It was about this time last year that we said our final goodbye to the 3:4 Female as she slipped into that immortal realm of great Londolozi Leopards. This autumn it is with immense sadness that we report the loss of the Sunset-Bend Female as she joins that exclusive club.
Sunset Bend Female was born in August 1992 and provided some unbelievable Leopard viewing at Londolozi until her death in 2010.
Wild Leopards like all cats are private in death. It’s generally impossible to know when an obituary is due. When they are not seen for some time and their favourite walks no longer bear evidence of their movements – then I guess it’s time to suspect the worst. We know she was mauled by the Sparta lionesses as she tried to steal a meal. What desperation she must have been in. A subsequent sighting confirmed our worst fears that the extent of her injuries would prove fatal.
Recently it’s been a bit hollow driving through the ancient grove of leadwood trees on Monza drive knowing that she just isn’t around the next corner. The Sunset-Bend female is gone and for a little while it’s going to feel that she’s taken some soul from her territory too.
She would be 17 now, a good age for a great leopard. She was large and golden, relaxed and unhurried. She was a leopard of leisure, deliberate and sure. She was also possibly the best mother we’ve had in recent times and her legacy is a Londolozi littered with her genetic magnificence: Vomba, Xidulu and Ravenscourt to name just a few.
Beyond that legacy, her relationship with us has contributed greatly to the preservation of this land and the success of its human inhabitants. The choice she made to share her life with us has helped create an appreciation of wild spaces by so many and helped advance the wilderness frontier. Those sunlit afternoons were always about more than just photographs, and for that Londolozi and its visitors owe Sunset-Bend a massive debt of gratitude. Thank You.
So it is farewell Sunset-Bend. You’ll not read this and never know fully the high regard in which you were held, but as your many admirers read this perhaps those warm feelings of love will pass into the ether -wherever you may be I hope those sentiments pass your way.
Written by: Tom Imrie
Photography by: Gavin Lautenbach
Filmed by: Rich Laburn
Thanks Tom very well written, great sadness as another legend passes. She was my personal favourite, the biggest most beautiful female leopard that I and anyone lucky enough to encounter would agree. Initially not very comfortable in our presence but after some time she eventually let us into her life and many of her young. Her legacy remains, she was an incredibly successful mother raising many cubs and holding such a prime territory. I remember her fondly and drove the eastern portions of Londoz as often as possible hoping to get a glimpse of her, the fact that she spent a lot of time next door made every sighting of her that much more special. Monza drive always rated as my favourite road, not only because of the massive leadwood trees, sodic areas,the vlei and the Mxabene but because of a possible encounter with the Sunsetbend Female. She will be missed but her independent young have moved in to take her place and remind us of the perfect leopard she was.
Thomas that is truly marvellous writing.
Tom when are you going to write a book?/
Thank you Thomas. Thank you Sunsetbend, so many breathtaking moments in your company.
What a beautiful obituary Tom … (at the risk of sounding completely esoteric or cheesy – or both) I’m sure she’ll feel the love that just emanates from those words.
Wow – Londolozi is an unbelievably magical place, filled with incredible souls all round.
Summed up so well. Having worked at MM I got see this beautiful cat over a five year period and she was my favourite female leopard and an excellent mother. Thanks for all the great sightings and memories Ngoboswan Female.
WOW, wonderfully written Tom. You can definitely feel the love and respect of this awesome legend in every word. Beautiful photos and filming from Gavin and Rich as well.
With heavy heart to the ones that were blessed to see her often, she was such a beauty.
It has been a great privilege to research her and her family tree over time.
RIP Sunsetbend/Ngoboswan Female – a Legend gone but never forgotten
What a beautiful girl she was….she provided many beautiful memories and photos for us! It is very heartbreaking and sad that she is gone!
I never followed or knew of this site until recently but i mourn when any big cat loses their live they r human to me.Thank you for posting video beautiful
SunsetBend
In Requiem Semper Iter Nam
It is a warm, lazy
Languid day.
A continent, an ocean away,
Electronic death.
Yet pixels transform,
Tiny stars glimmer
Into your
Constellation.
From deeper recesses,
Recalls liquid heat,
Verdant bush, pungent dung.
I feel the warmth, again.
Sunsetbend with royal light
In the bushveld of the night,
No unraveling your feline tapestries.
For who among us can comprehend?
We shed a tear
But for ourselves,
Bereft of toothsome, fearless face
Silent whispered Ancient Grace.
In fields of green, in fields of gold
In timeless hollows, trees of old
Lie quiet now in sweet repose.
No rippling rosettes,
Just darkened rings,
On prowl forever:
Protector of All Things.
Thanks for all your thoughts, comments and kind words about Sunsetbend. Michael thanks in particular for the poem. Laura, the book is on the way – children’s bushveld fantasy starring Sunsetbend and significant others ;-0
The sad thing is I was driving the Thomas family who at the moment are probably ‘stalking’ Ernie on the fairways at Wentworth. They came in April and we found Sunsetbend at Shingalana Dam. We were watching elephants drink when Sunsetbend silently sidled up to the car. The first thing I said was, “This is brilliant, but oh so sad as this could be the last time I will ever get to see her.” Unfortunately it turned out to be quite prophetic…
Every generation at MM and Londolozi will have their own Sunsetbend, which makes you just realise how eternal the bushveld really is.
Tom
It’s wonderful to see how many people cherish those gracious and powerful cats! They become so familiar and cause such a pain when they are gone…………….But I am certain her legacy will live on!
Just so sad! I love nature, but when the cat’s kill each other, it is very sad! But I know this is the circle of life!
A wonderful tribute to a beautiful leopardess. It has always amazed me that the creatures of the wild choose to trust us and let us into their lives, then I read and view a tribute such as this and I understand why!
Thank You!!! God bless You for Your tribute and Your love to animals!!!