A retired SAA pilot and his wife survived an attack by a leopard while camping in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park by beating it off with fists, a book and even a mineral water bottle, but they thank the durability of the rooftop tent they were sleeping in for saving their lives.
Gavin and Jill Aldenberg were camped at Bosobogolo pan on the Botswana side of the park on March 13 when they were attacked.
“A glorious, spectacular sunset heralded another beautiful evening, the barking geckos, jackals and other night sounds wafted on the air,” Gavin told the Sunday Times.
“After a little braai we packed up camp, securing all our equipment — we had heard lions in the distance the previous night.”
His wife showered and used the ladder to climb into their rooftop tent on their double-cab bakkie.
“I was just finishing showering when I noticed an animal in the murky edges of the circle of light. I yelled, ‘Jill, a leopard’, but in the low light I had doubts and thought it could perhaps be a cheetah.”
Gavin says he hurriedly secured their motion sensor lights around the Hilux and clambered up into the tent. “We zipped up the gauze insect protective coverings and, feeling secure, lay in bed reading.”
The motion detector lights kept them aware of the animal’s movements as it circled their camp spot. “At one point we were aware that the ‘cheetah’ had crawled under the bakkie, only its tail visible,” Gavin said.
They could see the animal was unwell. “In the glimpses we caught, we could see the animal was completely emaciated and gaunt. It was definitely compromised in some way.”
Though the animal’s behaviour made them increasingly uneasy, they managed to doze off around 10pm. “We just thought, ‘luckily we are in a rooftop tent and not on the ground’,” Gavin said.
“At about 1.30am I jerked awake, having heard movement on the 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!’
“Screaming and swearing was no deterrent as he scrambled up and launched himself onto the gauze of the tent, his claws gripping the thin fabric with his head inches from my face.”
“I started punching at it furiously in the face with all my might. I realised we were now bare-fisted fighting for our lives. Both of us were shouting and screaming, Jill from behind me, hitting with a pillow at its paws, and then with a book.”
Jill laughs.
“I also hit it with a half-full water bottle — basically anything I could lay my hands on. I was attacked in a home invasion several years ago and it felt a lot like that. Time slows down and you struggle to think with the adrenalin pumping but afterwards you remember everything crystal clear,” Jill said.
Gavin continues the tale.
“Every now and again the animal pulled its head back in a terrifying gesture as if to attack and bite through the gauze. At these moments I concentrated on punching his claws. I became aware that there was blood spattering in copious amounts, but just carried on punching and shouting, adrenaline coursing through my body in this fight for life,” Gavin said.
Through the attack the leopard stayed almost completely silent. “Even when it started climbing up the ladder there was almost no noise but his breathing. I must have punched it 30 times before the animal withdrew.”
Gavin’s hand was bleeding profusely. “Jill took off a pillow slip which we hurriedly wrapped around it to try and stem the flow of blood.”
They had to make a plan to escape. “The terrifying experience lasted at least a minute. Now, we had to consider our options.” They had to get into the cab of the vehicle, but how?
“While we pondered we heard what sounded like the animal jumping on the bonnet. It seemed like a horror movie. We would be fighting for our lives the night through!”
The leopard suddenly reappeared at the foot of the ladder. “We sprayed it with water from a spray bottle we had with us. This was not much of a deterrent but a mild distraction,” Gavin said.
Jill came up with the suggestion of pulling the ladder in.
“As I opened the gauze to do this, the animal reappeared, attacking the bottom of the ladder as I swung it at him. Eventually we got the ladder in with the tent zipped up — but what now?”
They had two choices. “I could either dash down the ladder and confront the beast using the ladder as a weapon, or stealthily creep down the ladder on the opposite side of the bakkie as the animal was now in the A-frame hungrily plotting his next move.”
Something Gavin did earlier, inadvertently, probably helped save their lives.
“If you stop the bakkie and switch it off the doors lock automatically. Earlier, I had unlocked the passenger side door. If I hadn’t done that I would have had to try and unlock it now with an angry leopard on my heels,” Gavin said.
He made it safely to the cab and the couple made their escape.
“I drove slowly to camp number 2 about 3km away, all the while yelling to Jill if she was OK and telling her to shine backward down the road to make sure the animal wasn’t following us,” Gavin said.
The only injury was a deep cut on Gavin’s ring finger. They decided to drive back to their camping site to see what had become of their attacker. Suddenly they saw it.
“In the headlights, there it was ... unmistakably a gaunt, highly compromised leopard. My skin crawled as realisation set in that we had just, with our fists, driven off this killer animal.
“The following morning we packed up camp and drove to Mabua gate to report the incident. At the gate we met a French couple, both vets, who very kindly redressed my wound and gave advice regarding rabies and tetanus shots.
“That evening game scouts arrived to check on us. We reported the incident to Sanparks when we arrived at Nossob a few days later.”
Jill chimes in. “Our Alu-Cab rooftop tent definitely saved our lives. If the gauze walls weren’t made from such tough material, I don’t know what would have happened.”
Sanparks spokesperson for the arid region, Genevieve Maasdorp, told Sunday Times the agency had “heard of the incident”.
“But because they were camped in the Botswana side of the park we can’t comment on it.”
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