Camera Trap Chronicles #4 – The Search For The Ximungwe Female

It’s been a while since our last instalment of the camera trap chronicles. This edition was inspired by a search for the Ximungwe Female. Recently, for the last six weeks or so, the Ximungwe Female has been strangely scarce. Prior to this, she could arguably have been our most viewed leopard on the reserve. Her territory sits entirely on Londolozi and isn’t far from the camps at all meaning that we often search for her and on the odd occasion are lucky enough to just bump into her while passing through the area.

Having been viewed by vehicles from an early age, this leopard is supremely relaxed around Land Rovers.

However, as she has gradually forced the Ntomi Male into independence, she has become more elusive than ever. It got to a stage when we were debating whether she was still alive or not with no sign of her for nearly 4 weeks.

A single cub of the Ximungwe Female’s second litter. Initially rather skittish but is very relaxed now. Birth mark in his left eye.

Eventually one morning, a few of the trackers spotted what was assumed to be her tracks passing through a portion of her territory. On a whim, I set out that afternoon to set up the camera trap on a prominent game path close to where the tracks were found. While the hopes were to capture her and prove her wellbeing, a whole host of other creatures happened to pass the camera…

It didn’t take long to capture a leopard! It’s up for debate but in my opinion, this isn’t the Ximungwe Female but instead it looks like it could be her recently independent male offspring, the Ntomi Male who for the most part is still moving within his mother’s territory, or a possibility that it is the Senegal Bush Male.

Initially seen as a young male in 2016, this leopard only properly established territory on Londolozi in mid-2019

or the

A single cub of the Ximungwe Female’s second litter. Initially rather skittish but is very relaxed now. Birth mark in his left eye.

Just 6 hours after the leopard had passed the camera, Innocent Ngwenya (former Londolozi tracker and current instructor at the Tracker Academy) leads his students down the path. These guys put in some serious hours in the field; often leaving camp before sunrise and only returning around 4pm.

The ever-present hyena. It’s hard not to capture these creatures on the camera traps. There is a very healthy population of these apex predators on the reserve.

Given the area where the camera trap was set up, I didn’t expect to capture a buffalo – we don’t often see them around that spot. This one looks like an older, potentially solitary bull that was making his way towards a small wallow.

A large and very recognisable Elephant bull. I remember coming across this elephant several times around early 2021. He’s quite unmistakable with those long, thick and straight tusks. I haven’t laid eyes on him myself since then but it was great to see that he’s still in the area. What an impressive specimen!

I must have gone through close to 50 images of impalas from this setup. I felt I had to include at least one photo of these inquisitive antelope.

Yet another hyena passes the camera. This one looks slightly larger than the previous one and clearly noticed the camera as it walked on by.

A beautifully dark-coloured giraffe bull strolls past the camera. Take note of the tail – the giraffe’s is the longest tail of any land animal with those long tassels at the end proving useful at keeping flies off their coat.

Another elephant, which I can almost say with full certainty is a bull based on the tusk size, strolls by. With his skin looking rather wet, he had probably just visited the nearby wallow to drink and cool off before sunset.

Tracker Terrence Mhlaba on foot tracking during a game drive. I’m not sure exactly what he was searching for but the last leopard to pass the camera was the leopard several days back! Let’s hope he was onto something fresher…

I had my doubt about the camera batteries and so I didn’t think it would capture me coming to retrieve the set-up!

In the end I never actually captured any conclusive images of the Ximungwe Female to prove her existence or get a better understanding of her movements but the vast array of other wildlife that passed through the area was quite rewarding in itself. For those that are concerned, the Ximungwe Female is still alive and has been seen on the odd occasion since the camera was set up. We still aren’t seeing her nearly as much as we used to but theorise that she may be either searching for and following male leopards to mate with or she could be pregnant and is staking out suitable den sites in the denser areas of her territory.

Either way, we should expect to have a new litter of cubs on the reserve in the near future.

Chris Taylor

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