Recently long-standing guests, Rudi and Marion Vollborn, returned to Londolozi for their sixth time. They were here for two weeks and celebrated a renewing of their vows. Apart from this very special highlight, they were also treated to two weeks of incredible game viewing. Below is a selection of Marion’s favourite moments from their trip.
Enjoy!
The Xidulu female leopard’s cubs lounge in the boughs of a Marula Tree, waiting while their mother is out hunting. We have been watching these youngsters on the blog for a while now and feel very fortunate to have spent so much time with them the last few weeks.
The Xidulu youngsters play together. It’s so special when a female leopard is successful in raising a number of cubs in one litter because they then have a mate to play with when she leaves them to go hunting.
The young Xidulu male leopard snarls at his sister as she tries to approach the carcass he was guarding. Being predominantly solitary animals upon maturity they do not enjoy sharing meals and typically feed off carcasses one at a time.
With the onset of rain and the summer season, young animals are being born all over Londolozi. Here two warthog piglets race towards the safety of their mother.
Two of the Majingilane males rest on the airstrip at dawn. We positioned the vehicle away from them and in a slight depression to get this angle angle shot.
Two of the Majingilane male lions drink from a small pan. Due to the summer rains, these pans are filling all over Londolozi meaning that animals do not have to concentrate around the river as much.
We were fortunate enough to see the Flat Rock Male and the Mashaba Female mate a few times during our stay but this was my favourite sighting due to their beautiful, clear reflection in the pan.
I love to visit Londolozi during the summer months due to the small creatures that emerge at this time of the year. Here I captured the menacing tail of a scorpion at dusk.
Here the Nanga female’s cubs play his in a tree. These cubs are younger than the Xidulu female’s cubs which you can see by their size and lighter eye colour.
One of the Nanga female’s cubs rests on her stomach after suckling. Although these cubs are eating meat, they are still reliant on their mother for milk.
The Nkoveni female leopard rests in a tree at dusk. This vantage point provides her with a good place to look and listen out for prey so that should she choose to hunt under the cover of darkness, she will have a good sense of which direction to go in.
The Majingilane coalition cross the Sand River at night. It is incredibly impressive to watch this coalition on the move and to hear them roaring in unison.
aaaawesome ♡♡♡
have you seen the hipscar majingilane? if so how is he? thank you!
Hi Danny. No we haven’t seen him as he hasn’t been with the rest of the coalition so unfortunately I can’t report on his condition. Thanks, Amy
much appreciated
Thanks to the Vollborns for sharing their special moments at Londolozi. Fantastic to see the young leopards, perhaps they might be the ones we spent time with. I hope to be fortunate enough to visit Londolozi five more times!
Wow, what a fantastic experience made even more memorable by the incredible images you have captured. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to decide what time of year to visit.
Brilliant photos! Especially love the double leopard portraits and of course the baby cubs! How lucky were you!!