The Week In Pictures #667 – Londolozi Blog

The Maxim’s Male stands tall above the Sand River. The Piccadilly Female was in a marula tree above him. Often when leopards pick up the scent of other leopards they start to salivate as you can see here in this photo. There is also blood around his mouth because he had a dispute with the Piccadilly Female. This is because they had just come into contact and were starting the mating process which may be a bit aggressive at first. I just wanted to demonstrate his size in this photo.

The Piccadilly Female starts to relax and get comfortable on the marula. I tried to get a bit of the greenery from the Sand River combined with the blue sky.

The power of a huntress. The Ntsevu Lioness stares at a herd of kudu having a drink in the Sand River. The scene was too perfect, golden afternoon light, clear view and a sandy background.

The Three Rivers Female leads her cub to a kill. Mother leopards will leave their cubs in a safe area while they go and hunt, if the mother is successful she will go and collect the cub and take it to the kill.

A big tusker. A large elephant bull drinks at a small waterhole. Elephants use their trunks to suck up the water that they then release into their mouths as seen here.

A zebra portrait in colour. The light that streamed through the clouds created a warm effect and I had to also post the colour of the light that day.

A Gabar Goshawk kills a laughing dove in mid-air. I could not believe the power of the Gabar Goshawk as you can see here that it is not that much bigger than the laughing dove yet it can fly with the dove within its talons.

Sunrise over the Sand River.

The Gijima Male. A side profile of the large Gijima Male. This was the first time I saw this coalition and I was so impressed with their size and beauty.

A black and white portrait of the Gijima male. I love the contrast in his mane and texture of his face in black and white.

The Ngungwe Female stares through the red/green leaves of a jackalberry tree. She had a hoisted impala kill in the tree above her. She rests on this branch while staring into the Sand River, making it a perfect shot to demonstrate the hidden lives of leopards.

Exciting times as the Wahlberg’s Eagles have started to migrate back to Londolozi. It was a cloudy sunrise and we found this pale morph Wahlberg’s Eagle perched on this dead tree. There are many different coloured morphs of this eagle but the pale morph is my favourite.

An elephant calf throws sand on itself to help thermoregulate. The golden backlight was too beautiful to resist and created a glow around the calf.

A painted dog stares into the golden sunset. I love the colour of its eyes here and this warm light. Often when the sun starts to set, painted dogs will start to get active for one last hunt before the darkness of the night emerges.

A black and white close-up of the Ngungwe Female. She watches over a herd of elephants that passed below her. The elephants showed no signs of noticing her resting above them in the jackalberry tree.

A warthog drinks at the waterhole. The vibrant green duckweed created an unusual foreground.

This time of year all the grey herons at the causeway in the Sand River either have chicks or eggs. It has been fun to watch these chicks hatch and grow over the last few days. There is an island of reeds, palms and grey herons that one should not miss when visiting Londolozi.

Two elephant calves walk side by side while on of the calf’s mother’s trunk emerges between them.

A mother elephant and her calves approach. I am always amazed of how silent this large animals walk.

A southern ground-hornbill hunts the grasslands. these birds will feed on anything from tortoises to snakes.

The Kambula Lioness. A portrait of this lioness’s stare with the light capturing her eye.

A side profile of the Kambula Lioness as she sniffs the air.

The Southern Avoca male growls as the Ntsevu lioness walks next to him. They were seen together for a few days and we were lucky enough to see them mate right in front of us.

The Southern Avoca Male. We do not often see him but we have seen him a few times in the last two weeks in the northern parts of Londolozi.

The buffalo bull that stands out in the chaos of the herd.

The mother cheetah. She stares at a herd of impala in the distance. The patience, power and gentle care of a mother cheetah is admirable, especially when she has to face many hardships everyday being so low on the predator hierarchy.

The cheetah cubs have got to an age now that they are starting to practice stalking one another which is often very entertaining to watch.

Cheetah cubs circle the base of a long-tailed cassia tree. I love how the tail of the one cub frames the other cubs face as it yawns.

The cheetah cub gets our heart racing in the hopes that it will climb the tree but it pauses at the base of the tree popping its head around the corner.

The three cheetah cubs chase and stalk each other. This is important for them to develop stalking skills and their muscles.

A cheetah cub climbs a long-tailed cassia tree. Notice how long their legs are making it look quite awkward climbing this tree.

A cheetah cub stares into the grasslands scanning just like its mother does. I really love their fluffy coats and that it was glowing in the morning light here.