Eye to Eye With the Big Spotted Big Cat

For Bongi, one of the top trackers at Garonga Safari Co. in South Africa, there’s nothing quite as thrilling as sighting the elusive Panthera pardus, commonly known as the leopard. When asked where this fondness for the big spotted cat came from, the answer isn’t surprising. It sounds like leopards and Bongi have a lot in common.

“A leopard is like a person who does not like to argue,” says Bongi. “When it hunts and kills an animal, he drags it up into a tree to avoid challengers, like other predators. Its kill is safe up there. The leopard knows it has the ‘power’ to fight off certain predators, but it does not like to fight. That is why you will see — even if a leopard knows that it can win against a challenger — it will run away. Also, they are so beautiful!”

In Bongi’s five years at Garonga, he has come leopards on their turf away from the safety of a vehicle.

“One day I was on foot and was coming closer to a leopard that I did not know about. A young male, he had a kill and was standing his ground. He charged me, but not because he wanted to, because he was trying to protect his food. To show me he was only trying to protect his food, he ran back into thick bush and stood and watched me, so I slowly moved away.”