I hate to be a "downer," but some of us recently received the information below from Warren of King's Camp. It's pretty upsetting as we just saw this Leopard last month. In fact, I was told this is the leopard that was sitting in the road when a couple of our group was looking for a "bathroom" during a sundowner, and we were immediately told to get in the jeeps. Don't misunderstand, at that time he was not threatening anyone.

I guess it's difficult for we non-professionals to understand how trained guides get in these types of situations.

Eugene

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It is with great sadness that i bring you the news of the death of our beloved Maganjane male leopard.

Mangajan was shot and killed by a field guide from a neighbour lodge early last Monday morning, the 11th May. The field guide was out in the bush on foot when Maganjan without warning charged out at him. The guide fired a warning shot intially to try and deter the anmimal from attacking. However, the leopard kept coming at him and showed serious intent to follow through with the attack. The guide in a split second took the descision to shoot the animal in self defence. From the investigation it is believed that the leopard was shot at a distance of two meters from the guide.

As you can imagine, we are all deeply shocked and saddened by his loss. In his memory, please feel free to add your pictures of him onto the blog or you can join the facebook group "In memory of Mangajan" where there are already over 80 members.

Regards
Warren

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We were the ones looking for a "Bush Bathroom" when Richard spotted 'something'. That something turned out to be the resident male leopard at Kings Camp, Mangajane. What an elegant animal. This is very sad news indeed.

Just look at the size of that paw...

Well it has taken awhile, but if anyone is still interested here is a link to some of our photos from LION--

http://gallery.me.com/pablobyrne

I hope this works :)

WONDERFUL PICTURES SUSAN THANKS FOR POSTING THESE. I like seeing these now it brings back the memories.

Before I leave this weekend I am going to putting forth the ideas for ROAR 3 so this "got me in the mood" to think about returning to Africa. I sure will miss it in 2010.

Susan, I so enjoyed your photos! You seem to love the baby animals as much as I do, you had great shots of them! Also makes me want to go back to the Birkenhead House. Did you stay at La Residence, or just do a quick tour like we did on ROAR 2? That's on my "must go there" list for ROAR 3 after our tour last year.

Susan, All I can say is WOW! Your photography is stunning. Has me wanting a return visit. Birkenhead is dreamy.

Wonderful photos, Susan. I'm adding La Residence to my list. Brings back great memories.

Susan, loved looking at all your fabulous photos. I can't wait to get back!! BTW, we had the same room as you at Birkenhead....#9 I believe.

Thank you all for your nice comments. In the interest of full disclosure I must say that my husband Paul took most of the photos.

We did stay at La Residence--so spectacular! And it was room #9 at Birkenhead.

We had such a wonderful time on this trip. It was truly magical. Had never been to Africa before, and now can't wait to go again.

Susan