Neuras

While I was in Namibia working with Naankuse wildlife sanctuary, I had the opportunity to travel south to one of their other properties and do a bit of work tracking wild leopards. Neuras is a working vineyard and tourist operation as well as base for big cat research and is a beautiful place to stay.

 
During my week at Neuras, we had a day trip into the desert to Sossusvlei to climb the sand dune known as "Big Daddy" and see a bit of the Namib desert.

When it wasn't pouring with rain at Neuras, we spent our time tracking wild leopards that the team there had fitted with radio collars to gather data on the way they were using the habitat and what they were eating. We found two kill sites of one of the leopards, both of which were springbok carcasses. We tracked one of the leopards to within 15m, but even at that close range we didn't manage to get a glimpse of her. It was probably my best day of the whole trip.

  Leopard kill site in small cave

 

 Wild leopard paw print

The team at Neuras also feed and service a large free-range cheetah enclosure at Solitaire. We spent one day there feeding the cheetahs and refilling the water sources. Great cheetah photo opportunities.