The joy of exploring national parks on a self-drive safari lies in never knowing what you might see next. One moment, you’re following a slow-moving elephant, and the next, one of Africa’s most sought-after species photobombs your shot.
David Turner shared this surprising footage with Latest Sightings. He filmed it while visiting South Africa’s Kruger National Park.
Slow going
It is slow going as we join David at his sighting. Ambling down the road ahead of her, a massive bull elephant is holding up traffic.
As you can imagine, since elephant bulls weigh up to six tons, there is not much you can do but try to enjoy the view. It’s also worth mentioning that in Africa’s national parks, wildlife always has the right of way.
In-built cooling
With the midday sun beating down, it gets hot in Kruger, with summer temperatures exceeding 40 degrees centigrade. Since elephants cannot sweat, they flap their large ears, cooling the blood that passes through them.
Further cooling is achieved through frequent bathing. Afterwards, water trapped in their wrinkles helps moisturise their skin.
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Sudden appearance
Suddenly, a blur of motion to the right of the elephant catches our eye. Immediately, we recognise the distinctive markings of another member of the Big Five.
It is a leopard, its rosetted coat nearly rendering it invisible against the surrounding vegetation. Its appearance is so unexpected that David doesn’t even react.
This reminds us why it is so important to drive slowly in Kruger. Not only might you miss a sighting, but you might also accidentally hit an animal if it runs across the road.
Running onto the road, the predator’s attention is focused on the vehicles further down the road. Although they are used to vehicles, leopards are, by nature, secretive creatures that prefer to stay out of sight.
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Unfazed
As for the elephant, he is completely unfazed by the leopard’s sudden dash across his path. As you can imagine, leopards pose no threat to the world’s largest land mammal.
Likewise, the leopard has no interest in the elephant. In some cases, like when they have young nearby, elephants might chase leopards, simply because they smell like predators.
In a flash, the leopard is over the road and disappears into the dense roadside vegetation.
Work crew visible
As it does, the elephant veers to the left, revealing several people walking in the background. These are park employees, performing some habitat management tasks.
To ensure they are visible from a distance to both motorists and wildlife, they wear bright yellow jackets. By and large, animals avoid humans on foot.
And that may explain why the bull follows the leopard into the bush as they come into view.
