that we’re now heading

for a part of the reserve where a female called Ngaya

traditionally hangs out. She has small cubs, but her

signal hasn’t been picked up for a while so she may

have wandered off the reserve. Her previous cubs (two

18-month-old males) are also radio-collared and it is

them we are on the trail of today.

We’ve been going for an hour, and already spiders’

webs straddling the road have twice netted Steve –

he is still picking off the strong, sticky strands from

his face and hair. I’m mesmerised by an iridescent bug

that’s hitched a ride with us and is now strolling around

on my camera bag.

At last we arrive in the sand forest, an extremely

rare habitat that is a special feature of the reserve. “It’s

It’s just like the Lord of the Rings,”

chuckles Daryl, pointing out giant

torchwood and tamboti trees and

a 1000-year-old Lebombo wattle

In 2002, when the Mun-Ya-Wana Leopard Project started in Phinda, leopard sightings were rare. Between 2000 and 2005, some 80 per cent of the CITES permits to hunt leopards in the region were granted to properties neighbouring or nearby the reserve. At the same time local cattle ranchers were applying for destruction permits to shoot ‘problem leopards’ that were believed to be taking their livestock. It was pretty much open season.

Working hand in hand with the state wildlife body, and by improving communication

with local farmers, the project has succeeded in turning things around: the whole process of destruction permits has been reviewed; sport hunting has been curbed; and there’s now only one CITES hunting permit each year for the area (out of five for the whole of KwaZulu-Natal). Leopard numbers have gone up from just five per hundred square kilometres to 13. Today as many as 50 use the reserve, and around 14 out of the 20 collared animals to date provide working signals for the researchers to learn more about their behaviour.

Leopard conservation

Top: Phinda specialist ranger Daryl Dell radiotracking leopard Second from top: Making tracks, the team rush to a leopard hotspot Second from bottom: Daryl Dell and tracker Bernard Mnguni looking for leopard spoor Bottom: Spot the difference: it’s not all about leopards at Phinda; Ann and Steve witness a thrilling cheetah chase

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“Can you hear that?”

We can. The repeated gruff bark is a nyala alarm call.

A high-pitched chorus of squawking spurfowl soon

follows it. We’ve only just pitched up and already our

leopard is not only tantalisingly close, it’s on the move,

stirring up the resident wildlife.

Daryl turns the vehicle in the direction of the signal

and we head up the sandy track, each of us staring

hard into the bush. As we get closer, a staff vehicle

comes along the other way and Daryl kindly pulls over

to let it pass. As soon as he does Steve yanks my arm

and Bernard points manically behind me. The crafty

young leopard is crossing the road right behind us!

It’s a good sighting, but the dense vegetation soon

swallows up the young male cat. Daryl can’t believe

it, and we sense he’s a bit miffed because he’s the only

one who didn’t see him. We immediately christen

the leopard Sneaky, and set off following his signal

for a better view.

This isn’t successful. The signal gets stronger, but

the bush gets thicker and the buffalo thorns become

fiercer. It’s hard to find a way through, even when

hacking through it with a panga (machete). After more

than an hour of it, with all the debris we’ve picked

up, the 4WD looks more like a lumber truck. To boot,

our hair is plaited with thorns and we’re in such a

remote spot the guy who’s bringing our breakfast has

radioed to say he’s been lost twice. Sneaky’s signal

is frustratingly clear, but it’s definitely round two to

him. The bush here is impenetrable and our leopard’s

resting up in the thickest part. We agree to come back

late afternoon and try again.

Just after breakfast, we pick up the signal of

Sneaky’s brother at a nearby waterhole. He may be

close, but he is also a no-show, despite clear tracks,

traces of a recent kill and evidence of hyenas having

scavenged near his kill site.

Meanwhile, we are rubbing the

sleep from our eyes – it’s dark and

the other guests at Mountain Lodge

are still snug in their beds

It’s 5.30pm and we’re back staking out Sneaky’s

hideout. Our vehicle is once more strewn with thorn

branches, and our crumpled clothes are covered in wood

dust. The silence is eerie, until Daryl hears the call of

a puffback bird. We’ve got the same strong signal as

before, so our leopard is still holed up in his lair. We’re

literally inches away from him, but we can’t see a thing.

It’s getting cooler, which increases the odds of him

making a move, so we decide to wait it out.

After what seems like an age, a grazing nyala bull

approaches our vehicle. Totally unfazed by us, he’s

moving dangerously close to Sneaky’s doorstep. Surely

our leopard will make a move now?

The next thing I know there is a slight rustle followed

by the grunt of a male baboon. Clearly distracted and

out of sorts, I fail to see Bernard who is frantically

trying to show me something on a termite mound

some distance away. I panic because everyone else can

clearly see Sneaky, who has emerged from his resting

place in pursuit of the nyala. There he is! I can see him

crouching low on the mound with his back to us. There

is something about his confident, crouching posture

that makes the hairs on the back of my neck prickle.

The only humans here, we watch this stealthy

predator stalking his prey through the still forest. He

slinks along low to the ground, with graceful muscular

movements and his long tail looping. We can’t believe it,

but the nyala still hasn’t seen him. I’m desperate for him

to turn and look at us so we can look into his eyes.

Below: Specialist safaris allow visitors to gain more detailed knowledge of certain species that they have an interest in (in this case leopards). Of course, while you’re in the bush tracking your species of choice, you can’t help but come face to face with other memorable wildlife

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We’ve seen lots of leopards in our time, but this

guy’s something else: he’s given us the runaround; he’s

made us work for these moments, and he’s remained

completely aloof despite our uninvited presence on his

turf. Suddenly though, we’re reminded he is still just a

big kid. In his short 18 months of life he hasn’t quite yet

learned the hunting skills to outwit a mature nyala bull.

The antelope has now cottoned on to his presence and is

making distinct alarm calls from a safe distance.

We continue to follow Sneaky as he prowls the forest

floor until it’s quite dark. Eventually we’re forced to go

back to the lodge. The next morning, despite endless

searching, we can’t even pick up his signal, never mind

catch sight of him again. We’re sad not to know the next

chapter in his story, but picking up a signal from his

mother’s collar buoys us. Daryl thinks she might have

brought the new cubs back into the reserve.

“Fancy some more bundu-bashing, guys? Ha ha ha,”

he asks, careering off the road and into thick bush. “We’d

better be quick though as there’s a storm coming. Ha ha

ha.” Right on cue, fat raindrops start to spatter our faces.

We’d look up and laugh, but yet another assault by acacia

thorns forces us to duck and dive. Here we gladly go again…

How long will you need?Ideally you’ll need two to three nights for a specialist leopard safari. Daryl Dell, specialist ranger at Phinda, says they rarely go more than two days without seeing one. We stayed for three nights and had three leopard encounters.

Are specialist safaris for you? A specialist safari is great for people with a particular interest in wildlife or conservation, or those who have been on safari before and want to learn more, experiencing the African bush in more depth. Other tailor-made specialist safaris offered at Phinda include ‘Bush Skills’, ‘Birding’, ‘Photography’ and ‘7 Wonders in 7 Days’, an extended trip exploring

the seven different habitats on the reserve.

What else will I see? Phinda has the Big Five and is well known for its cheetah sightings. After the leopard encounters, one of the highlights of our visit was observing a spectacular cheetah chase in which a young impala fell prey. If you’re in the area between November and the end of February, you can also arrange to go turtle-watching on the shores of the Indian Ocean – Phinda is on the doorstep of the rich iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

What else can I do? As a change from wildlife watching we’d recommend a guided

local community visit. We visited nearby Nkomo primary school, Mduku clinic, Mbhedula craft market and Mduku digital technology centre, all of which receive financial

and practical support from the &Beyond Foundation, a not-for-profit community empowerment organisation supported by the company’s business partners and guests.

Find out moreMore information about the specialist leopard-tracking safaris at Phinda Private Game Reserve can be found at www.andbeyondafrica.com/specialist_safaris.

Toon’s tips

Above: A visit to the Nkomo primary school can put a little extra spring in your step

Totally unfazed by us, he’s

moving dangerously close to

the leopard’s doorstep. Surely

our cat will make a move now…

Sneaky may sport a radio collar, but finding him is still no easy task

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