Over the past couple of months, we have had the privilege of viewing the Nottens Male fairly frequently. This young yet very bold male has been making a name for himself in the southwestern parts of Londolozi and is quickly becoming a prominent leopard in the area.

The majestic Nottens Male.

On a recent game drive, we ventured into the deep south of Londolozi to search for the large herd of buffalo that had been evading us for days. Hard to believe that a herd of 500 buffalo can be difficult to find but sometimes they are. The southern parts of Londolozi are a good area to search for buffalo as the grasslands in this region provide plenty of food for them to happily graze. An adventure into the open grasslands is always filled with excitement, it takes some time to get down there but you never really know what you might find.

About an hour into the drive, Dorence raises his hand, a gesture that tells me he has seen something and would like me to stop. Tracks of the buffalo crossing the road heading towards a prominent waterhole nearby. The two of us decided to walk down the road for a short distance to make sure that it was the tracks of the whole herd and that we were heading in the right direction. Now off the vehicle, we heard the ever-familiar bellow of a buffalo, confirming our initial thoughts that they were still heading towards that waterhole.

After spending some time with this spectacular herd of buffalo, we thought it was almost time to find an adequate spot to enjoy a fresh pot of coffee and stretch our legs. While slowly weaving through the herd of buffalo, we noticed a hyena feeding on something in the distance and certainly something worthwhile investigating.

We then realised that the hyena was in fact not alone.

Upon arriving in the area, we were not just greeted by this hyena but also a leopard feeding on a warthog carcass at the same time. We soon figured out that it was the Nottens Male and there was no hostility between him and an enormous hyena as they fed. It was a remarkable sighting and in some respects, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Every other time a scenario like this unfolded, the leopard and hyena would fight over the carcass before invariably the hyena would win and claim the majority of the carcass.

fighting over the warthog for a brief moment.

They spent the next 10 minutes feeding on this warthog together without so much as a growl towards each other. The hyena then tried to drag the kill away but the Nottens Male fought back for a brief moment before settling back down to feed again.

The Nottens Male watches as the herd of buffalo approaches.

In case this sighting wasn’t already incredible enough, the herd of buffalo had now cottoned on to the presence of these predators and began to move towards them, detecting the scent of the dead warthog. The herd now had them in their sight and started moving with authority towards the two predators. They both held off for as long as they could before fleeing away from the much larger buffalos.

Watch the sighting unfold below…

The hyena, after having her fill, decided to move off, while the Nottens Male watched the buffalo from a distance as they continued to feed on the grass around where his prized carcass was, waiting for his moment to move in and claim it back. This whole sequence was so spectacular but after being there for a good few hours now, our stomachs began to rumble and breakfast was calling. We all agreed to let them be and try to come back in the afternoon to see what had unfolded.

Returning later that afternoon, we were pleased to see that the buffalo had moved off and the Nottens Male had reclaimed his kill. He was looking for a place to store the warthog. Being in an open area there weren’t too many suitable trees close by for him to hoist it into so he began to drag it a long way to the closest drainage line and closer to some better trees. Watching the pure strength of this male drag this warthog over 800m towards the drainage line was amazing. Once arriving at his destination, he tried to hoist this warthog into a weeping boerbean tree but failed.

Attempting to hoist the warthog before we left him.

We thought it best we leave him as it was now beginning to get dark and after all that he had been through during the day, we didn’t want to have any part in him potentially losing the carcass again.

In terms of leopard sightings, this had it all, from the two predators feeding together to the buffalo chasing them and eventually watching him drag this kill a huge distance. This young leopard is growing into an impressive male and stealing a few of the rangers’ hearts. Let’s hope we have many more years of incredible sightings of the Nottens Male.