Leopards of Londolozi

Showcasing: The Mashaba 3:3 Female

February 20, 2012

Leopards are named according to the territories they hold and a young leopard takes on the name of its mother until they are independent and have established a territory of its own. The Vomba Young Female is the offspring of the Vomba Female and as such, until now, has kept her mothers name. She is [...]

The Week in Pictures # 31

February 17, 2012

As we settled back into bush life this week, we continued to enjoy tracking our feline friends, but also spent time with many of the smaller animals. Birds are abundant at this time of year, and the Marula fruits are attracting animals from elephants to insects. The rain continues to hold off, giving us hot [...]

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Update on the Tutlwa Female

February 15, 2012

It has been over three weeks since the big floods that changed the course and appearance of the Sand River. Only in the last few days have the water levels subsided enough for us to be able to rebuild Taylor’s Crossing and so enter the northern parts of Londolozi. On the very first drive north [...]

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The Week in Pictures # 30

February 10, 2012

This week brought sunshine and – for the most part – clear skies, giving the flood-ridden land a chance to dry out a bit. As we began to traverse more areas around Londolozi with decreasing risk of getting stuck in the mud, we found more and more of our old friends safe and sound. Admittedly, [...]

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Three Years at Londolozi-Part 1 (2009)

February 9, 2012

Generally speaking there are two different types of guides-those that are in it for the long haul and will make a career of it, and those that are here for a few years of bush experience. I came to Londolozi on 15 January 2009, fresh out three years of articles and board exams with KPMG [...]

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How to Photograph Leopards 101

January 26, 2012

Despite the absence of our weekly regular, David Dampier (owing to his leave), I still wanted to put out an album of leopards this week. Browsing through a selection of my images I thought it would be useful to compare a variety of photographs, explaining why I took them in a particular way; the settings [...]

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Africa Exposed

January 25, 2012

“As a child I had always wanted to visit Africa and go on Safari. To see firsthand the natural bushveld, get up close and personal with the animals and experience the call of the wild. At the end of 2011 a lifelong dream came true when I had the opportunity of going on safari to [...]

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The Week in Pictures # 29

January 20, 2012

This week started off beautifully with some fantastic sightings of the Sparta Pride and their new cubs, a pack of Wild Dogs crossing the Sand River and an unknown Female Leopard in the North. The Majingilane Males were seen interacting with the Sparta Pride cubs which bodes well for the future considering the dynamic which [...]

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No Fast Food Here

January 18, 2012

No fast food here – A Londolozi Leopard’s ordeal just to get a good meal. One thing you won’t see at the zoo is a leopard killing its prey and then climbing 50 feet above the ground to stash it on a top branch of a nearby tree. This featured video provides an inside look [...]

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Camp Pan mates with Tamboti Female

January 14, 2012

The Camp Pan male was in full force this week as he mated with the Tamboti female. This young female has developed more and more of a territory for herself along the central eastern areas of Sparta, Londolozi. With the Dudley 5:5 Male Leopard infrequently visiting this area, there are no other competing male leopards [...]

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The Week in Pictures # 28

January 13, 2012

Sometimes when guests ask, ‘When is the best time of the year to come to Londolozi?’, my response is that if you are a photographer, and interested in the big mammals, then winter is preferable. The dry weather provides clear skies, excellent light, and less dense vegetation to block the view. This week, however, I [...]

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The Leopards of Londolozi # 18

January 11, 2012

Love was in the air this week as the Camp Pan Male and Tamboti Female spent over five days together-hopefully creating a new set of cubs for a few months time. The Vomba Young Female was also prominent this week, spending a number of days feeding on a wildebeest calf that she managed to bring [...]

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The Week in Pictures #27

January 6, 2012

This week was abundant with leopard sightings, as David Dampier mentioned on Wednesday. There were many familiar faces, but perhaps what was most interesting for me was seeing some leopards new to the area. We are so fortunate at Londolozi to view leopards that are very relaxed with the game drive vehicles, and because of [...]

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Leopards Of Londolozi #17

January 4, 2012

The past seven days have produced some amazing sightings of leopard and I was fortunate enough to witness quite a number of them. From a photographic point of view, they were extremely co-operative, going about their business in some beautiful light and surroundings. Hopefully some of the photos below do some justice to another fabulous [...]

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The Best of the Londolozi Blog 2011

January 1, 2012

It’s New Years Day 2012 and here at Londolozi we wish you all a very prosperous and absolutely brilliant year ahead. 2011 was mind-blowing throughout Londolozi and much of it was reflected right here on the blog. Right from the beginning of the year we knew that the pride dynamics were going to be interesting [...]

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The Week in Pictures #26

December 30, 2011

This week, through the deluge of rain over Christmas and the hot, humid and termite-filled aftermath, the bush was full of diversity. We had some great highlights including some fantastic leopard sightings, but unfortunately also some lowlights with the most recent Tsalala Pride incident. My dear friend Shaun, who was a faithful follower and supporter [...]

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Leopards of Londolozi #16

December 28, 2011

This week saw a number of interesting happenings on the leopard front. The Tutlwa Female was seen hunting and killing an impala lamb and the Vomba Female keeps returning to the same inaccessible area in the Sand River, reinforcing our suspicions that she may have cubs. The sighting of the week, however had to go [...]

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The Leopards of Londolozi # 14

December 14, 2011

After being on leave it has been some time since the last leopard post. This week the leopards, for a change, played second fiddle to some of the other happenings on Londolozi, despite having some great sightings of them. The news of the “back-from-the-dead” Tsalala cub was an especially big one. However, the leopards, particularly [...]

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The Week in Pictures # 23

December 9, 2011

Summer is now in full swing at Londolozi. As Adam mentioned on Wednesday, there are babies everywhere hiding amongst the thick green vegetation. The cascading call of the Woodlands kingfisher competes with the shrill Red-chested cuckoo’s song with the constant buzz of Christmas beetles during the day, and at night a chorus of frogs emanates [...]

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7 Leopards in 7 Days

December 6, 2011

Yes! Seven leopards in seven days thanks to the special eyes of my tracker, Solly Mhlongo, and ranger, Adam Bannister. Knowing Londolozi is famous for their leopards still did not prepare me for this amazing adventure. Having the opportunity to spend so much time obseving their behavior gave me a better sense of how unique each leopard is. Their lineage, behavior and territory is known intimately by the rangers and explained with passion to the guests of Londolozi. I know my photos and my few words can’t capture what it feels like to be in the presence of these magnificent creatures and among such wonderful people of Londolozi…

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Jerry Hambana gets into photography!

December 2, 2011

The photography bug really has taken hold of everyone here at Londolozi. Here we feature something a little bit different from pictures taken by our talented guiding team. Instead we show off some of the work taken by our newest up and coming photographer…one of our most talented trackers Jerry Hambana…

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John Varty – A Life With Leopards # 5

November 28, 2011

John Varty (JV) is an acclaimed wildlife filmmaker, conservationist, musician, author and one of the founders of Londolozi Game Reserve. He has dedicated his life to the conservation of Big Cats, most notably the leopard. During the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s JV’s wildlife films drew attention and awareness to the beauty, behaviour and lives of these phenomenal cats of which Londolozi is proudly home to. JV’s most recent film, Leopard Queen, is currently being screened on Nat Geo Wild and features two decades worth of footage of the famed Londolozi leopard ‘3:4‘. In this the fifth of a series of interviews with John Varty, he talks openly about 3:4′s life, behaviour and her phenomenal life as a Leopards of Londolozi…

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Marthly Male Hunts Warthog

November 26, 2011

We were just about to leave camp when we heard the rasping call of a big male leopard in the distance. I looked at Richard Siwela (my tracker) and suggested to him that it might be Camp Pan. However Richard disagreed as he seemed to think that this call, although deep, was not as loud [...]

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John Varty – A Life With Leopards # 4

November 24, 2011

John Varty (JV) is an acclaimed wildlife filmmaker, conservationist, musician, author and one of the founders of Londolozi Game Reserve. He has dedicated his life to the conservation of Big Cats, most notably the leopard. During the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s JV’s wildlife films drew attention and awareness to the beauty, behaviour and lives of these phenomenal cats of which Londolozi is proudly home to. JV’s most recent film, Leopard Queen, is currently being screened on Nat Geo Wild and features two decades worth of footage of the famed Londolozi leopard ’3:4′. In this the second of a series of interviews with John Varty, he talks about 3:4′s life as a cub and how leopards behave when raising cubs and dispersing their young at different stages of maturity…

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Nyeleti Young Female Leopard

November 22, 2011

One has to page through the Londolozi sightings book all the way back to 13 March 2011 so as to find the last confirmed sighting of the Nyeleti 4:4 Female… since then she has all but disappeared. Now we as Rangers are very hesitant to declare an animal as dead but one has to think [...]

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On Safari at Londolozi

November 17, 2011

Renowned photographer Ryan Graham was recently at Londolozi taking pictures of everything from the rooms to the wildlife to the members of the Londolozi family. In this post, we showcase Ryan’s stunning images taken whilst out in the field…

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The Leopards of Londolozi # 13

November 16, 2011

As promised last week, this week is purely black and white shots. Many people are of the opinion that a leopard should never be displayed in black and white, as their coat is simply too beautiful for that. For the most part, this is probably correct. However in certain situations a photo that is quite [...]

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The Week in Pictures # 20

November 11, 2011

If you’ve ever been on a game drive with Freddy and me, you’ll know that our favourite thing to do is find an individual animal, or a group of animals, and stay with them watching their behaviour for as long as possible. The ability to do this relatively often is one of the very special things about Londolozi. In my opinion, that is what being out here is all about: you can go down a checklist of animals at a zoo just to ‘see’ them, but to actually be a part of a wild animal’s life, watching how it goes about surviving every day in its own environment, is incredibly unique to coming on a safari. This week I’ve highlighted a few leopard sightings where we did just this: stayed with the animals for almost the entire game drive, witnessing behaviours both distinctive of the individual as well as a few patterns. Enjoy this Week in Pictures…

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The Leopards of Londolozi # 12

November 9, 2011

This week included yet more amazing leopard interactions, including kills, cubs and, as always, Camp Pan Male! Having spent a number of extra long days out in the field, I was lucky enough to witness and photograph quite a number of these. Enjoy this week’s installment!

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The Week in Pictures # 19

November 4, 2011

This week, the rains really came. We had several days where there was little break in precipitation, resulting in thickening green growth, vibrant colours, a rising river and many animals refreshed by both the water and nutritious vegetation. Most evenings carried the soft lulls of thunder the whole night through, with lions roaring intermittently and the frogs competing for their calls to be heard. As David Dampier mentioned in his post this week, rain brings a challenge to photography… but we luckily had some breaks where we were able to capture a few shots. Enjoy this Week in Pictures…

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The Leopards of Londolozi # 11

November 2, 2011

As mentioned last week, the rains have well and truly arrived and the bush is quickly transforming itself. This can make tracking a little more difficult at times, and keeping your camera equipment dry while trying to get some good shots can also be a challenge! However there was still plenty to see in the [...]

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The Week in Pictures # 18

October 28, 2011

This week the weather became significantly warmer, with the occasional unpredicted thunderstorm. Spring seems in the air more than ever, and I think the most appropriate theme for this week was the emergence of small things: birds, creepy crawlies as well as new arrivals. We had chicks, pups, cubs and calves, all of which of course made us very happy! Enjoy this week in pictures…

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John Varty – A Life With Leopards # 3

October 27, 2011

John Varty (JV) is an acclaimed wildlife filmmaker, conservationist, musician, author and one of the founders of Londolozi Game Reserve. He has dedicated his life to the conservation of Big Cats, most notably the leopard. During the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s JV’s wildlife films drew attention and awareness to the beauty, behaviour and lives of these phenomenal cats of which Londolozi is proudly home to. JV’s most recent film, Leopard Queen, is currently being screened on Nat Geo Wild and features two decades worth of footage of the famed Londolozi leopard ‘3:4‘. In this the third of a series of interviews with John Varty, he talks about how 3:4 responded to her cub being eaten by an African Rock Python…

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The Leopards of Londolozi # 10

October 26, 2011

Although last week was always going to be tough to beat, there was still plenty of activity amongst the leopards these past few days, including an interesting interaction between the Camp Pan Male and his son, the Maxabene 3:2 Young Male. In addition, you will also notice the colours of the photos beginning to change, [...]

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The Week in Pictures # 17

October 21, 2011

Last week I promised leopards for this week, and did they ever deliver! As the weather gets more unpredictable, the days mixed with thunderstorms and summer sunshine, the bush is getting greener and the variety of creatures big and small grows. We had a few truly memorable cat sightings and a highlight for me was discovering some very small hyenas. Enjoy this Week in Pictures…

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The Leopards of Londolozi # 9

October 19, 2011

This week was truly a bumper week for leopard sightings, and in particular, leopard on kills. It seems perhaps that with the onset of the first summer thunderstorms, the extra cover provided by the dark, cloudy skies, strong wind and thunder, has enabled slightly easier hunting conditions. As such, there were numerous sightings of various different leopard feeding on kills including impala,duiker, nyala and bushbuck. As always, enjoy…

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John Varty – A Life With Leopards # 2

October 18, 2011

John Varty (JV) is an acclaimed wildlife filmmaker, conservationist, musician, author and one of the founders of Londolozi Game Reserve. He has dedicated his life to the conservation of Big Cats, most notably the leopard. During the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s JV’s wildlife films drew attention and awareness to the beauty, behaviour and lives of these phenomenal cats of which Londolozi is proudly home to. JV’s most recent film, Leopard Queen, is currently being screened on Nat Geo Wild and features two decades worth of footage of the famed Londolozi leopard ‘3:4‘. In this the second of a series of interviews with John Varty, he talks openly about 3:4′s life, behaviour and her phenomenal life as a Leopards of Londolozi…

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Camp Pan’s Still Got It!

October 17, 2011

It appears as if the Camp Pan Male Leopard has bounced back to his old majestic self. Over the last couple of months he had seemingly been deteriorating after his territory was rudely infiltrated by the much younger Dudley Riverbank 5:5 Male. Camp Pan is is a massive leopard and takes one’s breathe away when [...]

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A Night Time Safari Experience

October 15, 2011

A wonderful element of the Londolozi safari experience is the night drive! Once you have finished sipping on your gin and tonic having watched the sun sink below the Drakensberg Mountains it is time for us to turn on the spot light and drive around looking for the nocturnal creatures…

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The Week in Pictures # 16

October 14, 2011

Last week we had rain, and this week another crucial element of life in the bushveld – fire. Several controlled burns were conducted on Londolozi, which are essential to the nutrient cycle of the soil and making room for new, green growth. Fire is an important process which would naturally be created by lightning strikes. Post-fire, the burned areas brought us sightings with interesting colours as well as behaviours – the birds hunting on the exposed ground, and the herbivores feeding on the greenflush. I have purposefully left leopards out of this Week in Pictures (except for the Maxabene Young Male’s tail, below), mainly because David Dampier’s post earlier this week in Leopards of Londolozi contained such stunning images and the latest updates. More next week on leopards, but in the meantime, enjoy this Week in Pictures…

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The Leopards of Londolozi #8

October 12, 2011

After a few weeks leave it was good to get back and catch up with some of Londolozi’s most famous residents. Despite a few quiet days during the middle of the week, it was another busy seven days on the leopard front. Camp Pan Male in particular was making his presence felt and was seen almost daily, patrolling all his favorite spots. Hope you enjoy the selection…

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The Week in Pictures #15

October 7, 2011

Last week it became warmer, and with this week came another sign of summer… rain! Water is life, so we welcomed the storm clouds with open arms. Game viewing can be fantastic in the rain – after all, the animals are still here – and in particular, predators will sometimes use the rain to mask [...]

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John Varty – A Life With Leopards # 1

October 6, 2011

John Varty (JV) is an acclaimed wildlife filmmaker, conservationist, musician, author and one of the founders of Londolozi Game Reserve. He has dedicated his life to the conservation of Big Cats, most notably the leopard. During the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s JV’s wildlife films drew attention and awareness to the beauty, behaviour and lives of these phenomenal cats of which Londolozi is proudly home to. JV’s most recent film, Leopard Queen, is currently being screened on Nat Geo Wild and features two decades worth of footage of the famed Londolozi leopard ’3:4′. In this the first of a series of interviews with John Varty, he talks openly about his relationship with 3:4 and a life spent with the Leopards of Londolozi…

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The Week in Pictures # 14

September 30, 2011

As mentioned in last week’s Week in Pictures, the usual suspects are back! This week we were treated to a wonderful variety of landscapes, and creatures big and small. I was also very lucky to have some visitors from my native Bermuda, who clearly brought some great bush energy! Particular mention must go to an interesting interaction between two leopards, as well as the birthday of a pachyderm. There was also no shortage of lions this week. Enjoy this Week in Pictures…

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What’s Become of Camp Pan?

September 27, 2011

Since the conflict with the Dudley Riverbank 5:5 Young Male, the Camp Pan 4:2 Male Leopard has been seen less and less frequently. Hanging further south into his territory than usual, this dominant male seems to be getting pushed downwards by both the Marthly Male and the Dudley Riverbank 5:5 Young Male…

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Meet the Blog Team: David

September 20, 2011

The bush is a long way from the world of finance and few men manage to bridge the gap successfully. David ‘Doyle’ Dampier is one of those men and with a knack for capturing spectacular photographs of Londolozi’s most renowned and elusive leopards, he is one of the secret weapons in the Londolozi blog team.

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A Winning Shot

September 17, 2011

“We tracked the Maxabeni 3:2 young male leopard on an early morning drive a few months ago.” says ranger Mike Miller. “He appeared quite nervous and was always on the move. We could hear another leopard calling and assumed this younger leopard was being chased. We followed him for some time until we came across two warthogs fighting. He immediately took an interest in the warthogs, however they were so occupied in their fight that he snuck right up to them, getting to within a metre or two. Upon noticing him, the warthogs simply stopped for a second, sized him up and, realising he wasn’t a major threat, continued fighting…”

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The Week in Pictures # 12

September 16, 2011

Spring has sprung and the bush is changing. The evenings are becoming balmy, the Jackalberry trees are shedding their leaves making room for new growth, the Knobthorns are in full flower, and the migratory bird species are returning. This week we observed this metamorphosis along with the resulting adaptive behaviours of the animals, and had one particularly emotional and intense sighting which embraced the circle of life in a different way…

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The Leopards of Londolozi # 7

September 14, 2011

This week was yet another good week of leopard sightings. Included were kills, mating, cubs and many “regular” sightings of Londolozi’s most well known inhabitants. I also included some more camera settings which I will try and make a weekly addition for those who are interested. As always, enjoy…

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The Leopards of Londolozi # 6

September 7, 2011

In light of some of the comments from last week regarding photo settings and techniques, I have taken a slightly different approach to normal. This week have chosen photos, some recent and some older, which illustrate different situations encountered in the field and how to handle them using the setting available on most, if not all, digital SLR cameras. Most of what I have learnt has been either through fellow rangers with more experience, or through my own trial and error. I hope the information helps!

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