A recent once-in-a-lifetime leopard sighting has led to both amazement and horror among Kruger lovers.
A collection of photos and videos posted on Kruger Sightings by Rianne van den Berg on August 20 showed a leopard curiously approaching their car, getting onto its bonnet, seemingly investigating what it saw inside, and then getting onto the roof, where it made itself comfortable.
The comment sections of the posts were a combination of jealous onlookers wishing they could have been the ones to experience such a rare up-close sighting, and nature lovers who condemned the interaction, saying it was unnatural.
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Some concerns were that the animal is always the one to bear the consequences should something go wrong.
“We have been coming to the Kruger National Park [KNP] for 20 years with pleasure to see the nature and animals,” Van den Berg told Lowvelder.
“This amazing moment happened on the Satara Road, the S147, and it was the first time for us to experience something so amazing and an incredible happening that you have only once in your life.”
When asked whether she wanted to weigh in on the discussion her posts had sparked, she declined.
Lowvelder approached the KNP for comment about this rare occurrence, asking what they would suggest a visitor do in such an incident.
The Kruger’s large mammal ecologist, Dr Sam Ferreira, admitted this was a strange one. “Firstly, such a leopard so habituated to vehicles and people could pose potential risks to their safety. When wild animals have lost their fear of people, they become very dangerous.
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“I notice in the bottom left corner [of one of the photos] that the leopard showed quite a bit of interest in whatever was behind the windscreen, presumably a person, which suggests the loss of fear for people.
“Secondly, the response is difficult. I noticed the people closed the windows. That is good to immediately ensure safety. Thirdly, I also noticed that the vehicle had space to move and could perhaps reverse as soon as the indications were of a potential interaction with it. Note that leopards do make use of vantage points in the landscape that place them higher than the surroundings to scan everything.”
At the time, it was unclear where the photos had been taken, but Ferreira said, “SANParks should monitor this and perhaps intervene if the safety of the public is challenged using the damage-causing and problem animal protocols.”
