On a walk through the bush near Camp Ndlovu game lodge, we silently pick our way down into a rocky valley. Birds are chirping, but we’re listening for the more ominous sound of a cough or a crackle as a strong paw breaks a twig. We’re in leopard territory, as three well-gnawed klipspringer carcasses confirm. But the male leopard who dominates this area stays out of sight, so our guide Malvin Mncube entertains us instead with fascinating stories of traditional medicines and the lifecycle of a dung beetle.

Camp Ndlovu is part of Welgevonden Game Reserve, a three-hour drive north of Johannesburg. Leopards have been monitored here since 2008 using camera traps to estimate the size of the population, their daily activity patterns, their ages, and reproduction and mortality rates.