Limpopo-Lipadi Blog

This month sees a special feature on Limpopo-Lipadi's leopards published in International Lifestyle Magazine. ILM focuses on positive lifestyle choices from around the globe and features inspirational people alongside great design and photography.

Our feature spans four whole pages and looks amazing, whether viewed in their online publication, in the print issue, or just a standalone PDF (download from our website now)!

Share the link with friends around the world!

The leopard identification project has got off to a great start and we now have identification tips for three of our resident leopards - like those shown in the images in this blog. Shareholders can view the whole guide online and download a copy if desired.

Maya has been so named as this seems to be an easily remembered shortening of "tsamaya tlasa" which is Setawana for "walk under" in reference to her habit of passing extremely close to the viewing hide at Mogorosi including passing right beneath while shareholders are sat inside!

Shareholders and other visitors to Limpopo-Lipadi will know what a great place it is becoming for fantastic sightings of leopards. Some short-stay guests have averaged more than one a day and shareholders staying at the reserve for a month recently had a dozen sightings of thirteen animals! The regularity of encounters now makes it possible for us to begin an ambitious project to try and identify each individual leopard and learn more about it, such as where it holds territory. To help us achieve this are welcoming the active involvement of shareholders! Read on to find out more from Anton Kruger, who has suggested this project, about why we are doing this and how you can get involved.

Shareholders will be excited to hear that the waterhole regeneration programme continues apace and this month has seen work at Mbusi. The new pool is located a little to the southwest of the old trough but remains within view of the hide (as well as being sited perfectly for potential future hide developments). Feedback from shareholders has been used to create a reasonable size pool with an irregular outline to better mimic a natural waterhole. The low profile and coloured concrete mixture means it blends in very well with the surrounding soil and I'm sure all will agree this represents a major improvement on what went before.

Since the trail camera arrived on the reserve we have all been waiting for it to capture a leopard. Amazingly despite the numbers on Limpopo-Lipadi and the frequency with which they are seen by our shareholders they have remained strangely hard to catch on the trail camera. But finally this week they have showed themselves. And yes, that is plural for there was not just one but two leopards catch on the camera at Mbusi!

Leopards are my favourite creature: their stealth, adaptability and beauty is only enhanced by their frequent shyness and the challenge they present to those wishing to see them. This year has been a remarkable time for seeing leopards on Limpopo-Lipadi. What follows is our own personal story of the sightings we had during our month-long stay in September 2010. Although despite the wonderful tales and photographs found on the site we should remember that the majority of visitors to African reserves never see a leopard. The quality of viewing on Limpopo-Lipadi is just another facet of the superb wildlife experience available to shareholders in this unique project.

It is overcast today and a little cool, a huge cold front must have moved across South Africa and extended into Botswana. So we decided to skip our morning game drive and relax a bit at our River Camp accommodation, home for most of the last 5 weeks (with a 10 days break, while camping at Okavango and Savuti), during our vacation in Botswana. This is a good time to reflect a bit on our Limpopo-Lipadi stay and share with you some of the exciting moments we have been fortunate enough to witness.