Kashane
Kashane was born in June 2005 and is the offspring of the late Kapen Female. He is a particularly large leopard who must weigh close to 100kgs! He arrived in 2009 and has taken over the middle and southern parts of the concession after the departure of the Wallingford Male.
Dewane Male (aka Day-one/Bushlodge/Balabas Male)
This young male arrived in March 2011 and was been identified as the son of the Warthog Wallow female from the east. He was born in Nov 2007 and established himself as a dominant male after the dissapearance of Shinzele. He is territorial in the south west but he is expanding further north towards the river and east towards Kashane.
TERRITORIAL FEMALES
Metsi
This is Mambiri's first daughter and the older sister to Tlangisa. She was born in Nov 2006 and is a promising young leopard who is territorial over the western parts of the concession. Although relaxed, she does prove to be rather elusive and a sighting of her is very much a highlight. She had two male cubs who have just become independent.
Tlangisa
Hlabankunzi (has one 6 week old female cub)
Hlabankunzi is the youngest daughter to Makwela and younger sister to Mambiri and Ravenscourt female. She was born in June 2006 and recently lost both cubs from her very first litter. Her cubs were sired by Tegwaan but killed by Shinzele as he looks to take over from the older male. Hlabankunzi is territorial over the middle parts of the concession and often frequents the lodges in the area. As a very relaxed female she is very popular with photographers and is proving to be a great candidate to carry on the strong gene pool from Makwela.
Xikavi
This is Shangwa's most recent daughter and she was born in Sept 2005. We unfortunately don't see her that often as she mainly inhabits the Sand River area and eastwards of our boundary like her mother. She is getting more relaxed though and recently had her first litter which she unfortunately lost shortly after birth.
Tasselberry Female
This is a new female to the area and she arrived in June 2011. None of the surrounding lodges are able to identify her so she must have moved in from afar. She appears to be about 5 years old and is looking to set up a territory close to the Savanna lodge in the south-east section of the concession.
OTHER LESS SEEN LEOPARDS
Shinzele (not seen since January 2012)
This is the son of the Ravenscourt Female and he was born in Dec 2007. He is getting big and more confident which has seen him recently displace Tegwaan from the northern parts of the concession which is prime male leopard territory holding at least five females, all of which he has been seen courting with already.
Mashiyambanje (not seen since September 2011)
This young male was born in February 2008 and is the son of the Kikilezi Female. Although fairly elusive he is relaxed. He has also been putting pressure on the ageing Tegwaan for his territory north of the Sand River and seems to have acquired this area now after Tegwaans departure and Shinzele concentrating more south of the river. We fear he may have died though as he has not been seen for many months.
Tegwaan (not seen since December 2010)
This was the stalwart male of the northern part of the concession. He is the son of Shangwa and was born in Dec 2003. His territory comprised the highly sort after Sand River frontage which he has now relinquished to two younger males, Shinzele south of the Sand River and Mashiyambanje north of the Sand River. He has however sired many cubs already and reports from a neighbouring property suggest that he is still alive and has either shifted his territory further east, or he has become nomadic
Maxobene Male
This is the son of the Maxobene Female from the east. He was born in Dec 2007 and arrived in the western sector in April 2012. He is very relaxed and currently exploring the southern parts of the concession but this Kashane's territory so it remains to be seen if he will stick around.
Ndlevane
This is an old male with a big dewlap that is seen mostly south of the river. He is not relaxed at all and has charged vehicles on occassion. He has been seen fleetingly in the area for many years and yet remains elusive and aggresive towards the vehicles. Sightings of him are generally brief and sometimes even avoided depending on his mood.
Metsi's Sons
relaxed skittish
These brothers were born in March 2010 and sent into independence by their mother, Metsi, in September 2011. Both are still living life under the radar but the relaxed son has chosen to fequent the central parts of the concession while the skittish son frequents the southern parts. It is just a matter of time before both young males will have to leave the area all together as there are already established males throughout the concession.
Shangwa (has one 18 month old male cub)
Shangwa is one of the older and more successful female leopards in the area being born in Nov 1998 and having reared at least 4 succesful litters including Tegwaan, the late Makubela and Xikavi. She spends most of her time to the east of our boundary but we do see her every now and then near the Sand River in the north. She is relaxed and provides good viewing when around.
Ravenscourt Female (has two 4 month old cubs)
The Ravenscourt female was born to Makwela and is Mambiri's litter sister. She was born in Dec 2001 and is territorial mainly on the property to our east. She is also the mother to Xinzele.
Tai Dam Female
This is one of the oldest female eopards in the concession estimated to be over 14 years old. Not too much is known about her and she is not seen that often as her territory covers the north west corner which is largely inaccessible and not frequently visited by game drive vehicles. She is fairly relaxed around vehicles when spotted and she did have a male cub of perhaps 18 months old that is not relaxed with vehicles. He has not been seen for a long time now so perhaps he has been sent into independence.
Hippo Dam Female
This is another one of the concessions oldest females and is estimated to be over 16 years old. She has never been relaxed with vehicles and therefore is not seen often at all. Her territory is thought to be south of the Sand river in the central parts of the concession. It is believed that she is the mother to the Dam Three female who is just as skittish as she is.
Dam Three Female
This is a very skittish female leopard and sometimes even aggressive towards vehicles. She is believed to be the daughter of the Hippo Dam female. She could be about 10 years old and has her territory adjacent to this older female to the west. Recent sightings of her have indicated that she has newborn cubs but unfortunately due to her shy nature we will probably not get to view them much.
Mobene Female (currently lactating)
This female only recently started frequenting the south eastern parts of the concession afer the departure of Mambiri. However she is known to be a fairly skittish female by the property to our east and therefore not too much is know about her. She looks to be about 8 years old and had a male cub of approximately 6 months old in Jan. The cub has not been since though and she appears to be lactatiung which suggests the cub is dead and she has a new litter.
Mambiri had taken over as the stalwart female of the consession from her mother, Makwela (now also deceased), and had raised many successful litters. She was over 9 years old (born Dec 2001) and was a very relaxed female who provided us with some amazing quality sightings. She was the litter sister to the Ravenscourt female and older sister to Hlabankunzi and had raised Metsi and Tlangisa to independence. She sustained an injury to her front paw in early Feb 2011 while hunting warthog which eventually disabled her to the extent that she could no longer hunt her natural prey. She was seen mating with Kashane shortly before the injury and the autopsy revealed that she was sadly pregant when she died.