Rainy and windy conditions, of which we have had a fair amount of late, do not bode well for leopard viewing. The elusive felines often choose to hunker down in thick bushes and shelter themselves until the storm passes. However, there is a silver lining. The first couple days of sunshine following a few rainy days are almost guaranteed to be filled with activity as the bush comes to life once again. Come these sunny days, one of the many things on a leopard’s agenda is to patrol his or her territory. The rains would typically wash away their previous scent marks, which requires them to stake out their boarders again to refortify their turf.
Our first view of the Senegal Bush male one morning as he came over a small rise in the road. It had only just gone 05:30am and we were in for a spectacular morning.
One of my recent guest’s stays involved two days of poor weather and two days of sunny weather, in that order. We struggled for the first two days to find any leopards but, on our second morning, conditions had improved and things were looking promising. As we left camp at sunsrise, we were notified that the tracker academy had found a male leopard on the move quite close to camp. We didn’t hesitate to join them and soon found ourselves with the Senegal Bush male, strolling at a steady pace and scent marking along the way.
From time to time something would catch his attention; be it a small spurfowl that flushed from the grass or the distant call of some zebras.
The Senegal Bush male is approaching 9 years of age and has been a territorial male in the Sabi Sands for some years now. However he only began to establish himself on Londolozi during the course of mid-late 2019 after being forced from his former grounds further east by another younger male. He arrived at Londolozi relatively skittish and at times even aggressive towards our vehicles, which made viewing him quite a challenge a lot of the time. Despite being a leopard that has been viewed by people his whole life, this behaviour can arise when a dominant male is pushed out of his comfort zone and into an unfamiliar area.
He moved at a consistent pace, only stopping to scent mark or smell the scent of another leopard that had been through the area. Males like him have large territories that need to be maintained and they can easily cover between five and ten kilometres, sometimes more, in a night.
What we have witnessed more recently though is how relaxed he has started to become again around us. This is a clear indication that he has grown to be comfortable in his new territory having ousted the Inyathini male some months ago. This is no surprise though. He has been seen not only to have staked out a prime piece of leopard real estate but has begun to expand on what he already has, now moving further north towards the camps. He has seemingly gained more confidence with having a secure area which has made viewing him a lot easier.
A small flock of blue waxbills had been alerted to the presence of the leopard and started to frantically call from on top of a nearby bushwillow. He seemed quite undisturbed by their alarming and simply gave them a glance as he walked on by.
Eventually, after nearly an hour of following him, something caught his attention to the west of the road. Moments after this photo was taken, he stopped and paused to listen, still looking in that direction, before making a turn into a thick and impenetrable (for us in the vehicle!) small, dry river bed. A clear sign that our time with him that day was over.
On this particular morning he treated us to a fantastic display of territorial behaviour as he allowed us to stick with him for nearly an hour as scent marked the norther reaches of his territory. He moved swiftly along the two-tracks, avoiding the long grass on its edges and only veering off to rub up against a small bush willow or guarri bush to leave his scent behind. Feeling completely spoilt by what we were experiencing, we soaked up every moment, taking a few photographs and videos to capture the memories.
What a beautiful animal… a unique experience! You shared the same territory and he didn’t acted aggressively any more. This is a great result to be proud of!
Handsome boy
sounds like a great morning!! wish I could have been there!! thank you! Victoria
He is very powerful looking with broad shoulders.
Isn’t this the one that is brother to Quarantine Male and was called Kunyuma? His name was changed then when he left the area (always confusing to me). He never liked vehicles from the time he was little. Always snarled! Qmale was never bothered. I loved watching them with mom Karula
Hi Mary,
Yes that’s correct, the Senegal Bush Male is also referred to as the Kunyuma male.
Fantastic Chris we are so excited to see the Senegal bush male. Looks as if he is more relaxed and excepts the Land Rover following him. He is such a majestic leopard and stays one of my favourite leopards. I wonder what happened to his ear, looks like a tear in his ear.
Hi Valmai. The majority of older leopards have quite tattered and torn margins to their ears purely from wear and tear over the years. Two of the main causes would be from fights with other males and swatting from females during mating bouts.
Hi Chris, what has happened to the Inyathini male – did the Senegal Bush male oust him completely from his territory? When I saw him on my last visit (Sept.’19) his territory was already diminishing as younger males were testing the boundaries, and we saw even his son Tortoise Pan dominating him over a kill.
Hi Suzanne. We haven’t had any recent sights of the Inyathini male. He was last seen on Londolozi about two months ago if I remember correctly. We did however hear from our neighbouring reserve that he has been seen there more recently.
He was forced out of his old territory by the Senegal Bush male from the east, the Nweti male from the south and even the Mawelawela male to certain degree from the west. Given his age (approx. 13 years) he will likely never hold a strong territory again and has entered a final nomadic phase of his life. I put together a blog post a while back detailing his fall from dominance which you can read here https://blog.londolozi.com/2020/01/07/could-we-be-witnessing-the-fall-of-the-inyathini-male/
Love seeing Kunyuma (Senegal Bush Male). We saw him in Aug 2019 stealing from Plaque Rock female and being his normal snarly self! Glad to hear that he has mellowed and settled a bit! We WildEarth devotees love seeing all of Karula’s descendants.
Hi Chris, great article on this character of a leopard! I recall that when he was still in his natal territory, he was always quick to let vehicles know when close was close enough, although he was habituated. His brother, Quarantine Male, is the polar opposite, not caring much about vehicles and rarely snarling at them. Interested to know if the SBM has managed to mate and sire any potential cubs since he has been on Londolozi and if there has been any sign of a litter from the Mashaba Female?
Hi Michael,
The Senegal Bush male has successfully mated with several females since establishing himself on Londolozi including the Ximungwe, Three Rivers, Mashaba, Nhlanguleni and Nkoveni females (that we know of). None of the sired cubs have reached maturity just yet but there is certainly a chance that the current, newly discovered cub of the Ximungwe Female will belong to him.
We have some small suspicions that the Mashaba female could have another litter on the way but nothing has been confirmed yet but if she is found to have cubs in the next few weeks, they will likely belong to him as well.
Well done, Chris! He is a lovely looking Leopard but his age is showing a little bit in the one ear we saw which looked as if it had been clipped by a bus conductor! Wendy M
What a fantastic sighting for you and your guest, accompanying the Senegal Bush male on his patrol. Any leopard sighting is thrilling but there’s something about the size of the current lords of the Londolozi reserve that takes one’s breath away for a moment, before pushing that shutter button. I know that seeing him on my first day set the tone for the rest of my stay!
What a great morning for your guests Chris ! The Senegal male certainly has a very determined, almost mean look to his face. Hope to see him one day soon 🙏🏻💕
He is quite magnificent. Great photos. Much appreciated.
Great photographs and story of a great leopard Chris!
Fantastic photos of this magnificent male – huge paws, huge tummy too. That photo of him coming straight at you – chilling moment.