Another week in the Londolozi wilderness has come and gone, and as we continue through the heart of winter, the reserve seems to offer up some of the finest conditions for photography. The mornings are crisp, the vegetation continues to thin, and the soft winter sunlight creates a quality of light that is hard to beat. There is something about the gentle warmth of the early morning and late afternoon sun that seems to bring a little more depth and character to every subject in front of the lens.
This week, we focused particularly on the leopards, with a bit of a mission to find images that would lend themselves well to black and white. Their naturally patterned coats, expressive faces and the often dramatic environments they move through make them such rewarding subjects for this style of photography. Removing colour can sometimes strip an image back to its most important elements, allowing texture, light and expression to take centre stage.
Of course, as is always the case out here, the leopards weren’t the only subjects willing to play along. There was a little bit of variety scattered throughout the week, with plenty of other photographic opportunities along the way.
Here are a few of my favourite moments from another week spent behind the lens in the Londolozi wilderness.
Let me know in the comments which ones you like the most!
Enjoy This Week In Pictures…
A lovely sighting of a trio of Klipspringer pose atop a large boulder on the western side of Ximpalapala koppie – both adults stand on either side of their youngster.
The Makomsava Female pauses briefly during a territorial patrol during the deepening evening twilight.
The only surviving cub of the Nanga female, currently territorial northern Marthly. Currently denning north of boundary
A lioness from the Kambula pride glances back to see how far the rest of the pride was behind her.
The Nkoveni Female watches a lone impala ram moving through the bush willow thickets ahead. Assessing the chances of her next meal.
Londolozi's most viewed leopard and prolific mother. This gorgeous female has raised multiple cubs to independence.
The Makatini Female cheetah glances in the direction she had heard a distant hyena calling. We watched her successfully stalk and catch an impala right outside of camp.
An unexpected encounter with this Pearl-spotted Owlet perching atop a dead Marula stump in the perfect morning light.
The dark-maned Gijima male sits up after hearing another lion roaring many kilometres away.
The Ximungwe Female keeps a low profile on top of a small termite mound. Blending in so well, making her almost impossible to see from a distance.
Having been viewed by vehicles from an early age, this leopard is supremely relaxed around Land Rovers.
A tiny Rhino calf crosses the dirt track in front of us, her mother in tow.
The Xinkhova Female gives a big stretch after a long nap on the comfy trunk of a fallen Jackalberry tree. Once again, patience rewarded us!
Born 2021, daughter of Nkoveni. Young dynamo actively claiming territory near camps, showing promise as next generation's dominant female.
My personal favourite from this week. One of the Nkoveni Female’s newest cubs peeks out from their den.
The Nkoveni Female glances over to her left during a territorial patrol in the most gorgeous morning light.
A big yawn from the Xinkhova Female. I enjoyed how the soft dappled light was lighting up only her face and chest, placing a lot more emphasis on the main subject matter.
A herd of elephant walk across a large open area towards a series of mud wallows.
Sometimes it’s simply the small details that do it for me.
When I got my first camera many years ago, long before I dreamt of photographing leopards, hiking out into beautiful places to capture scenes like this was how I spent a lot of time behind the lens.
What an incredibly rewarding way to spend the last moments of the day with this beautiful female leopard after a tough search. The Makomsava Female.
One of the Gijima Males walks across an open, short grassy area in some dreamy lighting conditions one morning.
One of Nkoveni female’s cubs gets quite inquisitive and comes to get a better look at us. This one is a lot more confident than the other one in the photo above.
A morning coffee stop along a steep bank of the Sand River provided some excellent opportunities to photograph a colony of White-fronted Bee-eaters.
The beautiful Tinxiya Female sits on her haunches, listening to the sounds around her.
A confident and curious young leopard, that is nearing independence after a remarkable start to life alongside her resilient mother.
This was our first view of one of the Nkoveni Female’s cubs at their newly discovered den.
The klipspringer trio was an excellent kickoff photo. Also enjoyed the rhino calf and the bee eaters.
Matt, my favourites are the colour ones of the Nkoveni cubs….they are so gorgeous with those beautiful baby-blue eyes.
I’m amazed to see Makhatini so close to camp – have you ever seen any cheetah so close, and so far from their usual habitat?
Hi LGR. Thank you so much for putting up such very good and fascinating photos of the wildlife you’ve seen there during the course of the last seven days this week that has almost gone now. I know the 14 year old Nkoveni female has done incredibly well to get her 2 new cubs to the age where they have been able to come out of their densite, but as they must be about 3 months old now, have they allowed you to get a good clear look at their rear ends to see what they are yet at all exactly? I’m hoping that at least one of the cubs is a young male, so that he can possibly settle down and claim a territory of his own should he survive to very hard independence successfully. But if you could confirm what they bothare exactly & then let me know as soon as possible, then it’ll be greatly helpful.
As we know she’s managed to raise one young male offspring to independence now already, I’d like to see and think that she’ll also raise another male cub or two all the way to independence age. Although I don’t know what gender the two cubs are yet, but it is a little bit strangely surprising that one cub is a bit more relaxed then the other there.
As one cub is more confident then the other one, maybe the shyer of the two cubs will be a lot more relaxed when it is in the presence of it’s highly experienced and fully relaxed mother. I’m so sure the more shy cub will be a lot more relaxed as it gets older and soon, alone with it’s sibling, starts getting led to kills made and hoisted by their very good mother.
Even though it is always good to see elusive Ximungwe female, but it is a shame that you’ve only had a very small handful of sightings of her rather shy cub. If she brings it out of the place where she is keeping it safe a lot more often, then I expect the cub will relax down a lot more quickly. It isn’t the first time she has lost a cub, as she’s lost 3 others in the past, including 2 from her third litter killed by hyenas & 1 from her fourth.
I hope it won’t be long before you get to have another sughting of her nervous cub, but maybe if it gets viewed from a respectable and safe distance that it’s a lot more comfortable with, then maybe with time and careful and viewing it from a safe distance respectfully, it’ll relax down a lot more that way. It isn’t particularly surprising that it’s so nervous, as it has had very little exposure to the game drive vehicles in it’s eight short months of life. If it had been seen a lot more often, then perhaps it’ll be much more relaxed there by now.
At eleven years old, I know she’s got a lot more time to breed and have a few more litters of cubs, but all of the other cubs she has had in the past, have been a lot more relaxed then her current cub. I have no idea where she’s keeping it so very well hidden right now currently. I’m also interested to know if her cub is a boy or girl as well, but I suppose you will just have to wait until you next see the cub as it also depends on what it does at the next sighting when you see it. I hope the young cub will be a lot more relaxed before and by the time of independence.
Though there were a few photos of lions in the TWIP as well, but it wasn’t quite as lion orientated as I first thought it will be at all. The two huge Gajima males are still a powerful and formidable duo to be reckoned with and respected as they’ve been residing on your property for a good 13 months now, having first arrived in August of last year. I hope they’ll also sire a lot more cubs successfully between them before their time is up in about a year or two’s time. They’ve still got the Tsalala lioness and the Nkuhuma breakaway lioness to sire more new cubs with as well. I hope the lovely Tsalala lioness gets to raise some new cubs very successfully as we are all desperate for her to rebuild her birth pride and the same for the Nkuhuma breakaway lioness, too. I know she’s yet to fall pregnant with her own very first litter of cubs, which I hope will be before the year is out, otherwise it’ll be some time next year. Those two brotherly brutes are certainly a very large and handsomely attractive duo that seem to get quite a few girlfriends coming up to and over to them either for attention or for mating purposes and get them to sire a lot more cubs very well and jointly.
Hope to hear from you shortly.
Robert 11.9.26
Amazing photos ! Love the bee eaters and the leopard cubs! Can’t wait to be back in November
Stunning Matt – all of them! But to see such amazing captures of the Nkoveni Female’s cubs – priceless. They are adorable, I want to hold them and squish their little faces. <3 I also realized when I was there, how much I loved the White-fronted Bee-eaters, so your photo of them was precious. Thank you for sharing.
Another splendid TWIP, thank you Matt! Always very difficult to choose a favourite, but possibly the Ximungwe female on the termite mound edges it for me.
Hi Matt, the 3 klippies on a big klip does it for me. Thanks. All great shots.
Outstanding TWIP Matt! So many favorites. The leopard shots were all stunning, especially the dramatic Ximungwe and Xinkhova pics and the little ones. And I’m always partial to any shot of the Makatini family, in this case the female. I hope she was able to finish her spoils before the hyenas arrived!
But I have to say, your three “trio studies” were brilliant; the klipspringers, elephants, and bee-eaters thoughtfully placed throughout the blog have to be my favorites!!
Great photos, Matt. Thanks for sharing.
My favourite is maybe the inquisitive cub of the Nkoveni Female.
But it’s always hard to choose because they are all so beautiful.
Really nice variety. LOVE the Klipspringer trio!
SOOOOO many great shots Matt! Of course the leopards cubs are just the cutest! And the rhino calf and little Bee-eaters too! But I love a few shots that show some personality…the intense look of the Nkoveni Female…the bored (exasperated?!) look of the Kambula lioness…the relaxed look of the Ximungwe Female! Even tho not pictured…it amazes me how much lighter the Styx male lion’s mane is compared to the super dark maned Gijima male! Lastly, the B/W of the stretching Xinkhova Female is pretty spectacular! Great show 🙂
Hi Matt, there are so many exceptional photographs this week that I cannot pick one favourite! Well done!
Matt, these are amazing pictures, especially those sweet leopard cubs!! Thanks for sharing with us & hope you’re well!!
Hi Matt! Well, as I started looking at this list of pictures I couldn’t really choose one. I admired all details, light, situation, simply fantastic. But the small leopard cubs… too irresistible! Simply looking at their innocent little muzzles and blue eyes… I’m hooked! Many compliments Matt!
It’s interesting that you declare your mission this week to find leopards that will lend themselves to black and white, and right at the beginning, you post your “personal favourite from this week. One of the Nkoveni Female’s newest cubs peeks out from their den.” thankfully in color. I say thankfully, because the cub has the most gorgeous blue eyes imaginable!
Wow, how does one choose – your b/w edits are fantastic and the rest are varied and meant to be in color. If I have to choose a favorite, then it would be Nkoveni’s cub, that little face and those blue eyes – just perfect!!
Hi Matt, oh your images are stunning. My favorite would also be the little Nkoveni cub peeking out from the den, secondly the other image of the other cub of Nkoveni. All the leopard images are absolutely gorgeous. Klipspringer image is beautiful as you don’t always get to see them.
My favourite is definitely the one of theNkoveni Female’s newest cub 💕
Sharing your favourite pi, Matt! That is such a lovely image of one of the cubs. I so hope we get to see them end ne t month. How old are they now?
A marvellous set of images, Matt. The klipspringer family is a superb capture!
the pics of the Nkoweni cubs are amazing.
Great leopard photos. I have a similar photo of the Xinkhova tail from that sighting! 😁
That cub image – oh my! Your fav and mine!
I have loads of favourites, all colour as the black and white hurt my eyes to look at. But the klipspringers, rhino calf, your fave of the leopard cub, the bee eaters, and the pearl spotted owlett are my tops. I would love to see a colour version of the yawning Xinkhova female. If that was in colour it would be my top of the list. The lighting in that one is spectacular. Trouble is they’re all brilliant and trying to choose one above the other is very difficult. I think Londolozi’s photos spoil us to the point that we think this exceptional quality is the norm, but it isn’t. Every week of TWIP is sooooo good. It’s my highlight email of the week.