River Rat Posted September 9, 2013 Share On the the 31st August my son and I rode in the Sabie forest around Klein Sabie when we spotted a large animal. I was in front at the time and I was convinced it was a very large black dog. My son was less convinced and we rode upto the spot where it had slunk off into the undergrowth. The track was elevated above the forest floor but we could not find the animal and we hung around for about 10 minutes. We decided to carry on but continued to debate whether it was a dog or something else so we dubbed it the werewolf of Sabie. Until my son came across this http://sabie.co.za/blog/?p=912 could this be what we saw? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pants Boy Posted September 9, 2013 Share Sighting of a lifetime! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River Rat Posted September 9, 2013 Share And we're still debating it! I'm starting to convince myself that it was not a dog and if I look at the report and my Garmin log it would appear to be about 1km from the spot of the last sighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big H* Posted September 9, 2013 Share Saw one in Kruger many many years ago when I was still a laaitie. It was in the vicinity of the Stephenson Hamilton memorial south of Skukuza. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kosmonooit Posted September 9, 2013 Share No paw prints? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River Rat Posted September 9, 2013 Share No paw prints?Looked like a large dog's but I can't remember seeing claws or not. I'm really regretting not paying more attention to my son's doubts now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackadder Posted September 9, 2013 Share Speak to the Watson's at Black Leopard Camp - http://www.blackleopardcamp.com/They are near Lydenburg, and are involved in a project to try and track and photograph Black Leopard's. I don't think there has been a reliable sighting in a decade or so though. Edited September 9, 2013 by Blackadder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pants Boy Posted September 9, 2013 Share Couple of things make me 'believe' that you saw a leopard:1) Feral dogs are rarely large, it's just a matter of diet. The bigger you are, the more you need to eat, and dogs are horrid survivalists if not in packs2) Paw prints like a large dogs = paw prints like a leopard.3) Most dogs, including successful feral scavengers, are moeroffa inquisitive. You would have seen it again if it was a dog, they can't help but come have second look-see Can you describe it's gait? Can you perhaps recall if you saw prints close together or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River Rat Posted September 9, 2013 Share Riaan the worst of it is that I trying to recall about 10 seconds of my life. What I do remember is that it raised it's head above the bush at the edge of the jeep track as we we were coming around a curve. It defintely slunk off by first lowering it's head as it moved and then seemed to melt into the undergrowth. You are right in that I fully expected it to come out of the bush for a peek at us but it just disappeared. Only observed one print but then again I did not really track it thinking that it was a dog. Who knows what it was? Do you want the coords . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pants Boy Posted September 9, 2013 Share I'm in the vicinity next weekend Gonna go exploring a bit, pls send co-ords via PM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kosmonooit Posted September 9, 2013 Share Amazing - never even knew they existed here, but must be living on the brink, not much pray left in those forest surely. Bit like the elusive Snow leopard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big H* Posted September 10, 2013 Share Amazing - never even knew they existed here, but must be living on the brink, not much pray left in those forest surely. Bit like the elusive Snow leopard? They are opportunists....... They were even seen in the suikerbosrand traversing through Krugersdorp all the way to Heidelberg. Many cats, dogs, dassies and others to prey on. Same goes for Brown Heyena.  Same in Pretoria with Magalliesberg and other ridges from east to west through the city. A leopard was struck recently by a car in the poort opposite CBC near the N1 N4 crossing. Edited September 10, 2013 by Big H* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flat29 Posted September 10, 2013 Share Amazing - never even knew they existed here, but must be living on the brink, not much pray left in those forest surely. Bit like the elusive Snow leopard? There are a lot of bushpigs, dassie and strange animals in those forests. We once found a hippo in the dam above merry pebbles that came all the way up from hazyview Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greybeard Posted September 10, 2013 Share On the the 31st August my son and I rode in the Sabie forest around Klein Sabie when we spotted a large animal. I was in front at the time and I was convinced it was a very large black dog. My son was less convinced and we rode upto the spot where it had slunk off into the undergrowth. The track was elevated above the forest floor but we could not find the animal and we hung around for about 10 minutes. We decided to carry on but continued to debate whether it was a dog or something else so we dubbed it the werewolf of Sabie. Until my son came across this http://sabie.co.za/blog/?p=912 could this be what we saw?Even if it was only a brief glimpse of one these magnificent beasts, consider yourselves blessed as this would be a once in a lifetime experience. Man has unfortunately forced a situation where we can often only sit on the edge of the natural world and look in, but to have shared space with this animal, fantastic. Tumbleweed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kosmonooit Posted September 10, 2013 Share What would be the evolutionary advantage to having a black coat in this part of the world? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Bushpig Posted September 10, 2013 Share What would be the evolutionary advantage to having a black coat in this part of the world? BEE points of course..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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