The winter months often bring some of the best leopard viewing of the year. With the vegetation thinning out and the cooler temperatures encouraging more daytime activity, it is a season that frequently delivers exciting sightings and memorable moments. Over the past few weeks, however, one particular leopard has had all of us watching her movements a little more closely than usual.
Londolozi's most viewed leopard and prolific mother. This gorgeous female has raised multiple cubs to independence.
The Nkoveni Female was first seen mating with the Maxims Male on the 12th of March this year. Since then, we have been eagerly following her progress and looking for any signs that she may have conceived. On the 16th of June, she was seen looking heavily pregnant, moving through the central parts of the reserve with a noticeably swollen abdomen. Just two days later, on the morning of the 18th of June, she was found once again—but this time the signs told a very different story.
The prominent suckle marks visible on her underside suggested that she had already given birth, quite possibly the day before. What made the sighting even more intriguing was the location from which she emerged. She was found moving away from an area where we know the Ximungwe Female has previously denned some of her litters, along the Maxabene Riverbed.
This observation may also provide further insight into a shift that we have been noticing in the Nkoveni Female’s movements over recent months. Historically, she has occupied territories further east, but her regular use of the central parts of the reserve suggests that she may have expanded or shifted her territory slightly westwards.
Female leopards will typically choose den sites close to the heart of their territory. By keeping their cubs in these core areas, they reduce the chances of encounters with neighbouring leopards and other potential threats during the cubs’ most vulnerable weeks. While we cannot say with certainty where the cubs are hidden, all signs point towards the possibility that she has settled them somewhere within this central section of her range.
The Stone Drift and Xinkhova Females from 4 years ago. The cubs of the Nkoveni female have always provided some of the best leopard viewing there is.
Needless to say, this is incredibly exciting news for all of us. The arrival of leopard cubs is always a special event, and the prospect of following another chapter in the Nkoveni Female’s remarkable story is something that both rangers and trackers are eagerly anticipating.
Now in the early stages of his independence and still seen in and around the Nkoveni Females territory, the Shingi Male continues to go from strength to strength.
At the same time, this is an exceptionally sensitive period for both mother and cubs. The cubs will still be tiny, fragile, and heavily reliant on their mother’s protection. For this reason, we will not be placing any additional pressure on her by attempting to locate the den. Instead, we will allow her the space she needs to raise her cubs naturally and safely.
Now 14 years old, the Nkoveni Female continues to exceed expectations. Should these cubs survive to independence, she could be around 16 years old by the time they leave her care. Given her age, there is a very real possibility that this could be the final litter she raises.
For now, all we can do is wait patiently and hope that the coming months bring good fortune for both mother and cubs. We will be sure to keep you updated as we learn more about the latest additions to one of Londolozi’s most celebrated leopard lineages.
Soooo exciting! I will be eagerly following the story. I saw her with Shingi and his little sister in September 2024, at the same sighting as the image used in this post. I hope she and her cubs will fare well, and remain safe. A very exciting prospect to hopefully see the little family in late October!
Super photos, lets hope that she is able to bring the cubs to independence
Hi Matt, what wonderful news!
I think it is a very good idea that the team has decided not to “place any additional pressure on her by attempting to locate the den”. There will surely be enough time for watching the cubs when they are a bit older.
By the way, what has happened to the Ximungwe’s cubs? All of you were so eagerly looking for them in April. By now they must be about 6 months old.
I am looking forward to hearing more about Nkoveni and her cubs. Would be wonderful if she could raise one more, and as you said probably her very last litter.
Hi Matt, what exciting news of Nkoveni having given birth to her cubs. I am sure soon the Rangers will find her den and take a few photos. But in the meantime she must look after her precious cubs and keep them safe from predators and male leopards. Hopefully in the near future we will see those tiny fur balls suckling and playing with Mom’s tail.
Hello Matt. Great news, indeed. I wonder who are the two cats on the last picture of this blog… Nkoveni and Maxims? or Nkoveni and one of her cubs? Thank you.
Wonderful news! Nkoveni has been a successful mother in the past and I hope she can continue despite her age. We’ll all be rooting for her!
Hi LGR. Although the much loved, highly relaxed and very special Nkoveni female was born to the elderly Mashaba female in August 2012, I think it is fair to say that she has to be well admired for how well she has done to get to 13 years and 10 months old by now. Out of her 6 litters she’s produced there so far, only a few cubs from some of them have survived to independence like the Plauqe Rock female, who was sadly killed by the Ntsevu pride in the Sand River on the 9th June 2 years ago at just 6 years and 3 months old. We know she gave birth to at least 6 litters of cubs not far apart, but she sadly never raised any of them at all very successfully what so ever, tragically.
Some other much more successful cubs included the Stone Drift and Xinkhova females from her, the Nkoveni female’s early 2021 litter, then followed just over three years later, by their one and only younger brother, the large Shingi male in early 2024. Although he has now left his mother’s side after she had a long struggle with trying to get rid of him, as she couldn’t get him to cut loose from her apron strings a bit or a few months earlier when she thought he was more than capable of looking after himself. But as she hardly has anymore contact with him now, I bet she feels so glad and relieved of and from him currently. As I remember seeing you saying in the blog on her that given her age and should the cubs hopefully all survive to independence, she’ll be at least sixteen years old by the time they leave her side.
Since she looked very heavily pregnant on the sixteenth June and when seen again two days later on the eighteenth, she was seen to be lactating quite heavily, and remembering that she had three cubs in her last previous litter, do you think she’ll have at least another two or three cubs in her new again somewhere by now? I can’t wait for them come out.
Even if you don’t know whereabouts her current densite is there right now, but do you think she possibly might be hiding the tiny cubs, which must be about twelve days old by now, in a place that she has used before in the past with some of her previous litters when they have been very tiny indeed there? I do hope she raises them very successfully.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think she did also have a litter of two cubs, 1 boy and 1 girl, lost in a fight between her and the now late Three Rivers female a few months before she had the triplets early the following year. Didn’t she? Though she sadly lost those cubs, but had they survived, I think she probably would have raised 2 male cubs to independence instead of just the one. Did she ever have a single male cub in her very first litter there as well a good few years earlier?
I know as well as you do that she’s lost more cubs then raised them, but having said that, she’s still a very good and devotedly highly experienced mother to every single one of all of the cubs she has given birth to and raised as well as the ones she’s lost. Hasn’t she?
I don’t suppose you’ve known any other long late and former territorial female leopards who used to live on MalaMala in the past, who have been seen with suckle marks at that advanced age or over 14 years old if possible? No matter how many cubs the lovely and beautiful Nkoveni female has got in her last ever litter of cubs, it’s still incredibly exciting news, and we can’t wait to see the first ever well taken and good clear photos of them when their highly experienced mother decides when they’re old enough to come out of their densite. If any of the rangers there come right across the area where they can hear tiny baby leopard cub noises coming from, and whilst the mother is away hunting, will you risk a sneaky little peak inside the bush or gully system where they might be hiding to see out of interest, how many cubs there are in her last ever litter at all? At the very same time, it means to be very careful with how long you spend looking at them for, without exposing them to any type of unwanted danger as well. But I’d like to wish the Nkoveni female the very best of hopeful luck with raising her last ever litter of cubs all the way to hard independence over there. Though we can’t be garenteed or promised, it is certainly fingers crossed for them all. I suppose keeping track of the Nkoveni female to see what she does with her new cubs and where she moves them to will be another good way, as well as checking up on them frequently to make sure that all is well at the densite. Wouldn’t it?
Hope to hear from you shortly.
Robert 29.6.26
This is fantastic news Matt! Given the number of Nkoveni fans who have followed her story during the past 14 years, there will be a lot of positive energy directed to her during these next few important weeks and months as she attempts to raise most likely her last litter. My only concern is that Shingi has not completely vacated his mother’s territory and we all know what can happen if he discovers her cubs, so fingers crossed he begins his nomadic journey to find his own territory now, rather than later.
She has been a phenomenal Leopard of Londolozi. Matt, will there be a post to honor her mother, the Mashaba Female at some stage? She was photographed on the S83 towards the end of last year still in great shape but she’d be 18 in September this year. She featured in the blog when she was still the Vomba Young Female and her daughters have carried her legacy on tremendously!
Hi Matt, on reading your blog edition, you seem to be born there and have a great connection with the now dominant Queen Nkoveni Female (given almost for sure that her mother has gone). She is a miracle female, as the Ximungwe female. I can’t wait to see her cubs! She’s an extraordinary force, I’m sure she’ll be successful as she was in the past. The pictures are moving. The Stone Drift female and the Xinkova female were such a special sisterhood, I’ll never forget. The Shingi male is magnificent. His sister close to mum and brother was one of the best leopard ever…. fingers crossed! Thank you for this magical series!
Bittersweet!