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    Unspotted: One Man's Obsessive Search for Africa's Most Elusive Leopard
    Unspotted: One Man's Obsessive Search for Africa's Most Elusive Leopard
    Unspotted: One Man's Obsessive Search for Africa's Most Elusive Leopard
    Ebook52 pages21 minutes

    Unspotted: One Man's Obsessive Search for Africa's Most Elusive Leopard

    By Justin Fox

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    About this ebook

    People have driven Cape Leopards to the brink of extinction. Can we bring them back?

    The majestic Cederberg mountains in the Western Cape region of South Africa are home to the elusive Cape Mountain Leopard. But for how long? The population has been decimated over centuries by human enemies and the survival of these glorious and mysterious cats is in jeopardy. Thanks to zoologist Quinton Martins and his Cape Leopard Trust, there may just be hope that the species will survive and continue to reign over its rocky habitat.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAnnorlunda Books
    Release dateAug 12, 2015
    ISBN9780990744559
    Unspotted: One Man's Obsessive Search for Africa's Most Elusive Leopard
    Author

    Justin Fox

    Justin Fox is editorial director of the Harvard Business Review Group, and a contributor to Time magazine and PBS's Nightly Business Report. Previously, he was a columnist at Time and an editor and writer at Fortune. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his wife and son.

    Read more from Justin Fox

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      Book preview

      Unspotted - Justin Fox

      Unspotted

      One Man’s Obsessive Search for Africa’s Most Elusive Leopard

      Justin Fox

      Annorlunda Bookscloseup of a leopard

      The inquisitive Max triggers a camera trap high on the slopes of Seeuberg with the flat-topped Tafelberg in the background. Image from the Cape Leopard Trust.

      CHAPTER ONE

      A magnificent obsession

      binoculars

      Quinton Martins is mad. Not in some superficial, mildly nutty way, but rather with a deep and abiding insanity. His madness began in 2003 when he became obsessed with the idea of finding the near mythical Cape Mountain Leopard. Most Capetonians know they exist—their tracks are occasionally spotted in the mountains and a farmer kills one every few years, to much public consternation—but no-one ever actually sees them. So really, they only half exist, occupying a place on the borders of public mythology.

      In 2003 Quinton started looking for the elusive cat in the Cederberg mountains. He would go for weeks at a time, hiking alone in their remoter parts, searching for any sign of leopard. His passion grew into a master’s, then a doctoral, thesis. He poured all his time and money into finding the cat. Sometimes he’d lug a backpack filled with 16 cameras high into the berg to set up camera traps with infrared sensors. A week or two later he’d return to retrieve the film (there were only 36 shots to a roll) and set the traps in new positions. For months there were only blank film strips, or shots of small, non-descript mammals. Then one day he was in his local camera shop collecting photos and, as usual, he idly asked if there’d been any shots of cats in the latest batch of film.

      Ja, I think there’s a nice one of a spotted kitty, said Zelda, the shop assistant.

      It was as though a bolt of lightning had struck Quinton. Before he was fully aware of his actions, he’d vaulted over the counter and run through to the back room. Sure enough, it was a male leopard. He was destined to become M1, the first in a long line of cats that would consume Quinton’s life.

      It was nine months before he actually glimpsed his first leopard and another year before he captured and collared one. He ran out of money and sold everything, including his car, to keep the research going. He’d have to hitchhike from Cape Town to the berg and do his research on foot, covering thousands of miles in the mountains in temperatures that were well below freezing in winter and as high as 116ºF (47ºC) in summer. He carried no tent, just an old sleeping bag. When it snowed, he sheltered in a cave or rocky overhang. Madness.

      I, too, have a thing for leopards. I wanted to meet Quinton… and, hopefully, one

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