We were sitting with a large herd of buffalo on our eastern boundary, just south of our north-east corner. Impala were alarming nearby, slightly west of us, but in the middle of the rutting season, the territorial calls of the males as they chase each other round and vie for the right to mate with females can often be confused with alarm calls. It takes a keen ear to appreciate the difference, but in this case, we were convinced that the impala had seen something. We had only just arrived at the buffalo herd and it was a really beautiful sighting with the dawn light just touching their backs, so ranger Melvin Sambo and tracker Milton Khoza who were just ahead of us and who had been with the buffalo for some time, said that they would go and investigate while we stayed with the bovines.
Barely five minutes later Melvin’s voice came softly over the radio that they had found a female leopard and her cub moving along the northern boundary. Even with his voice lowered, I could hear the excitement in it, and so we quickly forgot about the buffalo and moved towards Melvin’s position.
Now, our northeastern section does not have many roads. It is a difficult area to track in, and sightings of big game, particularly the cats, are uncommon. However, it is for this reason exactly that I find the area so appealing. It is here that the Styx pride is most likely to be found, or an unknown leopard, or the 5:5 male who still patrols on Londolozi from time to time. If you DO find something, it will almost certainly be an unusual sighting, or at least one of an animal not often viewed, and you will most likely have at the most one other vehicle there with you.
We had decided to drive along our boundary purely for the high risk/high reward factor, and after finding the buffalo we were happy with the gamble. But the area was only just getting started.
Not knowing who the female leopard was, or how old the cub was that Melvin had just seen, we approached cautiously in case it was still very young and not relaxed around vehicles.
Slowly freewheeling down the hill to where Melvin was parked, we caught our first glimpse of the female leopard, standing just off the track in the grass, calling to her cub.
She moved off a good 50m, stopping all the time to turn and call, and we held our collective breaths as we awaited our first sight of the cub. Eagle-eyed tracker Mike Sithole, who spots anything way before the rest of the vehicle, suddenly pointed out a very small shape moving through the dew-laden grass a short distance behind it’s mother.
Our first view of the cub as it emerged from the thicket. Shooting with a 200mm lens was a slight drawback as we were having to keep well back so as not to frighten the cub. This sighting was not about capturing photographs however, more about enjoying an amazing experience.
The cub was tiny! Probably only around 3 months old, it was still nervous of vehicles, and it had probably been taken on very few excursions by the female, who we had by now identified as the Campbell Koppies 2:2 young female leopard.
A beautiful female, the Campbell Koppies young female is identified by a notch in her left ear and a 2:2 spot pattern.
We followed at a distance, with the cub trotting along next to its mother, stealing an occasional glance behind it to make sure we were not coming too close.
Making sure we are keeping our distance, the cub glances back once more.
It was incredibly special to see such a diminutive little animal for the first time, even from afar.
Its little legs doing twice the work of its mothers to cover the same distance, the little cub powers up the donga.
Obscured slightly by the branch of a tamboti tree, this was nevertheless an amazing view as the cub glanced back at us from the other side of the drainage line.
The female stayed on the sandy track for a long time, relatively content to let us follow them for awhile, until after what was probably almost a kilometre, she decided to move off the track and into the thickets. We lost sight of them as they moved through the undergrowth, but our hearts were still beating fast for the rest of the morning, knowing what a special thing we had just witnessed…
Written and Photographed by James Tyrrell
The little one is so cute! What happened to the Dudley Riverbank Female’s cub? Haven’t heard of her in ages
Hope we see them too, later this week!!! Such a tiny little one!
Looking forward to having you to stay with us Mary Beth.
Absolutely gorgeous !
Great mother/cub shots!
Lovely pictures. Beautiful cub and mother. I would have ben exciting too, if I was there. Thank you for the wonderful story and pictures.
I was at your wonderful Londolozi a little over a year ago, and was also wandering what happen to Dudley Riverbank female an her cub
The Dudley Riverbank female is still doing fine, and although the cub has not been viewed for some weeks, tracks of the two of them together have been found regularly in the deep south-east. The game-viewing further north, closer to camp, has been excellent of late, and not many vehicles have been making it all the way down into the Dudley Riverbank area to look for the pair.
Have a look at http://blog.londolozi.com/2013/03/the-dudley-riverbank-cub/ for a more detailed report on the Dudley Riverbank female and cub from a few weeks ago.
James
Thanks for the info! So we can presume that the cub is alive and well…
I would think so, but we will confirm the next time the cub is seen. Most leopard cub mortalities occur within their first year. Once they get past those first 12 months, the mortality rate drops off exponentially. The DRB cub was born in around April last year, so it is out of the woods as far as the statistics go…
James
Shardool a sad update is that the cub was killed by hyenas shortly after this blog went out, east of our boundary.
James
Ahhh so cute…its awesome thank you!!!!
Once again James you have excelled yourself – these are stunning pics, not obscure at all, a privilege to see such a little one. Oh keep them coming, while I sit at home “drooling” over the pics & write ups you post. Thank you
Thank you for a small glimpse into the world of this beautiful leopard and her cub
Thankyou it is a wonderful story and the pictures are stunning. Roy Taback.