Mid Day With the Flat Rock Male – Londolozi Blog

By 9:00am on a rather warm summer’s morning, we decided it was time to head back to camp to enjoy a delicious breakfast looking out over the banks of the Sand River from Granite Camp. As we were approaching the camp, Vervet Monkey alarm calls caught our attention and re-directed us towards the giant Ebony trees dotted along the river, in search of the threat that the troop had spotted. A combination of Freddy looking for tracks, stopping the car and listening, and the whole group of us searching the shady thickets it only took about eight minutes after the first alarm for us to spot the Flat Rock Male leopard on the open crest in front of Londolozi’s camps.

A dominant male leopard over the majority of the north. He originally took over the 4:4 Male’s territory when he died.

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It was a great surprise, particularly for myself and Freddy. It had been a while since we had last seen the Flat Rock Male. Due to the pressure from the slightly bigger and more dominant males in the south of the reserve (the Maxims male as well as the Senegal Bush Male), we have started to see less of the Flat Rock Male as we presume he is also subsequently shifting further north.

The Senegal Bush Male has been shifting the Flat Rock Male’s territory further north. Pressure from younger, more prominent or even just more dominant males can be the main decider as to where we may see the Flat Rock Male find a safe territory in the future.

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

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The Maxims male. Arguably the largest male leopard on Londolozi at the moment.

Fairly skittish male that is presumed to have come from the Kruger National Park.

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Research has shown that male leopards will regularly undergo a double-shuffle in their lives. Their initial dispersal from their natal area moves them to where they are unlikely to encounter related females, which thus strengthens the genetic pool. But then later in life – often at around 9-10 years old –  they will sometimes shift territories again. This is also theorised to be driven by genetics. By this stage of their lives, it is likely that they will have mated with the resident females, and surviving daughters will have started approaching sexual maturity. In other words, an increasing proportion of the young females a dominant male encounters will be genetically related.

The Flat Rock male gazes towards elephants that were coming down to the river for a drink in the late morning

This isn’t a train-smash in the leopard world as inbreeding can occur and isn’t too harmful for only one generation, but in order to maintain a healthy gene pool, it is better if dispersal takes place. More often than not this will be taken care of through a shift in the male’s territory.

Obviously, it isn’t as cut-and-dried as this; several other factors are involved, like the potential for expansion or shifting based on neighbouring males, the sex ratio of a male’s offspring (ie. the actual genetic pressure) among others, but this second shift has been well documented. Recently, the Flat Rock male has been seen further and further north into Londolozi, pushing far north beyond Londolozi’s northern boundary.

What an ending to the morning! Notice the one Ntsevu young male at the top right of the photograph. Just after this photo was taken the leopard glanced to his right, noticed the lion and swiftly moved towards the thicker vegetation.

As the male leopard was taking a rest on top of a termite mound, tracker Freddy spotted the three lions resting in the shade of a nearby tree. Fortunately for the Flat Rock Male, the relatively open space between the mound and the tree allowed enough space and time for him to spot the three males and quickly move out of the area. As the lions caught the scent of the leopard they stood up to investigate who and what was nearby.

Needless to say, it was an amazing morning. Filled with lots of excitement, beauty, and elegance and ended off with a little nervousness. We were now ready for that tasty breakfast on the Granite Camp Deck.