Viral Video Shows Leopard Casually Strolling Through Restaurant

A few guests at a restaurant in South Africa were stunned to see a leopard strolling past them recently. The close encounter with one of South Africa's "big five" took place over the weekend at Singita Ebony Lodge in Mpumalanga. A clip of the incident, shared by Singita Ebony Lodge on Facebook, shows the big cat strolling casually past diners in the lounge area. 

One guest was quick enough to whip out his camera and record the whole thing as the young male leopard crossed the area and used a staircase to walk out of the lodge. 

The lodge said that the same leopard had earlier been seen stalking a bushbuck in the riverbed in front of the lodge, before being detected by vervet monkeys. "He proceeded to walk across the deck area, and swiftly away from the lodge to remain undetected," the establishment said in their Facebook post, sharing a video of the incident. 

Take a look at the video below:

The video has garnered over 2.8 lakh views on Facebook since being posted last week. 

"Absolutely amazing, wish I had been there!" wrote one person in the comments section. 

"How lucky those people are to see such a magnificent creature so close!" said another. 

The lodge said that they strongly discouraged close wildlife encounters at any time, and have strict safety protocols in place for staff and guests should these encounters occur naturally. "Singita's staff is well-trained to deal with encounters of this kind and strict safety protocols are in place to protect both staff and guests in these situations," it said.