SIGHTING OF THE WEEK

Ximungwe Pride

All members of the Ximungwe pride were seen and the long awaited additions to the pride were finally revealed in the form of four new cubs! Unfortunately not long after they were first seen it became evident that two of the cubs had not made it so only two remain. This however brings the total number of cubs in the pride to 7 now. The oldest cubs continue to be kept separate from the pride by their mother, so the other five younger cubs have been providing some great viewing while they wrestle and play. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sighting of the week however went to the oldest Ximungwe lioness and her two 1 year old cubs when alarming impalas north of the Sand River alerted the mother lion to where a female leopard had just killed an impala. She chased the leopard off and stole the kill, then dragged it back to where she had left the cubs. She had however left the cubs on the southern bank of the river so when she reached the water she had to call the cubs and try to convince them to cross to her. The cubs were having none of it and whined loudly to rather convince their mother to cross with the kill. This she eventually did in spectacular fashion and the cubs fed greedily amongst the reeds.

 

 

 

 

OTHER SIGHTINGS

Wild Dog

The pack returned briefly north of the river and killed three impala in one hunt. The adults all appear healthy but yet another pup has dies, this time at the claws of a leopard. This brings the total pups lost to four out of eight. The remaining four are looking good though with two males and two females surviving.  The pack therefore consists of four adult males, two adult females, two young males and two young females (total = 10).

 

 

 

Mapogo

The Mapogo have been all over the place this last week, including all the way east on to Londolozi! Word is that the Majingilane coalition has moved further north so maybe the brothers have sensed this and are exploring to find more females as all of the Ximungwe pride have cubs or are pregnant and the three Ottawa females are too young to mate. They did take down a buffalo just east of our boundary but returned a few days later, roaring their presence and making sure that the two young Ottawa males or the Southern pride males do not think of trespassing.

 

Ottawa Pride

The Ottawa pride is going through tough time it seems with the two subadult males having recently left and now the remaining young male being killed by the Southern pride males in the east. This means that the pride is now down to just the three subadult females. They spent most of the last week to the east but did venture on to the middle section of our concession to try their luck at hunting the large herd of buffalo. Their inexperience showed though and they did not make a kill. They left the property that night again.

Kashane Male Leopard and Tasselberry Female Leopard

Kashane just cannot seem to hide from the Tasselberry female. The pair was seen mating on two different occasions again and the Tasselberry female could be heard roaring from the lodge as she tried locating him again when he did manage to give her the slip. We certainly hope that the courtship is successful as we do not have any young cubs n the property at the moment.

 

 

Shinzele Male Leopard and Hlangisa Female Leopard

Shinzele was again in popular demand, this time from Hlangisa who sought him out on more than one occasion and tried her best to court him. She is however still too young and the big male could sense this as he kept rejecting her and actually pinned her to the ground in an aggressive gesture on one occasion. Shaken, she let him move ahead but she would not give up and kept following from a distance, every now and then climbing a tree to make sure she could still see him.

 

 

 

 

Day One Male Leopard and Metsi Female Leopard

The Day-one male seems to be getting comfortable around the western section of the concession which suggests that maybe Ndlevane has given way to him. The younger male was seen on a number of occasions and has started scent marking all along the western boundary of Kashane’s territory which suggests he has moved in permanently now. This is great for game viewing as he is far easier to view than the grumpy old Ndlevane. Metsi’s seemed to acknowledge him as a territorial male now as well as she was seen courting him and following him from a distance more than once.

Mashiyambanje Male Leopard

Not to be outdone by the other dominant males, Mashiyambanje was also seen in the company of a female this last week. The female was a bit nervous and therefore not identified, but could have been the Dam Three female who has recently sent her son into independence and is looking to have a new litter.

Hlangisa Female Leopard

Hlangisa spent most of last week following Shinzele around but we did come across her one morning as she soaked up the morning sun from on top of a termite mound by herself. She seemed content and lazed about, posing for the camera in typical Hlangisa fashion!

 

 

Hlabankunzi Female Leopard and Metsi’s son

Hlabankunzi was fairly quite this last week with only one sighting of her on an impala kill. One of Metsi’s sons was also in the area so it is unclear as to which leopard made the kill but both fed at different times. Upon returning the next morning another impala carcass was found close by suggesting that an unlucky impala must have walked straight into one of the leopards during the night. Again both leopards remained in the area of the kill but never came together.

 

 

SIGHTING OF THE WEEK

Shinzele Male Leopard, Mashiyambanje Male Leopard and Dam Three Female Leopard

There has been a lot of interesting leopard interaction in the past few weeks but this sighting was exceptional. Shinzele and Mashiyambanje were at eachothers throats again as they continue to battle for territory along the river, but this time the Dam Three female was involved as well. The two males walked parallel with eachother for an entire day, frothing saliva at the mouth and resting in intervals, then jumping up and challenging eachother again and again. The Dam Three female was focussing on Mashiyambanje and while he rested she would try and court him. This all happened south of the river which is essentially Shinzele’s territory, and the Dam Three female was lactating which lead us to believe that her current cubs are probably fathered by Shinzele and that she was courting Mashiyambanje to possibly try and convince him that the cubs could be his if he ever found them. An amazing display of a mothers effort to protect her cubs and a privileged experience to witness such rare leopard activity.

 Mashiyambanje

 Shinzele

 Dam Three Female

 

 

OTHER SIGHTINGS

Mapogo and Ximungwe Pride

The Mapogo returned from the east early in the week where they had finished off a buffalo carcass. They wasted no time in meeting up with four of the Ximungwe lionesses and cubs and on closer inspection it was revealed that a fourth lioness from the pride has given birth. She was lactating heavily and later on in the week three very small cubs were sighted on top of a rocky outcrop. One of the 3 month old cubs has however disappeared so the total number of cubs in the pride is now 8. Makhulu singled out the remaining lioness that does not have cubs and has stayed close to her throughout the week while the rest of the pride, except the oldest female and oldest cubs, has continued to move as a unit. On one morning they were able to kill a young Kudu but Skoro was close by and stole most of it. The 3 month old cub was very bold though and battled his older sibling for the spoils and even challenged Skoro a few times who unceremoniously swatted him away with a huge paw!

 

 

 

 

Kashane Male Leopard

Kashane proved fairly elusive this past week and was only sighted once. He was on a mission as usual and left the property on the same day that he arrived, living up to his name as ‘the one who travels far’. He did pause on a termite mound which afforded us a brief opportunity to get a few stunning pictures of his pale eyes as he stared straight through us.

 

Ndlevane Male Leopard and Metsi Female Leopard

Ndlevane and Metsi continued their courtship and were together for a total of 12 days! They did eventually split up with Ndlevane heading north and Metsi going south. Ndlevane is sporting a nasty limp on his front right but it is unclear as to the cause of his injury. Courting leopards can be quite violent towards eachother or perhaps he could have made an error while hunting. This has added to his already dark temper and he was not followed when found on his own after leaving Metsi.  

Day-one Male Leopard, Hlangisa Female Leopard and Metsi Female Leopard

Another incredibly interesting display of leopard behaviour was this time between one male and two females. The Day-one Male managed to kill an adult female kudu early in the week which meant he was static for a long period of time while he fed on the large carcass. Hyenas did eventually sniff him and stole most of the carcass but not before Hlangisa had located him and tried her best to court the young newcomer. Hlangisa herself is still too young to mate but it was interesting to see the inexperience of both leopards. The male would repel the female and move away from her, but then turn around and call to her as if indicating to her to follow him. This went on for a whole day and when we found the male again the next day he again had a female with him. On closer inspection though it was not Hlangisa but Metsi who was now looking for his attention. Again it was interesting to observe a female courting more than one male to cover her bases should she fall pregnant. Being more experienced Metsi was a lot more insistent than Hlangisa but the young male just reacted more violently. He was clearly confused however as he again called softly to the female to entice her to follow when she lagged too far behind.

 

 

 

The Son’s of Metsi Female Leopard

Both of Metsi’s recently independent sons were seen this past week. The less relaxed one continues to inhabit the very southern parts of Alicecot while the other son is sticking to the area around Ulusaba Rock Lodge. On one occasion the more relaxed son had to scramble to avoid the attention of one of the Ximungwe lionesses as she happened upon him on her way back to her cubs on top of the koppie next to the lodge. He was taking no chances and decided to spend the rest of the day sleeping in the very top branches of a Jackalberry tree.