The Ximungwe Female has been one of the most viewed leopards at Londolozi since her birth back in 2015. Through the years, she has shown us how much of an incredible mother she can be. Providing some truly unforgettable sightings over the years. Sadly, the cub featured in my last blog about her didn’t make it, a reminder, as always, that the bush offers no guarantees. But life moves forward, and so did she. As you are all aware, the Ximungwe Female has a new cub, now around four months old, and the search to find it has become something of a mission for our guiding team.
That might sound disheartening, but to be honest its half of the fun and makes the reward of viewing and habituating it that much sweeter.
At Londolozi, the habituation of leopard cubs is something we take seriously. When a cub is young, those early encounters with game drive vehicles are critical. The more a young leopard sees Land Rovers during its formative months, the more it learns that we pose no threat. Over time, that familiarity is what allows a cub to grow into the kind of relaxed, viewable adult that Londolozi leopards are famous for. Miss that window, and you risk ending up with a more skittish adult. We’ve seen it happen before, and it’s not a fate we want for this cub.
The Ximungwe Female and her previous cub
The Ximungwe Female, despite having a territory in the heart of Londolozi, has a habit of disappearing when she has young cubs. We’ve seen it before with the Ntomi Male, her last cub she raised to independence. She shifts into a different mode entirely, avoiding the open crests, where she usually does majority of her hunting, moving closer to the drainages in her territory that are more secluded, perfect for raising a cub. Its this behaviour that has allowed her to raise two cubs to independence.
But it does make our job harder.
Over the past two weeks, I have had guests very interested in the Ximungwe Female so as you can imagine, we’ve focused a lot of our time on her and her cub. We knew it was going to be an uphill battle but one we were all keen on and enjoyed every moment of it. Although we saw the Ximungwe female quite a few times by herself, the one sighting the cub was fleeting, a brief glimpse of the cub bounding through the thickets before vanishing. Enough to confirm it exists, not nearly enough to call it habituated.
So the search continues.
There’s something extremely enjoyable about putting the pieces together like this. Every morning, we head out with purpose. Every track of the Ximungwe female and every alarm call in her territory, we believe our time is now to find this cub but the bush has a way of keeping you honest. This is what makes the moment when the cub does finally relax so much better.
We’ll find this cub. The Ximungwe Female will eventually allow us to spend time with her extremely special offspring.
Morning LGR. That was such a very good and interesting blog you put up on the now 11yr old Ximungwe female leopard and her record of offspring she’s raised so well and successfully. We know the Ximungwe female was born in May 2015 to the aging Mashaba female, and now throughout her life as an adult so far, she’s given birth to 7 cubs in 5 litters altogether in total. We know she is and has been a very good, patient, tolerant, devoted and successful mother to the cubs she’s given birth to and raised all the way to independence successfully as well as the ones who didn’t survive to be a year old or more. I know she gave birth to 2 tiny cubs at the very start of this year, but whether she’s still got both of them there to this very day or not, I’ve got absolutely no idea. It will be nice to think she has still got both of them, but it will be a shame if she’s lost one already.
Even if she’s possibly lost one, it’s not the end of the world for her, as she’s still got one cub left that will still keep her busy. In the very way that she raised her two single male cubs from her first and second litters individually, well I wouldn’t be overly surprised if she’s done exactly the same thing in a effort to keep her one remaining cub alive and well there.
When you do finally catch up with her again, it will be interesting to see where she is hiding her cub, and how much it has grown and relaxed down since the last time you saw it. I think she’s highly determined to keep it alive and well just by stashing it in a very well hidden and thick bushy place in the hope that no other leopards or rival predators find it.
I think she’s decided to play a game of hide and seek with you to see of you can see her and/or the cub at all or not. Even though her record of raising cubs is still a fairly good one, it’s got 50/50 on it as well. So it’s fingers crossed for her that she will be successful in raising her one living current cub to independence well. I would most definitely say that she’s a very good expert at playing that funny old game of hide and seek with you. Isn’t she? At 11 years old, I think she knows exactly what she’s doing there with herself and her cub. Despite her age, I think she’s still got several more years of life in her to mate again and again to produce several more cubs in a few more litters to increase the leopard population there. Hasn’t she? The more news and updates we get on her and her cub, then the better we will know how they are both doing and faring right now over there.
Hope to hear from you shortly.
Robert 1.6.26
A lot of the time when I was last at Londolozi, was spent looking for that cub. Not entirely to my satisfaction. While sitting in the car waiting for the team to return from their searches, I asked myself: why don’t they just wait, till she is ready to present the cub?
Sorry, but this had to be asked.
Neither the Ximungwe was found nor her cub seen. On my very last morning, we saw her
And maybe she is such a successful mother because she shows exactly this secretive behaviour regarding her cubs?
Hi Patrick, I can imagine how much people want to see her, she’s a survivor and a true heart winner! As beautiful and strong, agile and clever as she is…. a masterwork of nature! I imagine her cub might be a male again… the Ntomi male has remained in all hearts. And her last one as well. Haven’t you has any newsletters on the Mashaba female? She produced these two queens as the Ximungwe qnd Nkoveni Female…. maybe she just disappeared and we’ll never know. It’s rather sad not to have any longer info about a much loved leopard. Thank you so much for this high dose of leopardity!
Good luck with the search! Your persistence, as always, will get results.
Hi Patrick, the Ximungwe female and the Nkoveni female is my favourite leopards. She is keeping the cub all to herself for a reason, she is a good Mommy and is not taking any chances of losing this cub. Hopefully soon we will be able to see her beautiful cub. I remember her with the Ntomi male, he was so special with his spec in his eye.
Thanks for the follow-up Patrick on Ximungwe. It’s good to know that even though you haven’t had a good sighting of her cub, there is evidence it’s still alive. After the trauma of losing one of her cubs in April, perhaps she is more skittish to bring the cub to kills when vehicles are around as well as keeping it hidden in the drainage lines. I was one of the fortunate guests to see her and both cubs the day before the incident and treasure my images from that afternoon. Fingers crossed you see them together soon.