The reason why wildlife is so fascinating is its unpredictability. At anytime, it can offer a spectacular, unseen sighting and leave everyone baffled. Regardless how much we think we know it, wildlife will never cease to amaze us! Speaking of rare sightings, a traffic jam caused by a mother leopard busy with teaching her babies to cross the road, it must definitely be on top of that list!
The beautiful scene unfolded, where else, but in South Africa’s most famous wildlife reserves – the Kruger National Park. One of the last places on Earth where animals still roam freely, offering at the same time, the rare opportunity, for both locals and tourists, to admire them. This time, a group of drivers caught by chance a heartwarming glimpse of a leopardess and her two tiny cubs.
Among the few lucky witnesses was Thinus Delport, a 64-year-old wildlife enthusiast. Great fond of wildlife since he knows, Delport and his daughters were in a safari camp in the Kruger hoping for some rare encounter with the majestic creatures that live there. Anyway, since his daughters has never seen a leopard before, the two decided to leave the camp earlier that morning look for one. But suddenly they have been forced to stop due a traffic jam in front of them.
“Early morning, my daughters and I left the camp looking for leopards,” Delport explained for Latest Sightings. “They were convinced that there are no leopards in the Kruger, as neither of them had ever seen one.”
Imagine just how surprised there were, to find out that responsible for their halt was nothing but a family of leopards.
“We hit a traffic jam where a few cars were stationary in front of us,” Delport explained for Latest Sightings. “It seemed like visitors were looking at a pride of lions. My daughter noticed that in the thicket behind our vehicle, there was a mother leopard trying to move her cubs…As we drove, I jokingly convinced them to start singing in the car, to draw the leopards out, and so they did – and to my surprise – it actually worked!”
A mother leopard followed by her two adorable cubs, were preparing to cross the road ,when the little ones presumably got scared and decided not to go after their mom anymore. The drivers noticed the scene and immediately pulled over their vehicles. Meantime, the convincing leopardess gained her babies trust and the two ventured across the road. However, for one them, the effort seemed too much, so it had to be carried by its mom.
The once-in-a-lifetime moment was nothing but a dream came true for Delport, but especially for his daughter. Thankfully, some of the eyewitnesses even caught the rare sighting on camera. Take a peek:
