We had set out of camp slightly later than usual, the morning rays just high enough to bathe Londolozi in the beautiful morning light that this time of year is famous for. Sean Zeederberg had seen tracks of a female leopard walking straight down a road pretty close to camp. Our plan for the morning was to try and look for a leopard, so this was a good first lead. Tracker Shadrack and I hopped off the vehicle and started to following the tracks down the road.
Fresh evidence of a leopard that has just walked down the road early one morning. Leopards will often use roads as pathways upon which they demarcate their territory through scent marking and scraping of their hind feet. Follow the footprints for long enough and they will come to an end – there lies the leopard.
We soon came to realise that there wasn’t just one leopard that had walked along the road. There was a second pair of tracks slightly smaller than the female’s tracks. We both paused momentarily realising exactly what this meant. We simultaneously looked up at each other smiling – it had to be the Ximungwe Female Leopard and her cub! She had been moving around this exact area very frequently. Having a young male cub of roughly 6 months old at the time can prove fairly challenging as she not only has to feed herself but her cub as well.
Having been viewed by vehicles from an early age, this leopard is supremely relaxed around Land Rovers.
The Ximungwe Female Leopard provides yet another iconic photo of the famous Londolozi leopards as she bypasses the Londolozi entrance sign.
The tracks cut off the road on a prominent game path (a well-worn trail). We followed for a further 100m or so until we saw the cub dash into a shrub not too far away from us. On closer inspection, we saw both of them staring straight at us. We slowly backtracked until we were out of sight and very excitedly trotted our way back to the vehicle where the guests were patiently awaiting our arrival with the hope of some good news.
As we came around the corner we saw both of them in a small thicket, the moving vehicle got the attention of the cub who was bathed in beautiful light.
They started moving away from us – backlit by beautiful light. The cub ran ahead and then returned and greeted the mother by jumping up and bumping heads. A sign of tactile communication.
We drove the vehicle into the clearing to find them both reunited and walking through the golden grass. They both settled up at the base of a termite mound nearby where the cub started playfully jumping on the mother and chasing her tail. The backlit sun was creating a breathtaking scene. They continued playing and chasing each other for a few minutes and then started moving again. We repositioned the vehicle and waited to see what their next move was going to be. The mother then stopped to rest only prompting the cub to initiate the fun again. We watched the two play for well over an hour.
We managed to reposition the vehicle so they were walking towards us. The young male bounded away briefly before stopping, turning around and stalking his mother as if she were prey. From 10m away he would then spring into full force and attack his mother.
During these playful bouts, it is all a learning curve for the young cub. What we interpret as an incredible interaction was something that could be the difference between life and death later on in life when the cub becomes independent. Essentially these bouts are teaching the cub various methods of defence through play. They can seem pretty rough with one another which is very necessary, as when the real-time comes it is not going to be gentle. We watched in awe as the cub wrestled and attacked his mother. It all started as he ran 20m away, stopped, and proceeded to stalk his mother, carefully placing each foot to limit the sound, pause, then bound out of the grass and launch onto the mother. It was not all about defence and learning how to fight but also how to stalk in silence. The female would look in the other direction as if she had no clue the cub was stalking her and at the last minute spin around and respond to the cub’s movements.
Here you can see the mother is teaching the cub how to fight by fighting back and allowing the cub to practice instinctual play fighting. These days will serve vital for when this young male becomes independent and will need to fight other males to establish his own territory.
If you look closely you can see the cub’s claws are fully protracted out as if it were in a real fight. It is so important to practice as though it is for real.
The cub managed to get his mother onto her back and she started using her hind legs to regain dominance and fight the cub off – this was after getting a good swat from the cub.
We watched this as if it were on repeat. For well over ten times the cub move away and started to stalk again. This was until the two grew tired and settled down in the long grass where we left them. It’s sightings like these that never get old and always entertain us. It is truly going to be fascinating to watch this young cub grow and develop over the coming months until hopefully, we will see him putting these techniques to good use.
Once the mother had lost interest in playing, the cub still had the energy to burn and ran past our vehicle where it settled down in a nearby thicket. It truly was a very magical sighting of these two.
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Magnificent images. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you very much.
Great pics. Thanks!!
Thank you Jos.
What an absolutely fantastic morning you all enjoyed, viewing Ximungwe and her rambunctious cub. Your photos are great and I continue to hope she raises yet another male to adulthood. She seems to have the traits necessary to protect and train her progeny. Thank you for this update!! Cheers Shadrack…..
She has done an incredible just thus far Denise. We all hope she will be able to raise another cub to independence again. Leopards in their earlier years of raising cubs tend to do a much better job that in their latter years. Shadrack and I hope you are keeping well.
Magical pictures and description of mum and son on the sunlight! He looks quite confident, I hope you will be following him easily as long as he’s a younger leopard at least
Hi Guy, those pictures are absolutely beautiful and it is so wonderful to see them playing, fighting and learning at the same time for the cub. He is getting so big and he is going to be a stunning leopard. Did the Ximungwe female not have two cubs, where is the other cub then. Gosh those claws that are protacted makes a person think twice at the stamina, stealth and those claws of the leopard.
Hello Valmai, when we found the den she only had one cub. It was her previous litter where she had two cubs. They are incredible creatures and we will never know their true strength.
Hi Guy, thanks for correcting me, I could not remember if it was one cub or two. Now forsure there is one cub.
Lessons learned and taught by the Londolozi leopards. What a meaningful group of pictures and story. Thanks Guy for sharing.
Beautiful pictures. Just one question: according to the legend, these photos have been taken on January 17, 2022? Is it January 2021? Probably not since in march you started to believe she could have new cubs according to your Blog (=you did not see them) …
These photos were taken a few weeks back and thanks for letting me know, I will double check and make sure my camera date settings are correct. We have been viewing this cub for the last 6 months or so. We only found where she was denning when the cub was over a month.
Just wonderful! You and your guests have been so lucky.
spectacular
Just loved the retelling and photos of this epic sighting! I couldn’t stop smiling as I read!
I’m glad you enjoyed it Debra and caused you to smile while reading it.
Wonderful group of photos! My cat was a 😆 little head bumper!
So wonderful story and pictures, it is a great pleasure, to hear the development of this nice cub with the special eye. Hope to see him next year again
Great story and what fun watching the cub stalking his mom! Looks like you and that new mirrorless R6 are becoming best friends!
Hello Bob and Lucie, we certainly are. The capabilities of the camera are really good and I’m really enjoying it. I hope you are both keeping well
what a fantastic time for all of you to get to see the lessening of a young cub! I am so envious! Thank you for sharing! Victoria
A nice blog Guy and the pics are outstanding. Thanks for sharing with us.
That is so very sweet, just so beautiful to see mum and her cub playing together.
Guy, What an awesome sighting and a special morning! The images are amazing and it is very exciting to see the cub doing so well. We know you will keep us up to date on them!!
Guy, that’s a wonderful sighting and as you say, you can never tire of watching something like this! I’ve been lucky enough to have 2 similar sightings, 1stly back in 2013 with Vomba and her last cub (a male, about 8 months old) and then in Oct. ‘ 18 with Nkoveni and her 6 month old female cub (Plaque Rock). I will never forget either, both were incredibly special.
Once leopards roamed through whole Europe and Asia, now we must travel far to see them because our ancestors killed them… thanks to Londolozi they live on
super pictures, lucky guests
Leopards and their daily lives are such a fascination in every way……in addition to being incredibly beautiful creatures!
Spectacular photos Guy with that beautiful golden light. What a super morning for you and your guests ❤️thanks for sharing 🙏