Watch the Sighting:
Tension Brewing at Chitwa Chitwa
Game viewing has been “off the charts lately” at Chitwa Chitwa Game Lodge, and according to reports from Head Guide Colin Holden, this particular afternoon was “certainly one for the books.” Colin was out on a game drive when he and his group found themselves witnessing a brutal territorial showdown!
Colin explained that with Molwati (one of the large, dominant males) seemingly out of the picture, another dominant male from the northern sector, named Tortoise Pan, has been seen pushing further east to expand his territory. This has been creating increased tension around the lodge, especially with the younger leopards, Nottens and Mzemba, who have been hanging around as well.
On this particular day, it seemed like tensions reached a peak. Nobody could have prepared themselves for the showdown that was to come.
A Sudden Assault in the Canopy
Colin’s footage opens with Tortoise Pan climbing through the lower fork of a large tree. His body language is tense, and he pauses repeatedly, glancing upward at something just out of frame.
Then, without warning, he launches himself upward! He sprints into the highest branches, growling so fiercely that the sound reverberates through the bush.
As Colin’s camera zooms in, it reveals another younger leopard (Nottens) perched in the treetop, and the ambush is instantaneous. The two big cats collide in a violent brawl among the flimsy branches, swiping and snarling while balancing precariously several meters above the ground.
The Fall That Stunned Everyone
Then the unthinkable happens. Nottens loses his footing and scrambles to grab onto anything he can.
He momentarily catches hold of a leafy branch, but his body weight and momentum are too much. The result is a plummet of roughly six meters to the ground below, and a crash into the bushes with a heavy thud.
Gasps erupt from the safari vehicle, but while the fall seemed damaging, leopards are nothing if not resilient. In half a second, Nottens sprang up and bolted away, appearing surprisingly unscathed.
Moments later, Tortoise Pan scrambled down the tree and gave chase. The two vanished into the bush as one safari-goer can be heard shouting, “Run!”
Leopard Territoriality
Territorial conflict among male leopards is both common and extremely dangerous. Dominant males patrol large areas, scent-marking boundaries and aggressively confronting rivals.
Expanding territory can mean greater access to prey and courtship opportunities, but it also invites violent challenges. Colin described it as Tortoise Pan giving Nottens “a brutal lesson in the difference between an experienced campaigner and a would-be challenger.”
Falling Gracefully
Leopards are uniquely adapted for life in trees, but even skilled climbers can lose their footing during intense combat. Luckily, their flexible spines and powerful shoulder muscles allow them to absorb impact and land with minimal injury in many cases.
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Cats possess a well-developed “righting reflex,” enabling them to twist mid-air and orient their bodies to land on their feet. Combined with muscular limbs that act as shock absorbers, this adaptation can make falls survivable, though certainly not without risk.
A fall of six meters could easily be fatal for many animals. For a leopard, it is a dangerous, but not necessarily devastating situation.
A Lesson in Survival
This encounter highlights just how volatile territorial boundaries can become. With shifting dominance patterns and younger males testing their strength, confrontations are inevitable.
What makes this sighting extraordinary is not just the aggression, but the resilience. In seconds, a brutal aerial fight turned into a dramatic fall, then immediately into a renewed chase.
In the leopard world, hesitation can mean losing territory. And losing territory can mean losing everything.
This was not just a fight in a tree; it was a battle for dominance and survival.
