Elusive, powerful, and rarely seen — until you know exactly where to look.
Leopards are solitary, secretive, and superbly camouflaged — the animal most safari guides consider the hardest of the Big Five to reliably spot. Unlike lions, they avoid open ground, preferring dense riverine bush and rocky outcrops where their rosette coat disappears into dappled light.
Exceptional strength lets a leopard haul prey up to three times its own body weight into a tree, keeping kills safe from lions and hyenas below — one of the most striking sights on any safari when spotted.
Weight: 30–65kg (male)
Lifespan: 12–17 years in the wild
Social structure: Solitary, except mothers with cubs
Conservation status: Vulnerable (IUCN)
Leopards hunt primarily at night, stalking to within a few metres of prey before a short, explosive charge. Their diet is the most varied of any big cat, ranging from small antelope to fish, rodents, and carrion.
Territories are marked and fiercely defended but can overlap between the sexes; males range far wider than females in search of mating opportunities.
Leopards remain more numerous and adaptable than other big cats, surviving even near human settlements — but habitat fragmentation and retaliatory killings after livestock losses continue to erode populations across much of their range.
Widely regarded as the single best leopard-viewing reserve in Africa, thanks to decades of habituation.
Strong riverine leopard territory within the Okavango ecosystem.
Look up into the sausage trees and acacias lining the Seronera river valley.
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