Leo Vantage Private Guided Safaris

14/02/2025

Leopards were way harder to find than usual during the heatwave last week. At least our early morning tracking efforts paid off before the temperature soared.

This stunning female 🐆 decided to momentarily rest in the shade, naturally framed by two giant leadwood branches, creating another breathtaking Kruger scene.

📍 Timbavati road, S39.

13/02/2025

A precious pack of endangered painted dogs go about their early morning business on one of Kruger's main tar roads uninterrupted with no other vehicles in sight.

They pause here momentarily to investigate the scents of a spotted hyena midden. The mighty Olifants River Valley looms below and creates a breathtaking setting.

This is the only place on earth where such a scene is possible, Kruger you beauty! What a privilege to share this special sighting with guests who have become good friends.

15/01/2025

A spotted eagle owl peeking out of the darkness with its insect prey. The night drive back to camp often delivers interesting and unusual sightings. This super relaxed owl was such a nice surprise.

In this case, the hunter became the hunted when the nocturnal predatory katydid became a meal for the owl. This family of katydids are voracious predators in their own right, mostly of other large insects.

23/12/2024

It's that magical time of year when temporary summer pans are full and many nomadic or migrant birds have just arrived back in the Greater Kruger region. They are here to take advantage of the waterlogged habitat for the abundant food source, with some of them utilizing the opportunity to breed in the region.

The first picture is a dwarf bittern performing the well-known "bittern posture." They don't like being in the open, and when threatened or alarmed, they stand motionless with their neck outstretched and beak pointing skyward.

The second picture is a beautiful female greater painted snipe. They are polyandrous, which means a female will mate with many males, and the male performs most if not all of the parental care.

08/12/2024

We came across this big male leopard resting on a hot November afternoon. He looked like he really needed a meal, so we decided to wait and see what would transpire.

Eventually, he walked over to a nearby burrow and began digging and trying to pull out what we assumed was a large prey species. Leopards and lions are well known for showing immense strength and pulling large warthogs out of their burrows, but this sighting was a little different. Sometimes a decent meal is hard to come by for a powerful big cat, even when the prey is already dead!

Our "most likely" theory is that a warthog died of natural causes in the burrow and somehow got stuck in there, making it impossible for the leopard to extract. Any other theories will be welcomed in the comments.

We came across this big male leopard resting on a hot November afternoon. He looked like he really needed a meal, so we decided to wait and see what would tr...

26/11/2024

An imposing stare along with the customary fresh battle scars of a dominant male lion. This was definitely a moment to haul out the long lense and frame a tight portrait of one of the magnificent Lower Sabie males 🦁 .

23/11/2024

An intimidating beast of a male leopard sporting a sizeable dewlap accentuated by some evening rim light. He is the dominant male 🐆 of the Ntandanyathi area, southeast of Lower Sabie.

21/11/2024

A golden November sunrise spent with this dignified veteran lioness from the Lubyelubye pride.

She had a solemn expression on her face as she contemplated what the new day would bring along the Sabie River.

13/09/2024

A very satisfied looking Verreaux's eagle owl with the remains of a scrub hare kill from the night before. We were so lucky that this majestic owl decided to roost in such a visible position as they will often retreat for the day high up in the leafy canopy of a large tree.

12/09/2024

An impressive duo of big boys from the north, these 2 are known as the Grootvlei or "Shingwedzi" males and control the Kanniedood pride east of Shingwedzi Camp. They are thriving at the moment due to the dry conditions and lots of weaker prey to choose from. Huge numbers of herbivores are being drawn into their territory to the remaining pools along the river, searching for water.

12/09/2024

We shared an unforgettable 2 days of sightings with this beautiful young female leopard near Shingwedzi Camp in the Kruger National Park.

She took down a large adult impala ewe on a windy day and dragged it to the base of a big mopane tree where she wanted to hoist it to safety. What followed was a truly fascinating study of leopard behavior. It was especially interesting watching the youngster trying to solve her problem while figuring out how to become the ultimate leopard.

We are SO happy that we could experience this sighting of a lifetime with our repeat American guests Andy & Audrey on their 8th Safari to Africa, along with their niece and nephew on their first ever Safari. What a sighting to witness on your first Safari, Emily and Michael! Patience is always rewarded in the bush 🐆🐾.

Check out the full video on You Tube by clicking on the link below.

We shared an unforgettable 2 days of sightings with this beautiful young female leopard near Shingwedzi Camp in the Kruger National Park. She is approximatel...

11/09/2024

A rare sighting of a roan antelope moving out of its comfort zone deep in the mopani's and searching for water in the Shingwedzi riverbed where elephants had been digging. A breathtaking dry season setting framed by a fever tree that towers over the roan and even a thirsty kori bustard in the background.

It is extremely dry up north in KNP, dry cycles are needed to clean up the eco system and also present some unique game viewing opportunities. We have never seen a roan antelope in the same frame as a fever tree before!!

16/08/2024

A grey heron that was a complete show off, taunting a hungry hamerkop with a freshly caught platanna 🤣.

08/07/2024

The seasoned old Ngotso lionesses recently took down an adult giraffe to feed their cubs without the help of the Balule males! Respect to these beautiful lionesses, queens of central Kruger, long may their legacy continue!

02/07/2024

If you spend enough time searching the lesser driven tracks and wildest corners of the Kruger National Park, you may get to meet one of its hidden characters.

Judging by the wear of his canines, his nose pigmentation, and the condition of his ears, we estimate him to be around 12 years old. We only found him hiding behind a log thanks to the impala kill he had stashed high up in a leadwood tree. As you can see by the intimidating snarl, he was very protective over his meal. He later relaxed once he realized we were not a threat to his food!

We would love to know more of this old male leopards 🐆 life story, we never will, yet just meeting him was a privilege never to forget!

17/06/2024

Fattening up to get through the winter, a Burchell's Coucal about to enjoy a nutritious caterpillar, it looks like one of the large emporer moth species.

26/03/2024

A proper grumpy wet cat face 😾 ! This young male leopard 🐆 seemed to be in a bit of a mood after a few days of miserable cold rainy weather!

Who can blame him? There were some similar grumpy faces on the back of our Open Safari Vehicle earlier that morning 😜.

So what's the moral of the story? Rain or shine, it is always worth going out on game drive, and this stunning sighting was our rich reward, we were very thankful though to have nice warm rain jackets and not wet fur like him 🤣!

09/03/2024

2 of the 3 Biyamiti male 🦁 coalition, looking very regal this week in the N'waswitshaka riverbed.

Both of these males have an eye condition, most likely glaucoma. It could be from trauma such as a kick to the eye while hunting, or it could be congenital from birth, which seems more likely as both of these males have it.

Whatever the cause, these 2 have not let their limited vision affect their success and are absolutely majestic specimens 🦁🦁!