On a recent drive with well-renowned wildlife photographer, Sergey Gorshkov, we came across two large elephant bulls feeding alongside the road. Even though we were in search of a leopard, we couldn’t give up the chance for an intimate encounter with these gentle giants. As we marvelled at their detail and sheer size only feet away from us, tracker Lucky Shabangu turned to me and asked, “Can you see what’s in front of me?” Working together with Lucky and understanding his tone and expressions I knew it was something important. I peered around him and only a few yards away from Lucky’s feet, very close to the elephants, lay the Tatowa young male leopard. We had been so drawn into the size and power of the two pachyderms that none of us had turned our heads to the left.
The elephants seemed undeterred by the young male and went about their feeding activity. I don’t blame them. How would a fifty odd kilogram leopard have any impact on a four ton elephant?
The leopard seemed intrigued by the elephants’ movements and watched each individual closely. I guess it’s just the inquisitive nature of a young leopard.
Walking in between two giants. The Tatowa young male is framed by the belly and legs of one of the elephant bulls.
Eventually the leopard settled down in a small outcrop of boulders as beautiful evening light broke through the clouds. To confirm it was the Tatowa young male (born early in 2017) I searched through a few photos I had previously captured, only to suddenly realize that it was exactly one year prior to the day that I sat with Sergey in a late afternoon sighting of the Tatowa female and her two cubs and we were able to get a few great photographs of the male cub! The same male that now sat right in front of us!
It was amazing how his inquisitive character remained the same yet how much the male had grown in 365 days. We try not anthropomorphisize when it comes to animals yet I couldn’t help but immediately recognize the facial expression of this young male and how similar it was to the photo I had of him from when he was tiny. It was the first similarity I noticed before getting into detail of spot patterns.
The Tatowa female grooms one of her cubs in the early summer of 2017. This grooming relationship not only serves to clean the fur but to rekindle their bond.
The Tatowa female was one of a litter of three females born in early 2012 to the Ximpalapala female of the north.
A facial expression that immediately confirmed my identification of this young male leopard and a facial expression that hasn’t changed. On closer inspection one can see the identical spot pattern of each image above the top whisker line. December 08th 2017.
Larger and now independent yet there is still further growth and skill development to come. The Tatowa young male one year later. December 08th 2018.
This highlighting simply highlighted the joy we feel in experiencing changes in an environment us guides are lucky to spend our days in.
As this male grows he is more than likely to move off and establish a territory of his own. Although he is already independent he still needs time to grow and hone in his skills before competing with another male, mating with females and passing on his genes. It’s only a matter of time before we see him no more and he establishes territory out of his father’s (the Inyathini male) territory and hopefully furthers his own legacy.
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It is lovely to be able to look back and see how much an animal has grown and that he survived the first year. Great memories.
Jaw dropping surprise to see the same leopard as a cub and now one year later on the same exact day…..incredible! And….with the same guest!! I’m happy for you and Sergey. Those odds must be like winning the lottery. Yes, I can see the facial similarity clearly. You took some wonderful pictures also. I love seeing the Tatowa young male in the tree along with him on the rocks bathed in that lovely light. Not sure anyone at Londolozi will be as lucky as you with the same guest, same leopard, and same date one year later. Bragging rights for sure! Lol….
Wonderful, I have seen elephants (with calves) very , very alarmed by the presence of a leopard , so much so that the leopard had to escape through the tree canopy . These big bulls clearly were very unfazed . A wonderful sighting and some cracking photos
OMG! How incredible this encounter must have been for the two of you. I was thrilled just reading about sighting the young Tatowa male exactly one year after your first viewing of him with his mother. Your photos are perfect and his identifiable markings are quite apparent. Some of us are fortunate enough to observe one leopard a couple of times in one trip, but your good fortune surpasses all that. The leopard god was smiling on you!!
Great photos Alex
It’s great to see how he is has grown in a year’s time.