In a previous blog, I touched on the fact that the Ximungwe Female has two cubs. These two new cubs have been the latest addition to the prolific Sunsetbend lineage but in recent developments, we can now confirm that there is a further three leopard cubs that have joined this esteemed list.
A gorgeous female who is found to the east of camp. Easily recognised by her 2:2 spot pattern she is often to be found in Marula trees.
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Much like her sister, the Nkoveni Female has been a highly successful mother in recent years. After a couple of unsuccessful litters in her early years of independence, she successfully gave birth to the Plaque Rock Female in 2018, who reached independence in late 2019. The Nkoveni Female, as most mothers do, ceded some of her territory to her daughter and moved further south away from the river, establishing new territory around the marula crests close to our eastern boundary. She was successful once again in early 2021 where she managed to raise the Xinkhova Female and Stone Drift Female to independence in late 2022. Watching these three leopards together still is some of the best leopard viewing I have had since arriving at Londolozi.
The Stone Drift Female and Xinkhova Female play with each other as two young leopards.
Also young and playful but rather with a spot pattern of 3:2. She is slightly bigger than her sister.
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A stunning young female with a very similar spot pattern to her mother, the Nkoveni Female. Litter still completely intact March 2022.
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After these two stunning leopards reached independence, the Nkoveni Female sadly lost another litter to the hand of the Three Rivers Female, the resulting skirmish was not for the faint-hearted.
A successful mating bout with the Maxim’s Male and his son the Nsuku Male led to her falling pregnant and eventually being seen with suckle marks for the first time in early January. Keeping a close eye on her movements led us to believe that she was keeping her cubs in a den on our neighbour’s property, Mala Mala, for the first few months. Although we were still seeing her a lot, we never had any sign of her bringing her cubs across onto our side, until one afternoon when Shadrack thought he saw what looked like a leopard cub track crossing onto Londolozi. It was difficult to confirm this as there had been some recent rain and the tracks were not clear.
The following afternoon, Dorence and I decided to find the Nkoveni Females in the area where she was last seen. We were unable to find her in the afternoon but Dorence managed to follow her tracks deep into thick drainage line, an area we believed was perfect for stashing her cubs.
This cemented our plans for the following morning in place, head straight towards that drainage and search it high and low until we found some evidence that she had her cubs in there. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before we got to a prominent termite mound with an incredibly beautiful fallen tamboti tree next to it. As we got closer, lying in that incredible tree was the Nkoveni Female and although we didn’t have any sign of cubs just yet, we knew this was a good start.
15 minutes flew by while watching this beautiful leopard groom herself in the tree. Once she had finished, she got up, stretched and let out a soft contact call that made our hearts drop. We knew what this meant- ‘the cubs must be somewhere nearby!’ Waiting patiently for what was to happen next, we began to see movement coming out of the long grass. Her cubs started to pop out, not 1, not 2 but 3 tiny cubs! This was a first for me, I had never had the privilege of seeing 3 leopard cubs together until this day.
We believe that this was the first time they had seen a vehicle so they were extremely nervous but giving them space and time, they eventually relaxed with our presence and after that, time stood still. Watching a mother with her three tiny cubs for the first time is enough to bring tears to your eyes.
Since finding the den, The Nkoveni Female has continued to allow us to view these incredible cubs. Watching them grow in confidence on a day-to-day basis is truly remarkable. She is still keeping them in and around the Maxebene Riverbed.
There are extremely exciting times ahead for Londolozi and we will keep you posted with both Ximungwe Females cubs as well as the younger Nkoveni Females cubs.
Patrick Grealy
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