With the landscape now glowing after some warm weather following the torrential downpour, everything feels alive and flourishing. Birds chirp constantly, insects buzz in the background, predators reclaim their territories, and the young grow strong and fast, making the bush feel energetic and full of promise.
The passing of the recent weather system has placed the Londolozi landscape in an incredibly healthy position as we head into the drier months. Just because we’ve had these downpours doesn’t mean the rain is finished. Another two to three months of rainfall is expected, allowing the grass to stay greener for longer and waterholes to remain full for a sustained period.
With everything thriving, this week’s photos incorporate a little bit of everything. Glowing vistas, dramatic cloud cover, and clear skies have allowed me to play around with composition, light, and framing, capturing the mood of the bush as it continues to transform. From the new additions to the Mhangeni Pride, more on this soon, so stay tuned, to the Plains Camp Males in the rain, elephant textures, Eagles, the size difference between the Maxim’s Male and Three Rivers Female leopards and many other amazing shots in between.
I’ve got a few favourites in mind- let me know what you think?
Enjoy This Week In Pictures…
The detailed texture of an elephant’s trunk. This young male was feeding on the lush blankets of grass that rolls through the crests of the londolozi landscapes.
Not the usual perch for a vulture, but that being said, often you will see the Hooded Vultures on the ground lingering nearby to predators, hoping to cash in on a small titbit or sometimes even being seen eating the scat of the predators.
A Mhangeni Lioness with her four new cubs—an incredibly special sight and one I certainly did not expect. Having only discovered the previous day that she had a new litter, we were fortunate to find her leading the cubs to a fresh wildebeest kill, gently introducing them to meat as they begin the gradual transition from suckling.
The raw affection of a cub towards its mother is always special to witness. These gentle interactions are crucial, as constant movement, play, and contact help the cubs build strength and develop their muscles as they grow.
The intense stare of this Plains Camp male lion, the larger of the two brothers and arguably one of the largest male lions in the Sabi Sands at the moment. The scar on his right eye deepens his stare and makes you feel hollow every time. He sits beside his brother in a light drizzle late one afternoon.
A teenage elephant stays back behind the herd as she is happy with the grazing grounds. Flowers bloom in the foreground, and open area that orders fresh green nutritious grass for all species let alone this elephant.
How many leopards do you see?
This amazes me to see the size difference between the Maxim’s male and the Three Rivers female as she goes to greet him. The head and body size difference absolutely blows me away. Yes, she is a smaller adult female leopard due to her tough upbringing, having lost her mother at an early age. However, this image encapsulates the size difference between these two magnificent individuals.
Dominant since 2019. Once skittish Kruger-born giant now rules vast territory, transforming from elusive presence to formidable force.
Forced into early independence at 11 months. Despite her small size, she's proven resilient, currently raising a cub in SE Londolozi.
A confident and curious young leopard, that is nearing independence after a remarkable start to life alongside her resilient mother.
During the summer months, the sun rises considerably earlier than in winter. While playing around with some harsh backlighting, the wildebeest was illuminated to create this crisp, fresh image, with dead leadwood trees forming the backdrop.
The glossy glow of one of the Kambula Male lion’s eyes. For me, the intrinsic detail in a lion’s eye tells a story of power, awareness, and survival. Flecks of gold and amber catch the light, revealing depth, age, and experience shaped by countless hunts and confrontations. Within that steady gaze lies an intensity that reflects both calm confidence and ever-present readiness.
Sometimes it’s the simple moments that catch my eye the most. A dazzle of zebras stands almost perfectly in line, heads down and completely at ease. This image shows the social structure of a harem, with the male on the left and three females on the right. The male can be identified by a thinner black line between the legs beneath the tail, while the females have a thicker black line in the same position. In black and white, the contrast of their stripes becomes even more striking, turning an everyday scene into something a little more timeless and graphic.
A silhouetted view of a Long-crested Eagle perched on a dead knobthorn. This eagle is not seen very often and was a first for me at Londolozi. It is easily identified by the long feathers that stand tall on the back of its head and the bright white spots along the edges of its wings when in flight. I can’t help but wonder if the recent rains had anything to do with it being here now…
An inquisitive little, jackal pup was intrigued by our presence.
Potentially nature’s mimicry, with the trunk of this elephant looking almost identical to the marula stump behind it. The golden light and background made for a beautiful image of the bull as he picked up our scent, with the vehicle positioned downwind of him.
One would think that the golden, white, and black colours of a leopard would stand out against the vibrant green hues of the vegetation, yet the Maxim’s Male blends into his surroundings far better than one might expect.
The largest of the eagles we get to view at Londolozi. A Martial eagle perched in a tree with a dwarf mongoose tightly gripped between its talons.
A young buffalo bull gazes through some dense vegetation.
Impalas begin to gather in open clearings as the light starts to dwindle.
The Kambula Males have made a return to Londolozi and thanks to the Sand River levels rising, they have been unable to return back north, keeping them around here a fair amount.
Nkuhuma Breakaway Male Lion showing us the way out.
After all the recent rains, the birdlife has been amazing. This Comb Duck or Knob-billed Duck perched on a dead knobthorn tree made for a decent shot.
In your description of the second picture you say tit bit? Where I’m from it is tid bit. I have a couple of dogs in this fight what say you? Great pictures though Dean.
Morning LGR. Thank you so much for putting up such another interesting TWIP with some fascinating photos for everyone including me to see and look at along with the writing underneath. As the 9 year and 10 month old Three Rivers female mated with the jumbo sized and absolutely massive Maxims male last month, and whilst it might be a bit to early to tell, but I do hope, like you do, that their matings will be successful in producing another fresh new litter of cubs for her to raise nonstop. If she is in the process of conceiving a new brood, then I expect she’ll give birth after a 105 days pregnancy in about late April or early May. But besides that, it’ll be so very interesting to see how many cubs she’ll have in her new brood. I know she herself will be 10 years old in April, even though she’s miraculously survived all the way to independence and adulthood despite been motherless at the shocking young age of 13 months in May 2017. The much loved and highly respected Kikilezi female was sadly killed on 22nd May 2017, by the then 2 Southern Avoca male lion brothers on MalaMala. She was 15 years and 7 months old at the time of her sad & untimely death. Her legacy will live on in her 3 daughters in the form of the Piccadilly, Sibuye, and Three Rivers females and their offspring.
I’m feeling pretty excited about finding out which lioness it was that featured at the end of the virtual safari video clip on this Sunday just gone, that was showing very heavily signs of lactating. I’m so hoping it’ll be the Tsalala lioness that is the heavily lactating female as I’m sure all of her fans will be hoping to see her raise a new litter of cubs successfully.
The Tsalala lioness is such a pretty, large and strong big adult lioness who is and must be feeling very lonely as she hasn’t got any other adult lionesses with her to help her hunt and raise cubs more successfully. We all know she mated a couple of months ago, so she should really hopefully be falling so very heavily pregnant with new cubs very soon one day.
If it is her lactating heavily, then it’ll be very interesting to see where she is hiding her new cubs as well as finding out how many she’s got altogether in total. It will be so good and nice to see her raise a new litter of cubs with far more luck than she had with her first two previous litters. It might well be upto her to decide where she’ll want to den her cubs, but I think i have a good hiding place in mind – right underneath the very tall and high wooden decks around your camp. That could be a good hiding place for the cubs, and especially if it’s got lots of thick and dense bushes all the way around it where they won’t be found and discovered by their fathers, other lions and predators until their mum’s ready.
As she’s living all by herself right now at the moment currently, as she has been since 20th November 2021, I think a litter of at least 3 or 4 cubs will be such a very good boost for her to raise alone. I hope she will and can get her birth pride built up a fair bit, so they can help her continue the pride’s existence & dynasty.
When you’ve asked all of your busy work colleagues there about the elderly Mashaba female leopard, how and where she is and whether they’ve got any news on her for me to know about, well once you know, do let me know as soon as possible please. I’d just be very interested to know how and where she is despite her rather advanced old age. But I would also like to know about her big family tree, by knowing all about each and every single one of her other grown up adult offspring that I’ve never known about at all – besides the Nkoveni and Ximungwe females that we do know of and about. So if you could tell me all about all of her other adult offspring as soon as possible, then that’ll be something very interesting indeed. But I would want to know if any of them are still alive and well to this very day, and when they were born and how old they would be by now. It will be such a good story for me to read all about.
I’m also still waiting for the day very soon, when the blog is put up to say the densite of the Ximungwe female has been found and how many cubs she’s got altogether in total. It is so very exciting. We’ll have to bear in mind that she will be 11 years old in May as well. We know the Maxim’s male will be the biological father of her new cubs, as she mated with him a couple of months ago. I’d like to wish her the very best of hopeful luck with raising her cubs more successfully.
It has been a while now since I last saw an update on the lions and leopards there, saying how they are faring, what they’ve been doing and whether there’s anymore interesting sightings of them that you would want to share recently.
Hope to hear from you shortly.
Robert 6.2.26
Amazing just amazing. wonderful photos especially of the young lion cubs.
Have enjoyed them all, and this is a great start to the weekend.
Hope the recovery from the recent weather goes well. I can imagine that some guests may have canceled.
So many great shots this week! Cannot chose just one! The first b/w ellie close up is magnificent! The funny zebra butts pics…the leopard b/w nuzzling…the lion cubs…the lion king stare!! Awesome!
Great photos, Dean, great perspectives.
The tiny lions are so cute, the Martial Eagle is spectacular and I have never seen a Long Crested Eagle before, I think.
Super photos ( as always)
They make me wish I was back in South Africa…
Hi Dean, fantastic images this week in TWIP. I love the leopard images and the Maxim’s male is a huge male. The image of the Martial Eagle shows just how huge he is. Your images of the lioness and buffalo showing only one is unique.
Terrific TWIP Dean! My first favorite photo is your detail shot of the Kambula male’s eye in addition to the elephant skin and tusk. Detail shots taken in the wild are favorites of mine no matter where you are. Additionally, I found the shot of the Maxim male nose to nose with Three Rivers female exceptional – the size difference is amazing, but even more interesting is the presence of Tinxiya – makes one wonder why she was there. Two more favorites are the Jackal pup and the male Zebra with his harem. I can’t ignore the stunning Martial Eagle with his kill as well as the young Buffalo bull. Although I listed favorites, each of your images are amazing in their own way – thank you.
Hi Dean, do you have any idea what are the weights of the Maxim male and the larger Plain Camp male?
This has it all. Great closeups, great in the distance shots. Loved them!