Day Eleven: August 20, Flight to Mala Mala and Afternoon Safari

Day Eleven: August 20: Flight to Mala Mala and afternoon safari

So far so good. Our  tour company; i-tours stood us up at the airport at Johannesburg, but no worries, we still found a reputable company to taxi us to our hotel. Gaye spent the evening sick (It was her turn I suppose. I was sick for three days in Kenya). And our flght to Sabi Sands went really well. So far so good and now we’re charging batteries and loading for leopard. Good news/bad news. Good news is there is a leopard mom and cub near the camp. Bad news is the wild dog pack and puppies have moved off the Mala Mala property so we won’t be able to photograph them.

Our first good leopard sighting of our trip.

This afternoon we went out in search of leopards. Along the way we took a few cute shots of ellies in the water and a little of this and that. A ranger found a two and a half year old female leopard so we headed over just before the light disappeared. She is beautiful! I only managed to take a handful of shots of her. I got one okay shot and one really good shot of her, so I am quite happy with this afternoon’s safari. Fingers crossed. I am really hoping to photograph my first leopard cub on this trip. I got some pretty good images of a mom and an eight month old cub in 2008, but that doesn't count. Eight month olds are practically full grown. They have lost their "cuteness" factor by then. There is one mom and cub not far from the camp, so hopefully we will be able to photograph them at some point.