A leopard has been spotted inside the West Coast National Park for the first time since the 1850s!
Western Cape, South Africa (13 November 2025) – And there are photos. The leopard’s return to the West Coast was caught on a remote camera trap. In one photo, roaming the fynbos, and in the next, staring right back at us. ‘Hello!’
It’s worth celebrating because it means that leopards are naturally moving back into a part of South Africa where they disappeared almost two centuries ago.
The sighting comes from a long-running collaboration between the Landmark Leopard and Predator Project, SANParks, the University of the Western Cape, the Saldanha Bay Municipality and several private landowners.
For the past few years, the group has been monitoring leopard movements between Cape Town and the Berg River, hoping to understand how wildlife use the landscape as they slowly return to old ranges.
Their work has involved piecing habitats back together. Over the last two decades, ecological corridors have been restored across the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape so that wildlife can move more safely between fragmented areas.
The creation and protection of conservation areas like the West Coast National Park have helped, too, giving predators a safe space to explore again.
Just as important has been the role of landowners. In this region, farmers and private land managers have shown a growing willingness to coexist with predators. Conservationists say it has made a massive difference. The return of a species like this isn’t only about protected areas; it depends on people choosing not to persecute them, reporting sightings, and giving conservation projects room to work.
“These efforts have allowed wildlife like leopards to move more freely and safely through the landscape,” shares SANParks.
This sighting is the clearest proof yet that these efforts are paying off, and that the long game matters.
Conservation wins are often so gradual that we barely see them happening. And then, suddenly, a camera trap clicks, and a species that vanished more than a century ago is standing in a place we thought it might never return to.
It’s rare to get good news this clear and this hopeful.
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