Africa Wine and Wildlife Malawi: Last day on the Nyika Plateau

By Michelle Alten

Nursing Crawshay’s zebra baby

Day 12—We spend the day exploring in our Landrover, continuing to look for wildlife.  Two female zebras graze with their young on a grassy hillside; the foals occasionally stop to nurse.   Not far away is a baby roan antelope, about 2 ½ months old.  Further into the park, a Black-shouldered kite flickers in the morning light. We drive along the dirt road past Lobelia blossoms, scattered like little blue stars among the grasses, and bold yellow everlasting flowers.  Suddenly a bevy of Francolins appear out of the brush and scurry across the road. We go on to spot a Wing-snapping Cisticola.  Whyte and Watson, our extremely well-informed guides, originally from a nearby village, are able to identify any species in a flash.  By evening, after sipping drinks as we watch the sun turn to a scarlet globe, some of us head back to the lodge, not expecting to find more critters.  “Wait, something is moving in the grass!” A few of us call out.

Searching for the leopard

The leopard at dusk in the spotlight 

Whyte has already put on the breaks, “It’s a leopard!”  We turn off the engine and then we see the stunning feline slipping furtively through the grass, like a child in a game of hide and seek.  But to our surprise he plops himself down in the brush right in our view.  Nancy and I ask Whyte to call the other vehicle.  If they don’t hurry, they will miss this—our best leopard sighting!  But they are still photographing the glorious sunset and seem to be out of reach.  When Watson finally picks up and hears we’ve found a leopard, he steps on the gas and comes barreling down the road.  We all watch as the leopard finally gets up and creeps right towards the other Land Rover, probably using it as a camouflage from possible prey.  The cameras are snapping and after the cat disappears into the brush, we return to the lodge elated.

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