Changing a Leopard's Spots

Alex van den Heever

Description

‘Alex and Renias are what we need in these times of racial mistrust and lack of cohesion. I found this book compelling and “unputdownable” as it goes beyond wildlife to life, love, trust and community. It is about generosity of spirit. It serves as a reminder that humanity needs to respect, love and appreciate nature.’ – SELLO HATANG, Chief Executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation

World-renowned wildlife trackers Alex van den Heever and Renias Mhlongo have spent three decades working together, tracking leopards and lions at Londolozi, jaguars in South America and grizzly bears in the United States.

In Changing a Leopard’s Spots, Alex shares stories from his life with Renias, including the successes, failures, dramas, laughter, disappointments and highlights. As they experience numerous adventures, Alex and Renias learn to trust and rely on one another – both in order to stay alive, in a literal sense because of the sometimes dangerous environments in which they work, but also to develop a deep and meaningful relationship.

By challenging each other and learning from one another, they break down social, cultural, racial and personal boundaries and obstacles that often divide South Africans; and in the process, the two men forge an unbreakable bond.

Sujets

• Adventurers
• Republic of South Africa
• 21st century
• South Africa
• Biography
• Wildlife
• International English
• Wild Life
• Animals
• Autobiography
• Explorers
• Afrique du Sud

Informations

• Publié par: Pan Macmillan South Africa
• Date de parution: 01 mars 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781770108448
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

‘This is a fantastic, fast-paced adventure and a story of brotherhood between a white boy and a Shangaan tracker, a story of a deep appreciation of African culture and wildlife.’
– GG ALCOCK , bestselling author of KasiNomic Revolution , KasiNomics and Third World Child
‘From tracking leopards for Big Five-hungry tourists to being confronted with the realities of our racially prejudiced society, Van den Heev er candidly writes about the accomplishments and adversities he and Mhlongo have experienced over their 20-odd years as tracking partners. A collection of cool bos stories as much as it is an eloquent meditation on a fragmented country, Changing a Leopard’s Spots will appeal to aspiring Louis Liebenbergs and perceptive South Africans alike.’
– MILA DE VILLIERS, Sunday Times Lifestyle Magazine
‘If you love the bush, adore wild animal stories or are simply curious about the life of a guide, this book is for you.’
– TIANA CLINE, Popular Mechanics
‘Through the accounts of Van den Heever’s and Mhlongo’s adventures and their deep soul-searching discussions, this book also becomes a motivational guide on how trust and reliance can exist not only for survival but out of a curiosity for “the other”.’
– ORIELLE BERRY , Cape Argus
‘An inspiring story of an unbreakable bond between two wildlife trackers.’
– ERNS GRUNDLING, GO! magazine

For the three most exceptional women I know: Pippa, Bella and Sophie


Changing a Leopard’s Spots

The Adventures of Two Wildlife Trackers
Alex van den Heever
with Renias Mhlongo
MACMILLAN

First published in 2020
by Pan Macmillan South Africa
This edition published in 2023
by Pan Macmillan South Africa
Private Bag X19
Northlands
Johannesburg
2116
www.panmacmillan.co.za
ISBN 978-1-77010-843-1
e-ISBN 978-1-77010-844-8
© 2020, 2023 Alex van den Heever and Renias Mhlongo
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Editing by Jane Bowman
Proofreading by Sean Fraser
Design and typesetting by Triple M Design, Johannesburg
Cover design by publicide
Front cover leopard photograph by James Tyrrell


Contents
A defining moment
Failing is the winning
Under an ebony tree
Welcome to Dixie
Realising Renias
Lessons from Eric
Wearing the tag
Life with Renias
The gift of Aloe
A poacher at heart
The elusive nature of trust
The path of a tracker
The realisation of a dream
Calming elusive predators
Tracking racial prejudice
Appendix The five elements of tracking
Further reading
Acknowledgements
Tracking Success



A defining moment
I was at the wheel of the Land Rover with six Canadian guests in the back, cruising towards leopard country. Renias Mhlongo, my colleague and the tracker I was assigned to work with, was perched on the tracker’s seat located above the front left wheel, scanning the ground intently. It was a hot summer’s morning and I had not slept well due to the extreme humidity. As the brand-new guide, as part of my ‘initiation’, I was not permitted to use an air conditioner in my room and listening to the gentle hum of the senior guy’s aircon next door made it worse. I would lie in bed, sweating, trying to pretend I had one too. But my lack of sleep was not the only issue; that morning was the final game drive for this family of guests who had saved for many years for their one-and-only trip to Africa, and it was up to Renias and me to find a leopard.
The family had chosen Londolozi because of its world-famous leopard viewing. Every magazine article and brochure they had seen about this private game reserve was full of images of leopards: leopards in trees, leopards with cubs, fighting leopards, hunting leopards; you name it, the best leopard viewing in the world is at Londolozi.
These people wanted to see a leopard. Their friends had visited two years before and had seen four different leopards, including one on a kill. So it was understandable that they were beginning to show signs of frustration and irritation when by day three it didn’t look like we had any chance of finding one. What made it even more stressful was that the eldest son of the family owned a start-up travel agency in Colorado and my general manager had given me the express instruction to ensure that they ‘see everything’.
The night before, as I walked back to my room from the boma after supper, the head ranger told me that the son had asked whether it was possible for them to go out with another guide and tracker the next morning. ‘Are you sure Alex and Renias are up to it?’ he’d apparently enquired. This unnerved me and brought on a feeling of pressure that I had not experienced before. The life of a guide wasn’t supposed to be like this. I had never anticipated that my dream job of living and working in the bushveld would become so stressful. I started to feel I was too young, too inexperienced and simply not up to the task.
I bypassed my room and headed straight to Renias’s house, woke him up and explained the situation to him. ‘Tell the guests we are leaving at 4am tomorrow,’ he offhandedly muttered.
‘But what’s the plan?’ I asked. He said he would sleep on it and give me an answer in the morning.
‘Maybe a plan will come in my dreams tonight,’ he said, smiling at me. I was not convinced.
For some reason, I felt a lot better the next morning and I was determined not only to find a leopard, but to give these guests the best game drive experience that I could possibly deliver. That sentiment was not to last long. ‘Ahiyi Tugwaan,’ said Renias 30 seconds before the guests arrived in the car park for their final drive. I had been waiting for him for fifteen minutes and had desperately wanted to discuss some kind of plan with him before we departed on our game drive. We didn’t get that opportunity.
The Tugwaan is a dry riverbed that runs east to west through the southern extent of the Londolozi area and that is where Renias wanted to go. Although it forms the core territory of several individual leopards, many of them were not accustomed to people and vehicles. You often saw the evidence of old impala kills hanging in the trees, killed by leopards, but you had to work hard to actually see a leopard in that area. It is rocky with long grass and dotted with isolated groves of acacia trees. A few weeks earlier I had dislocated my thumb when the wheel of the old Land Rover collided with an unseen rock in the grass causing the steering wheel to spin out of control, smashing my finger in the process. So I wasn’t a fan of the southern area around the Tugwaan.
There was, however, a single young male called the Tugwaan Young Male who was reasonably relaxed. Renias had relayed, in Shangaan, which I couldn’t speak or understand much of, that on his way to meet us, he had walked past the workshop and Michael, a tractor driver, had mentioned that he had seen a young leopard near the Tugwaan donga the day before. The problem was that the Tugwaan donga is 10 kilometres in length and to look for just one young leopard in an area of 15 000 hectares along several kilometres of riverbed sounded like a terrible plan to me!
The guests were now in the vehicle so I had no option but to go along with Renias’s idea. Now we’re in the hands of a tractor driver, I thought, as we pulled out of the camp in the half-light. Renias was winging it. All the other guides had told me what a great tracker he was, a ‘Londolozi legend’, one said. But at that moment I had no reason to trust that was true. I felt he was being far too contemptuous about the situation and it made me feel vulnerable.
Our guests’ expectations weighed on me. As far as I was concerned, we had important people with us who had paid a lot of money to come to Londolozi and I was fearful of failing them. I considered for a while that the little reputation I had was about to be smashed. I also realised how much I relied on Renias and that should I wish to avoid a situation like this in the future, I needed to improve my own bush skills. Maybe I should train to become a professional tracker, I thought to myself. I assumed, with the arrogance of ignorance, it would be a fairly easy process.
As the wheels of the Land Rover dipped into the sand of the Tugwaan dry riverbed, Renias started to bang on the bonnet and then said to me, ‘Hima.’ Stop. He gestured nonchalantly to the ground and hopped off. I got out and walked around the front of the vehicle to have a look. All I could see was a faint and completely nondescript smudge in the soil. He circled it with his finger and told me it was a track left by the Tugwaan female, the mother of the Tugwaan Young Male. My week-long tracking course three months before had obviously not prepared me to see leopard tracks and I couldn’t make out much, let alone a track. I sat hunched over the mark for a good few minutes before Renias, anxious to get tracking, took a small twig and outlined the track for me. Helping make it look like a perfect leopard spoor was Renias’s first ‘lesson’ for me. By destroying the original impression, I could see what he had drawn. I felt frustrated as I needed to see the track without it being highlighted. My impatience was clouding my receptivity and I wasn’t even aware of it.
Again, doubt started to flood into my thoughts. Was this genuinely a fresh track of the Tugwaan female leopard? How could Renias possibly make such a d