Cape Town man recalls life or death fight with leopard

A trip to the untamed bush they love so much turned into an experience never to be forgotten when a Cape Town couple came face to face with a leopard, desperate for its next meal. A leopard expert, after analysing photos that indicated the animal was extremely weak, says the couple was extremely lucky to survive.

Gavin Allderman has been going to Mabua in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park for more than four decades. He and his partner Jill Sheard set out on another trip at the beginning of March, camping at the remote Bosobogolo Camp in the Mabuasehube Game Reserve in Kgalagadi.

“The campsite consists of an A-frame shade structure and a long drop. That’s it,” explains Allderman.

Something lurking in the shadows

The couple was settling in for the night and Allderman had just finished showering when he noticed an animal lurking in the shadows just outside their camp’s light circle.

“The animal was so thin, I thought it was a cheetah. Although I know cheetahs usually do not move around at night. I happened to see one at night at the same camp a couple of years back,” says Allderman.

Feeling secure with their rooftop tent’s gauze zipped up, the couple lay reading. They were aware of the animal moving around because motion sensor lights set up around their Toyota Hilux were being activated. They fell asleep around 22:00.

‘He’s coming up the ladder!’

Suddenly, at around 01:30, Allderman was awoken by the sound of movement at the tent’s ladder.

“Sitting bolt upright, instantly wide awake, I peered down the ladder and saw the animal climbing up. I shouted, ‘He’s coming up the ladder!’,” Allderman recalls.

The leopard launched itself onto the gauze of the tent, trying to get in. Allderman, who realised he was in for the fight of his life, started punching the cat with all his might.

In a battle for life and death that lasted over a minute, the couple kept on fighting off the cat, Allderman with his fists and Sheard with a book, aiming for its claws when it pulled its head back. Jagged breaths the only sounds audible from the animal.

In the process, Alderman injured his hand, and it began to bleed profusely.

At long last the animal fell back, giving Sheard just enough time to wrap Allderman’s hand in a pillowcase.

The animal made several more attempts to reach the couple, attempting to jump on the vehicle’s bonnet and wrestling with the ladder as the couple pulled it up into the tent.

A daring escape

With the leopard under the A-frame structure pondering its next move, Allderman used the ladder to get out of the tent on the opposite side and jump into the vehicle.

When Sheard had pulled the ladder back into the tent, he drove to safety with her still in the tent.

Upon reaching the next camp, about 3km away, the couple was surprised to see all the blood came from a single cut on Allderman’s ring finger.

The couple cautiously returned to their camp a while later and managed to catch a glimpse of the leopard, confirming that the cat was highly gaunt and in a bad state.

They sat in their Toyota Hilux, discussing what had happened while sipping on neat whiskey to help calm their nerves.

The next morning, they packed up camp and drove to Mabua gate where they reported the incident. A French couple, both veterinarians, assisted in redressing Allderman’s wounds.

Taking time to come to terms with what happened

Allderman says he felt it was important for them not to leave straight away, so they could process what had happened. Both he and Sheard wrote down their recollection of what happened as part of the healing process.

He managed to get a tetanus shot from a group of campers near the Kgalagadi pans.

“I am glad we got to stay an extra five nights to come to terms with the incident,” Allderman says.

He says that he will be carrying an axe and diver’s knife with him in future, something he let slip since acquiring the rooftop tent.

Alu-Cab, from where he bought the tent, offered to repair it for free.

They do not realise just how lucky they are – leopard expert

Gerrie Camacho, a carnivore scientist and leopard expert with the Mpumalanga Tourism and Park Agency, says the extremely poor state the leopard was in, is the only reason the couple survived.

“Judging by the marks in the gauze and the fact that the leopard had to use the ladder to reach the tent, shows just how little energy the cat had left. If the leopard was in a slightly better state, this story would have had a different ending.

“A healthy cat would be able to effortlessly jump on the tent from the ground and bite through the gauze,” says Camacho.

He says the leopard made a desperate attempt to kill and if it had just a little more energy, it would not have stopped until it succeeded.

According to Camacho, the most likely explanation for the leopard’s bad state is that it has been injured, and the most common cause is porcupine quills that get stuck in a cat’s mouth or throat when they try to take on a porcupine.

Camacho advises that campers always go to bed with a small axe when camping in unfenced reserves like Botswana.