I have written a few times before about the amazing tracking skills of the Bushmen of the Kalahari and how Deception Valley Lodge delivers a tremendous opportunity to see the ancient art in action with dedicated tracking of lions and leopards. We had a number of clients visit between September and early November and all had great success with the trackers following spoor (tracks) until they located big cats.

New Lion Cubs!

3 week old lion cubs found for the first time.
Photo © Larry Fletcher

Recent clients, Larry and Clare, were fortunate to be on hand when a tracking session resulted in the discovery of recently born lion cubs, estimated to be 3 weeks old. The mother leaves the pride to give birth and typically keeps them hidden away for 8 weeks or so before introducing them to the pride so it is very unusual to see them at this age. I believe these cubs will be part of the Eastern Pride that was 12 members prior to this expansion, including 7 adolescents of about a year and half in age.

Leopard Cubs Continue to Thrill

Golden eyed leopard cub.
Photo © Larry Fletcher.

Two leopard cubs, closing in on 8 months of age, continue to thrill guests. These siblings are quite unique as the female (above) has honey-gold eyes that are reminiscent of a cheetah’s while her much larger brother has the standard paler eye color. Fortunately, like many of the leopards in this area they are very relaxed.

Fantastic Pay 2 Stay 3 Deception Valley Lodge Deal

From December 1 through April 30th Deception Valley Lodge is providing a free night with a paid 2 night stay, an exceptional value.

I have utilized this deal and combined it with 2 other camps known for their dedicated and skilled tracking to develop a special 9 -night safari with an emphasis on predator tracking for $3,400 per person sharing.

UPDATE: Before closing out this blog post, I'd like to thank Larry Fletcher for his fantastic safari photos from Deception Valley Lodge. To see more of Larry's photos - and believe me, they're definitely worth a look - head over to his Photo page over at SmugMug.