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.
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