You might have seen some of these photos in my recent blog, but I thought it would be fitting to share the story behind them.
Early one morning, Tracker Trevor and I decided to try crossing the river to search for the Xinzele Female leopard, who we suspected might have been denning on Ximpalapala Koppies at the time. Many of you who have visited before will know exactly where I’m talking about. Ximpalapala Koppies is a rocky outcrop formed millions of years ago by a geological fault.
We had a lovely couple on the vehicle who were very passionate about photography, and we felt there was no better place to potentially capture a leopard on the rocks.
Not too far from the koppies, Trevor found tracks of a female leopard, which we believed to be the Xinzele Female, heading straight toward the outcrop. Our excitement quickly grew as we imagined the possibilities.
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.
However, we were humbled fairly quickly. After searching the outcrop for around 30 minutes, we found nothing.
Trevor and I got out of the vehicle to confirm where we had last seen the tracks and which side of the koppie they were heading toward. He followed the leopard’s path, reading the flattened grass where she had walked, and then waited about 50 meters away on a fallen tree, scanning the area while I went back to fetch the vehicle.
I hopped in and started driving toward him, deciding to take a photo of him sitting on the fallen tree—something I thought he’d really appreciate.
Just as I was taking the photo, Trevor spotted the leopard on a boulder about halfway up the koppie and quickly called us in. We picked him up and were rewarded with a magnificent sighting of the Xinzele Female.
She then descended from the koppie and walked straight to where Trevor had been sitting moments before, using the spot as a vantage point over the surrounding landscape.
A stunning female found in the north. Successfully raised the Thumbela Female while establishing dominance in NW Marthly.
We followed her down the road until she disappeared into a thicket where we could no longer continue.
It was incredible to think that I had captured a photo of Trevor sitting there, and only ten minutes later, the Xinzele Female was in that exact spot.
Timing is essential out here, and this was a clear reminder that even when it feels like you’re driving in circles, there’s always a reason.
So, has anyone else had a memorable sighting near or on Ximpalapala Koppies?
Hi Dean, the Xinzele female is a wondrous specimen of leopard! As if she were some kind of goddess coming out of a sacred place, Ximpalapala Koppies…. is she pregnant again? Hopefully she’ll be a mother again…. Fantastic images!
Great story and wonderful photos, reinforcing the reminder to guests that oftentimes timing makes all the difference in amazing sightings as well as patience!!
Hi Dean, this is an exceptional story of the where Trevor and the Leopard sat 10 minutes apart. So exciting to see this and just goes to show there is never a dull moment in the bush. I am sure Trevor was pleased with photo you took of him.
The nature of this sighting makes it feel almost interactive. I bet she was watching you both the whole time before she showed herself.
Hi LGR. I meant to do this yesterday, but that was such a interesting blog you put up about the Xinzele female leopard. It’s so difficult to know if she’s still got cubs of her own there at all or not, but if she’s still got them, then I hope it won’t be long now before she reveals them to you all there eventually. It’ll be so interesting to see how many cubs she has got in her new litter when she decides the time has come to bring them out of hiding, assuming that they haven’t been killed.
At nine years old, I don’t know how many litters of cubs she’s given birth to and raised successfully there already, but it’s great to know that she’s possibly still hiding a new litter of cubs to add to your fast growing leopard population in a huge high pile of rocks. It’ll be so nice to get to see them when the time’s right.
Although we don’t know if she will or not, but it’ll be nice to think that she will raise them to independence even if they have got a very long way to go. I bet she still goes out hunting quite a lot of the time to try and get a good and successful kill made to replenish her milk supply for her still unseen cubs to feed them.
If she’s still got her cubs, then I hope she has got her cubs to well hidden to be found and killed by other leopards regardless if they’re male or female until she is ready to reveal them. I’ve got no idea how old the cubs are, but I shouldn’t think it will be long now before they are ready to emerge at long last. It was so very difficult to understand or know what the large Hlembela male was doing on that very enormous high pile of rocks sniffing around close to where it was assumed she was denning them. So I wonder if he gave up looking for the cubs when and if he couldn’t find their exact whereabouts after a long search. That will be the best thing to assume happened several weeks ago. Wouldn’t it? But I suppose time will tell us all what happened to thise cubs and if they survived been sniffed out at all or not. Do let me know as soon as possible please.
Hope to hear from you shortly.
Robert 27.5.26
A great story of this great leopard. I am also sure that she was watching Trevor and after he had left , she went to investigate the smells and traces of this human being.
Jane Goodall told a similar experience with a leopard in her biography . As soon as she had left a spot from which she had been observing chimpanzees and because she had heard a leopard’s rasping call, he appeared in exactly the same spot and sniffed around and marked it with his droppings.
Interesting how these leopards interact with humans.
I’ve circled and searched that koppie so many times over the years, hoping to see a leopard on a boulder or a lion descending the rocks! What a marvelous sighting you all had including Trevor and his ring side seat.