The summer paintings – green textures, scatterlings of wildflowers, blue skies, dramatic clouds, golden glow and ripples in the flowing water.
This week we have been fortunate enough to see the Makhatini Family close to our camps treating us with hunts and scenes on the open crests, lots of bird activity, hunts and the special moment of seeing the Ngungwe Female and her two cubs for the first time! There has been an increase in elephant activity around marula trees which are fruiting and around mud wallows cooling them off. The exciting news of new leopard cubs with the discovery of the Ximungwe Female, the Ngungwe Female and the Xinzele Female’s dens, although sightings are rare ensures great leopard viewing for the future.
This week in pictures celebrates the paintings of summer.
Enjoy This Week In Pictures…

The golden glow. Two young kudu bulls play fight, the light behind them was too good not to capture.
The Woodland Kingfishers are back creating a perfect contrast of blue and greens in the bush landscape.
Summer in the wild often entails high temperatures and humid days. These two elephant bulls took the opportunity to escape the heat and swim in a waterhole. They also took the opportunity to play fight with one another. This is how we found them by the splashing sounds they created by tussling with one another.

The Three Rivers Young Female smells the underside of a fallen tree creating a unique photo. The Three Rivers Female may have scent marked on this tree which is what the young female is smelling.
Forced into early independence at 11 months. Despite her small size, she's proven resilient, currently raising a cub in SE Londolozi.
A Red-billed Oxpecker peeps its head from a small cavity on a dead tree. Despite spending the majority of their time on the backs of herbivores, they nest in holes like this during the summer months.
The Ntsevu Males drink. It has been incredible to see these four all back together and roaming across Londolozi. So seeing all four of them down having a drink alongside each other was a real treat. Something else I didn’t realise at the time was that I managed to capture a Woodland Kingfisher as it flew past adding to the story of this picture.

A herd of impala cautiously get a drink of water from one of the many rain-filled wallows across the reserve. Drinking can be a very vulnerable moment for prey species and often takes a while for them to actually dip their heads to the water.

The Ximungwe Female kills a warthog piglet. After watching her walk into a clearing, it was obvious that she had spotted something that she was stalking. Her body language shifted her from a leopard on patrol to a huntress. We scanned with our binoculars and discovered a sounder of warthogs with piglets. She knew exactly what to do- chase the warthogs, grab a piglet and run to a tree to climb up and escape the mother warthog that came charging in.
Having been viewed by vehicles from an early age, this leopard is supremely relaxed around Land Rovers.
A few moments after the previous photo, the Ximungwe Female leapt up into a marula tree with her latest meal.

An African Fish Eagle scans the Sand River from its perch. The blue skies and dead trees created an iconic image of an African Fish Eagle.

A cheetah cub framed by flowers. The Makhatini Female leads her cubs to the safety of clearings on the crests of the rolling hills. Often the crests have many different flower species dotted around making the scene even better in my opinion.

It has been a privilege to be able to watch the Makhatini Female raise her three cubs. In the seven years of guiding here these sightings of the Makhatini Family have been the best I have ever witnessed.

Two Cheetah Cubs view the landscape from on top of a termite mound. This is a skill they will need when they become independent, keeping them safe from approaching danger and scanning for their prey.

As we drove past the airstrip there was a journey of giraffes walking on it giving me the perfect opportunity to get a low-level shot of this giraffe as two red-billed oxpeckers flew past.
The Nkoveni Young Male successfully pounces on his mother after stalking her. Practising his hunting skills for his future independence.
Londolozi's most viewed leopard and prolific mother. This gorgeous female has raised multiple cubs to independence.

The Three Rivers Young Female looks up at the impala kill hoisted above her. This is often a sign that she wants to climb up the tree to feed. I got my camera ready for the moment she was going to climb up the tree but I captured this moment instead. Capturing the golden glow in her eye and contrasting background.
The hidden rock monitor lizard peaks out of its hole. The hot weather makes this monitor lizard try to get some fresh air to cool off a bit. I love the different textures in this photo demonstrating the perfect camouflage of this rock monitor lizard.

The lambing season provides a food source for many different predators from pythons to martial eagles. We heard a female impala alarm calling looking into a bush and found this martial eagle feeding on the impala’s lamb. In this photo, you can see that the martial eagle has a full crop and blood on its talons and beak. Eagles have the ability to store food in their crop so that if they are disturbed and have to fly away they still have some food stored.

The green layers of the summer landscape. The Maxim’s Male rests on a termite mound. The heat made him pant a lot hence why his tongue is out here.
Dominant since 2019. Once skittish Kruger-born giant now rules vast territory, transforming from elusive presence to formidable force.
A tender moment between a mother warthog and her piglet. This time of year is always full of new life and watching new piglets navigate the wild is one of my favourite sightings. Their hops, rolls and squeals are hard not to enjoy!
The tail of the Nkoveni Female. Young leopard cubs often practice stalking on mom’s tail. This was captured just after he grabbed his mother’s tail.

The Nkoveni Young Male stalks his mother. He is at the age now that he will stalk anything that moves to practice his hunting skills and in this case, his mother was the target.
The Three Rivers Young Female rests on a fallen tree below the tree that her mother had hoisted an impala kill in. The tree frame and green background were what I was trying to capture in this photo.

The Nkoveni Young Male sits on top of a termite while the Nkoveni Female stalks a grey duiker in the distance. The young male is now starting to watch and learn from his mother’s stalking skills by watching her hunt whether it’s successful or not.
We waited with the Ngungwe Female after she led us to this rocky outcrop and to our joy a second little head popped out next to her.
Born 2020 during lockdown to Piccadilly Female. Once skittish, now confident mother denning her first litter in Marthly's rocky terrain.
Then another cub popped out next to the Ngungwe Female. We were all so excited to finally see the Ngungwe Female and her two very healthy cubs.
Great photos…esp. like the Cheetah mom on the termite mound. She pops so well in that shot with the use of depth of field…
What a week you had Jess! Great photos showing a huge variety of sightings. Seeing Ximungwe grab that piglet and hoist it in the tree just in time must have been astonishing.
Hello Jess! Beautiful images! My favourite are those of the Three Rivers (not really a cub anymore) youngsters lying on and looking up the tree. Spectacular clarity and colour’s. I can’t wait to see her again, and you haha.
She is a far cry from that sickly cub in September. Nkoveni young male also looking great and the promise of more cubs ahead…. Lions at the water also wonderful and you are so lucky to be seeing the cheetah cubs so frequently. Hope they stick around.
Have a great day!
Fransje
Amazing photos!! So hard to choose favorites. cheetah with the golden light eyes and warthog and her piglet.
Such lovely photos, Jess. Indeed the colors of summer with all these flowers highlight the colors of Leopards and other animals extremely well. I love all your photos. In a way, especially the one of the rock monitor in the tree.
It’s so nice that there are some new young leopard cubs at Londolozi as the “older” cub generation (Three Rivers and Nkoveni) have already grown into beautiful sub adults.
Yeah! TWO cubs! Beautiful close up and intimate photos this week! Love them all!
Wow! What a fabulous collection of images, Jess! I love the up close, portrait views that enable the capture of personality traits – Maxim’s tongue, the rock lizard’s skin texture, the young cheetah’s eye, Nkoveni’s tail. Thanks for making me smile after smile!
Dear Jess, thanks for that fantastic pics of the week-love the Leopards , great images-the view of the tree river female bevore climbing-amazing.
Hi Jess, your photo’s are absolutely beautiful. The leopard cubs are gorgeous and the two bigger cubs are stunning and playful. The Woodlands Kingfisher is stunning and we have them here on the reserve. All photo’s are stunning, you take beautiful photos.
Jess, wonderful pictures of the leopards, lions, and elephants this week. I think my favorite is the woodland kingfisher. Just the beautiful color picked up in the picture is so nice.
Jess, your first image of the young Three Rivers female sets the tone of your TWIP. I appreciate that you’ve taken advantage of the summer greenery to use it in your compositions, showcasing the leopards and cheetahs especially in their respective habitats. One of my favorites is the cheetah cub resting in the grass, with a few wildflowers around him/her. Others include the two elephant bulls play fighting in the water, the rock monitor in the tree highlighting the textures of both, Ngungwe with her cubs on the large Boulder, the Red-billed oxpecker near its treehole, the stunning portrait of of Maxim, etc. It’s a great time to be out driving throughout the property and I’m looking forward to returning soon with my brother to enjoy the lushness summer rains brings.
This was a great WIP. Thank you for always keeping me informed and entertained by all the antics of the animals. I love the cheetah cub, great eyes.
Jess, fantastic photos -too many good ones to praise one individual photo
Many great photos this week! Those cheetah


!
Thank you Jess – lovely artistically composed photos! Love both the Three Rivers young female and the beautiful golden light you have captured in several other photos. The magic of Londolozi continues………..
I think that this is my favourite TWIP ever!
Brilliant photos Jess.
One of the best blog ever. The Three young Rivers female is always in my heart, and her picture is fantastic. Funny, cheerful! Also the extremely beautiful cheetah face with it’s golden eyes, then the warthog mum with the piglet, all the big cats and cubs, the lizard , the impala and the lions at the water surface…