Over the past month, rangers have had a few great sightings of a new young male leopard who’s been exploring the Londolozi area. With most of the spotlight being on all of the recent lion dynamics unfolding across the reserve, the leopards have quietly kept to their elusive selves and seemingly slipped away into the shadows of a strong presence of lions.
It is always exciting coming across a new leopard, and such was the case for a few rangers who found a young male just over a month ago for the first time – the Kangela Male leopard makes an official appearance on Londolozi. I thought it would be of interest to shed a little more light on this beautiful young male:
He was born in December 2019 to the Schotia Female leopard who is found to the west of Londolozi on Singita, our friendly neighbours. His father is the late Nyeleti Male.
A rustle in the dry wintery grass catches his attention.
A supremely relaxed male leopard, roaming a nomadic journey for the time being.
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He and his mother have been a regular duo in Singita in recent years until his independence in June of 2021. He is a supremely relaxed leopard, which makes for phenomenal viewing and wonderful photographic opportunities.
Although at this stage there have only been a handful of sightings of him, so the photos that we have of him are quite limited. I was very grateful for these lovely pictures from Ranger Kate Arthur.
The word Kangela means “to look with curious eyes”
Young males tend to be nomadic, in search of places that are not frequented by bigger, territorial males. This means that they will usually be found in areas that are often quite secluded and very under the radar. At three and a half years old, he is not yet at the stage where he will be physically strong enough to take on territorial males such as the Flat Rock Male or Senegal Bush Male. He certainly will need to tread lightly in his future explorations into Londolozi.
The big question is whether he will stick around or not. It is always tough to say with young male leopards. They roam and explore vast areas before eventually settling and becoming territorial. As we have seen with the Ntomi Male, whose sightings have been very sporadic lately. He has sometimes been found in the afternoons close to 6km from where he was found that same morning. The Kangela Male is no different.
We hope that he continues to pop up every now and again going forward. Be sure to stay tuned for any further sightings and updates on this young male leopard.
Matt Rochford
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