It started out like every other morning at Londolozi – sipping on the perfectly brewed cup of coffee on Varty Camp’s deck, overlooking the Sand River. The early twilight fills the air with a sense of magic and the prospects of yet another exciting day to get out into the wilderness and explore.
The sun rising over the Sand River is always breathtaking.
It was our current guests’ last morning game drive and we were eager to see if we could go and find the Ximungwe Female and her last remaining cub. We had searched for them thoroughly the previous morning with no luck. The afternoon prior she was found with a duiker kill but we were unable to see her. Chances were high that they’d still be around the area, and even if they had finished the kill, they wouldn’t be too far away.
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Having been viewed by vehicles from an early age, this leopard is supremely relaxed around Land Rovers.
In classic style, Tracker Terrence spots fresh leopard tracks and immediately it’s game on. He hopped off the vehicle to follow the tracks quickly and assess them. He hadn’t even walked 50m when a troop of vervet monkeys started to signal their distress calls in the distance – we knew they’d seen a leopard! We decided that Terrence would stay out of the vehicle and I would quickly drive over to where the monkeys were calling from to see where they were looking – sometimes they can spot leopards hundreds of metres away with their exceptional eyesight.
Once underneath the large leadwood tree that the monkeys were in, I could see they were looking in the direction of where Terrence was. Only seconds later, Terrence called me over the radio to tell me he’d heard a leopard calling close by. I rushed back over to him, he hopped back on the vehicle and we drove off into the bush towards where the sound came from.
At last, we found her! It was the Ximungwe Female. As excited as we were to have found her, Terrence and I knew immediately that something was wrong.
The Ximungwe Female was calling repeatedly for her cub. She desperately walked around in circles through the area they’d been in for the last couple of days, contact calling every few seconds. She even got up into marula trees to survey the area from vantage points, darting her eyes across the landscape with such focus and determination.
We knew she had lost her cub. After we all accepted the sad fate of the cub, we decided to move on and let her be.
A loving moment between the Ximungwe Female and her cub.
Later on during the morning game drive, Ranger Melvin Sambo returned to the scene to investigate further. He ended up discovering through looking at the tracks and other evidence that sadly, hyenas had caught the small cub. It was not able to climb up into the safety of a tree fast enough. Hyenas have an incredibly powerful sense of smell and can sniff out kills that leopards attempt to keep hidden. They are one of the biggest threats to small leopard cubs in situations like these when mothers have their cubs far away from their dens at the kill sites.
It was certainly a deeply felt moment for us all to witness. One can easily begin to sympathize with wild animals when you understand them, and we realized that in many ways they express themselves just like we do. It was yet again just another reminder about the raw nature of the wild.
The Ximungwe Female has mostly been a successful mother, raising a cub to be independent from each of her previous two litters. So we’re hopeful that her next litter will have better odds in their favour. The life of a leopard seems to be a constant series of trials and tribulations. Which is why it’s hard not to be invested in their life story when you’ve seen what they can endure.
Please cull those hyenas. I just can’t stand that animal. I’m so upset about her cubs having to go through the suffering that it did and for mom who’s suffering a great loss
So sad for her. Nature can be hard for all, including those of us who love it so much.
Thank you for sharing and caring so deeply.
What a sad report to have to make. I can only hope that she is successful the next time she has a litter.
So sad to hear this. Hopefully her next litter will survive.
Matt, That is so sad. It’s had to understand, but it is the way the wild….
Logically I understand that it’s just nature, and a hyena has just as much a right to eat dinner as the leopard did to eat the duiker, and yet the solitary life of a mother leopard and extreme investment into each cub somehow makes it so much more tragic.
Not so only nature as humans interference weights heavily on leopards side, by hunting them for their coats, trophy or retaliation. They are not so high in numbers compared to hyenas whose action is an elimination of a rival.predator
Oh, so sad. I wonder if the other cub met the same fate, guess we’ll never know. She’s proved herself to be a wonderful mother so far, but there’s only so much she can do when the odds are so stacked against cubs reaching independence.
almost didn’t read because of the title 🙁 heartbreaking
This is sad news for sure, but not completely unexpected, given the trials and tribulations that female leopards face each day. Knowing she had two cubs, the expectations are high that she can raise one, as she did in the past. She’s young and within a few months I’m sure we will see new cubs. For all of those who viewed her with her two little ones, consider the experience a gift from Mother Nature.
💔
So sad. The reality of Mother Nature can be cruel.
A sad day, indeed, but as you mentioned, she’s already proven successful. Hopefully she has plenty of time to raise more cubs to independence.
It is so incredibly sad to hear a mother leopard desperately calling for a cub that was lost to a hyena.
I witnessed that with the Nhlanguleni female when I was in Londolozi last year. I showed a photo of her to friends and they immediately said: She lost a cub. They could tell from the expression on her face. Animals can show emotions and they have emotions and can experience and express joy and sadness e.g. for sure.
Poor Ximungwe mother! Hyenas are certainly very important animals in the eco system of nature. But when it comes to killing young leopards, one could hate them a bit.
So sorry to hear this new Matt, but as you said, their lives are “a constant series of trial and tribulations.” Wishing her the best of luck going forward.
Hello Matt,
So sad to hear! Tuff life out there! Terrible for the mother leopard!
Beautiful pictures! Beautiful written! Thank you for sharing!
I am so upset that she has lost this cub as well, just when we thought she would be able to raise this one cub to adulthood. I am sure she is heartbroken as well. Those hyenas can never anyone alone and are always scavenging around. I’m sure you Rangers and Trackers are also upset about this poor little cub being killed by the hyenas. But that is raw nature’s way and we cannot interfere with nature, even if we feel heartbroken over what happened to the cub.
“The raw nature of the wild”. That phrase captures it perfectly.
Hi Matt and everybody, yes, it’s raw competition. It is not just hunger, given that hyenas eat anything including cameras, but especially competition. It is not just nature: humans have interfered a lot by killing the best leopards in trophy hunting and poaching, besides retaliation. Hyenas certainly overnumber leopards, and by this way a mother leopards future does not look so rosy. My luck wish to her and sorry for the cub it was a real beautiful creature