Short answer: No, it didn’t.
Sure the Finfoot female made a couple of kills actually within the bounds of the camp, and was regularly seen by the staff in camp during the day, but apart from that, no real change.
Many people have asked us the question in today’s post’s title. Some have never visited Londolozi, some have been coming for years. And with the monumental change in human behaviour seen across the world in 2020, an obvious question to many was: what impact did Lockdown have on wildlife? Was the sudden absence of guests noticeable to Londolozi’s wilder inhabitants, did their behaviour change, territories shift… anything?
A leopard cub we never even knew was there. Regardless of whether she was being viewed from Land Rovers or not, the Nhlanguleni female and her cub’s lives would have continued on…
Before going into too much detail – and I think what I’ll explain here will kind of answer the question – I think it’s important that everyone realises how little impact there is on the animals anyway, even when the lodge is full. We’ve crunched some of these hypothetical numbers before on the blog (I can’t remember in which post), but here we go again…
I’ll cite the Ximungwe female as an example, as she’s probably the leopard we currently view the most.
A normal week for her involves hunting, feeding off a kill for a few days, hunting again, maybe looking to mate (although we believe she is pregnant at the moment), marking territory, then back to hunting. She might be viewed by rangers, trackers and guests a few times a week, say on four or five occasions, but for the most part she goes about her business unobserved.
The Ximungwe female’s life was completely unaffected by what was happening in the rest of the world this year.
A week is 168 hours long. Let’s average out a game drive at 3 1/2 hours (mornings can be longer, evenings a bit shorter).
Two game drives a day equals 14 drives a week, therefore 49 hours during which Land Rovers are actually out on the reserve looking for animals. If it’s pouring with rain it might be less, if photographers are on an all-day safari it’s more, but we’re working off pure guesstimates here.
49 out of 168 is only 30%. So on the ridiculous assumption that for the entire drive, every drive, the Ximungwe female is viewed, she’s still a completely free agent for over 70% of the time (I rounded up).
She is most certainly not viewed that regularly though, or for as long. Maybe four or five times a week, let’s say for an hour at a time. That’s 5 hours, max. Out of 168.
That’s 3% of the time.
97% of the time, the Ximungwe female is left to her own devices. She might see a Land Rover in the distance, she might hear one drive by, or she might scamper off into cover when a tracking team on her tail gets a bit close, but for by far the majority of her day-to-day, the area immediately around her is devoid of human presence.
The question then, is if you take away that 3%, why would her behaviour change?
And the answer? It doesn’t.
Pete Thorpe photographs the Ntsevu pride on a wildebeest kill in the Sand River. This pride regularly covers a lot of ground at night, when we are fast asleep in bed. Most of the time when they are active, there is no one viewing them anyway.
At Londolozi we’re fortunate to have a low vehicle density for the size of our reserve. This translates to far less vehicle pressure, the ability to spend much longer with an animal if needs be, waiting for that photographic opportunity, and for the wildlife, it means they will be seeing far fewer vehicles, as the Land Rovers tend to spread out right across the reserve.
Ranger Sandros Sihlangu might be viewing the Nanga female right up north while Pete Thorpe and Bennet Mathonsi track the Mhangeni Pride in the south-west. Nick Sims and Life Sibuye will be zeroing in on the alarms of a bushbuck near Dudley Riverbank whilst Jess Shillaw and Advice Ngwenya are birding with their guests along the Sand River, not even looking for big cats.
The reserve is wide, the wildlife is plentiful, and if we were to pack up and leave tomorrow, things would continue on as if we were never even here in the first place.
That is the real beauty of the pristine wilderness we are so fortunate to be a part of.
Lovely blog James. I agree, we actually make little difference to the animals, if we are around or not.
Your observations reflect my feelings when I’m at Londolozi–insignificance.
How very true!
James, I loved all the photos, I kept leopard in the tree Ximungwe🤗
Appreciated the explanation about lock down and how that has not affected the lives of the animals ie. big cats. Photos just beautiful capture of the Leopard and her cub and seeing her enter the cave. I enjoyed picturing all of you on your special Safaris individually ….thank you! Wonderful as usual.
In my opinion it translated into less pressure upon animals due to less guests, but it will surely be more of them after the Lockdown is over…
This policy is one of the things that makes Londolozi such a special place!! Victoria if plague ridden Americans are ever welcome in the world again we will be back!!
Yes, so beautiful just to know that you are there… And I so love the Nhlanguleni leopard and her cub!
Just one of the things I love about the Londolozi property- the lack of the human footprint!
Interesting that the animals‘ behaviour doesn‘t change much; this obviously means that you do the right thing.
Well said James. Makes me feel good about the impact from people! A lot of beautiful viewing and educating going on with minimal impact !
I often thought reading Recent lockdown 2020 blog, every time a Ranger said “ This is New”.
I HOPED that Each One was keeping a record of every new experience.
I read that a leopard walked down and through the dining area hunting at a nearby reserve.
The very paradigm of Londolozi requires objective observation.
And that is how it should be……………………… Thanks!
Perfectly explained James. You are all so blessed to have this pristine wilderness. I sincerely hope that your government continues to appreciate its value and the Sterling effort you all make to safe guard not only the wildlife but the whole eco system.🙏🏻💕 Malta is just 246 km squared and the government continues to sign over green zones for the bird hunters, leaving little recreation areas for the public to enjoy….all for votes.
Love to read your daily’s. But I read more such things but most ofthe time I am appaled by the poaching that reoccurred in reserves while being under lockdown…. not so at Londolozi?
Hi Jacques, no thankfully no such problems; we have a very efficient anti-poaching team.
Hi James. Lovely article and I have taken the Nhlanguleni Mom and youngster as a Screensaver. It’s a lovely pic. So now it is going round and round and will be part of all my screensavers which are a FASCINATION OF NOTE to all our friends who come to visit US and end up visiting our Computer! Thanks, guys. Super pics and stories! Wendy M
According to 101 Kruger Tales by Jeff Gordon, “if you drove every kilometre of accessible tourist road in Kruger, and were able to see for 100 metres on either side of the entire way, at the end of it all you would have only seen just over two-and-half percent of the entire Park.” The animals clearly have plenty of space to themselves!
As it should be! I remember asking this question early on in the pandemic, and the answer was the same!
James, once again you have helped unlock some of the questions that we have and obviously so many others. It’s clear that the Londolozi philosophy and structure it’s a win-win for all. The wildlife is allowed to be comfortable in its normal environment and the human interaction is very minimal. Probably the only real difference for the wildlife was seeing fewer vehicles over that time!