In a dry land rubbled with stones, the starved fingers of thornbushes point the way to a secret that slices through the barren wilderness like a scar. Leopard river. The place is guarded by mighty Mashatu trees, gnarled sentinels with muscular branches like arms folded defiantly against the afternoon heat.  Rain is building and the waterless, winding riverbed holds its breath in wait. Under the bankside cliffs, beneath candelabras of cupped euphorbia trees, whispers are that two tiny creatures tumble and play deep in the rocky shadows. Nothing appears to be stirring. But a mother leopard’s burning eyes are watchful…

When we arrive on Mashatu it’s immediately clear conditions are dry – perhaps the driest we’ve experienced to date. We’re wondering what impact the parched conditions might have on our picture possibilities. But not for nothing is this spot dubbed leopard river and our guides reassure us the reserve’s relaxed spotted cats have been showing well in recent days. There’s even talk of small cubs in a rocky den high up on the cliffs.

So we head out on our first game drive, bookmarking the active bat-eared fox and jackal dens en route that we hope to revisit later. Promisingly both have tiny youngsters which bodes well for some appealing pictures. Although the landscape appears devoid of life in the afternoon heat we know from experience the thickets and shadows here hide treasure and we’re hoping for some very special subjects when temperatures cool and the shade finally gives up its gold…

That dusk, and over subsequent days, we’re fortunate to follow closely and for considerable periods of time some of Mashatu’s best-known resident leopards, accompanying them on their patrols. We even bump into Lepako, a young male who was still a playful cub on our last visit, out on manoeuvres. He’s pacing about, scent-marking trees and looking for a territory, and looks quite the prince.  Leopard sightings start slowly building from the moment we spot our first, a female (unfortunately she’s resting in deep scrub) followed almost immediately by an imposing male with the most amazing and piercing snake-green eyes. Although everyone is out for top prize – those tiny cubs – each scintillating leopard photo opportunity is lapped up. Whispers that rain is on the way ramp up the nervous tension, increasing the hunger of everyone to bag the best images on offer.

Mashatu has the ability to spoil you when it comes big cats and on those rare occasions when the leopards play hard to get we turn our attention to the lions and cheetahs. The Majale Island lion pride has split into two since our last visit. One of the groups has little cubs and we find them one morning playing tug o’ war with the head of a warthog they’ve breakfasted on, which makes for an exciting start to the day (unless you’re a warthog).  We meet the local cheetahs – a mom and her cubs – early in the trip too. They appear in a surprisingly skittish mood. They’ve strayed into woodland from their comfort zone on the open plain and we find them in a tentative huddle uncertain of their next move. They’re clearly hungry. Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to get them hunting. Instead we’re treated to an amusing and fascinating action sequence one afternoon when the cubs explode after a mob of startled banded mongoose that rather stupidly stray out in the open across their path. It’s fascinating and comical to watch when the cubs surround one mongoose they’ve chased into a small bush, struggling to work out how to catch a feisty little creature that appears to have got the better of them. The mongoose lives to tell the tale but there is no food to calm the cubs’ hunger pangs. Thankfully we get news later that the mother has been successful and the little ones once again have full bellies.

No luck yet on those leopard cubs, but we do find their mother, Motswiri, in the broad branches of a Mashatu tree, curled up with an impala kill. It’s only a matter of time before she comes down and hopefully lead us to her little ones.

It’s a tricky waiting game. Motswiri is winning it hands down. We can’t afford to sacrifice all our photo time staking her out. There are many other photogenic species on Mashatu, not least the plentiful elephant herds, the reserve’s famed gentle giants who delight our photographers in the low level hide, flinging mud to let us know who is boss and then arranging themselves perfectly at the waterhole’s edge at sundown when our guests are trying out the swish new night hide on the reserve. There are the ever playful baboon troops rolling down the steep banks of the Majale river as they wrestle and make mischief. As the light drops they make wonderful backlit subjects, winding their way to their roost, the little ones tumbling behind the adults closely to keep up.

Then the call comes that Motswiri has come down from her kill. There’s that sinking feeling we’ve missed a big moment, but we stop by the place to check what’s really going down. Turns out she’s still up there. The remains of her kill is dangling precariously. You can sense it’s going to fall any moment. If it does we wonder if she might come down to fetch it. Before we’ve time to finish that thought she’s moving.  Quick reactions are required as it happens fast. A few moments later she grabs the leftovers and leaps up the tree. Fumbling fingers on shutter buttons again. Half way up she stops to rest, her claws still grasping her prize and stares down the barrel of our lenses. She is really giving us the eye. Our guide has put us in just the right spot and when she then decides to come down yet again shortly after it’s a jackpot afternoon alright.

We followed her that evening in the hope she’d lead us to the cubs but she was way too wily for that. She led us a little dance until the light was too low for us to follow and we had no option but to return to our lodge for dinner.

We did get to see her tiny little ones that visit. But just a brief glimpse. There they were high on the cliff one morning playing around the rocks and trees around their den. It was too distant for decent shots, but ‘nice to see’. Perhaps some secrets of leopard river are safer left hidden…

*Please note that from 2025 our Mashatu trips take place in June and that in addition to trips solely to Mashatu, one or two of our future visits there also include an add-on to MalaMala, another superb leopard hotspot and a world-renowned Big Five safari destination.

There’s just time to thank everyone on Mashatu for their help and support during the trip. Our guests loved their surprise upgrade to the five-star Euphorbia camp so thanks again for that nice little bonus. Thanks also to our wonderful guides Kaizer and Goms – it was great to ride with you guys again – and to our faithful spotters Albert and Ponsho. Last but not least a big thanks to our guests, to CG whose ability to draw up a complete ancestry of the reserve’s leopards from scratch in the middle of nowhere in five minutes got her this trip’s top prize for initiative, to VL for quiet calm, especially on those occasions we got too silly, to PT and PL for their epic repartee, and finally to RM for going solo with style on this one. We know you missed JM loads.