The Week In Pictures presents a journal of wildlife photographs celebrating the diversity of life and beauty surrounding us at the beautiful Londolozi Game Reserve. As we reflect on the past week with hot days and anticipating the first summer rains, we’ve been fortunate to witness amazing wildlife activity across the reserve, from predators and prey to interesting birds, special landscapes, a beautiful cheetah family and everything in between.
The Toulon pack of wild dogs has been on the reserve recently, and the three young adopted pups are growing nicely. We followed them one afternoon and witnessed them successfully hunt an impala.
We’ve also been treated to a phenomenal viewing of the cheetah family in the open grasslands. The mother is doing an excellent job of securing food and providing safety for her three adorable cubs. The male cheetah made a brief appearance one morning as well.
On the lion front, the Ndzhenga Coalition continues to patrol the eastern parts of Londolozi, maintaining their reign over the Ntsevu Pride and Kambula Pride near the Sand River. A standout sighting was of the Tsalala Female and her three cubs on a rocky outcrop. Additionally, the Talamti Male Lion was seen with his new coalition partner, the Nkuhuma Male, as they roamed the open grasslands.
Leopards were fairly elusive this week, though I managed to capture a shot of the shy but striking Nkuwa 2:2 Young Male, as well as the Three Rivers Female while she was hunting impala.
The rest of the images include some of my favourites—elephants, giraffes, birds, and even a monitor lizard!
Let me know your favourite images in the comments section below.
Enjoy This Week In Pictures…
This was a first for me, watching an African Fish Eagle land on the back of a sleepy Hippo.
The Three Rivers Female moved in deathly silence and crouched low to the ground shortly after noticing a heard of Impala in the thickets nearby.
Forced into early independence at 11 months. Despite her small size, she's proven resilient, currently raising a cub in SE Londolozi.
This beautiful elephant struck us a pose as she fed on a green thorn tree (Balanites maughamii).
One of the stunning Ntsevu Lionesses lying on a granite boulder in the Sand River. Her Amber eyes are vibrant as she stares right into the sunset.
A young female elephant strolls across a clearing providing us with a special sighting made even better with the stunning backdrop.
An adorable scene as two of the Tsalala Female’s cubs rest on the edge of a rocky cliff. A truly picture-perfect moment!
The moments that you least expect to witness out on Safari. An African Goshawk swooped down and killed a young Natal Spurfowl.
An unfamiliar sight of the Nkuwa 2:2 Young Male. He is still small and fairly shy. Now at the age of 20 months, he is beginning to really distance himself from his mother’s territory west of Camp.
A unique sighting of a kudu bull picking up an old bone from the ground. This is known as osteophagia where some antelope species will lick or suck on bones to get more phosphate that is lacking in their usual diet.
The commanding Ndzhenga Male patrolling the eastern section of Londolozi.
A White-backed Vulture joins the masses scavenging on the remains of a baby zebra that appeared to have died from natural causes.
An elephant uses her trunk to reach up to the sweeter leaves in the canopy of the green thorn tree.
We parked at the base of Ximpalapala Koppie to admire a dazzle of zebra. The stallion of the herd was very impressive and we observed him scanning the grasslands at dusk.
The family of cheetahs have been spoiling us with incredible sightings. We were fortunate one afternoon to spend some quality time with them grooming and playing on this termite mound.
A stunning silhouette of a marula tree (Sclerocarya birriea) against another memorable winter sunset in the African bush.
A raucous flock of Guinefowls had a drink from a puddle in the Sand River. I love their contrasting colours and polka-dot markings.
After an exhilarating chase, we watched an African painted dog successfully catch an impala.
A couple of cheetah cubs to brighten your day!
A majestic bull giraffe walks across the crests just north of camp. The views of the landscape are just breathtaking up there.
A large elephant bull with Impressive tusks ambled away from us along the road. He was showing signs of musth so we viewed him from a distance.
A male cheetah poses for us in the morning sunlight.
A monitor lizard peaks its head out of a fallen leadwood tree (Combretum imberbe)
The Talamati Male gave us a large yawn exposing his impressive jaw of teeth.
Terrific collection of photos this week Nick. My favorites are the Lion and cheetah cubs as they are irresistible, as well as your stunning sunset with the Marula tree and Nkuwa’s male sub adult cub. It was also amazing to see the African Goshawk with his prize – what a sighting!
Thanks Denise!
Babies always win. Cheetah with cubs. All are excellent images including the sunset
Thanks Karen, The cheetah cubs are the cutest young animals I have photographed!
Fabulous array of photos Nick! Favorite? All?!! I will need to review your TWIP several more times to narrow down the most exceptional favs! Please…more on the Tsalala Lioness and Cubs!!!
Thanks so much Camille!
This TWIP really showcases the broad range of wildlife to be seen at Londolozi! While I’m slowly adjusting to life at home again after our visit, I’m missing it all!
Beautiful photos! We enjoyed time with the cheetah mom and her three cubs with Megan the week of Sept 22 – they look like they’ve doubled in size since then!
Thanks Mary and Karen! so pleased you both had a wonderful time at Londolozi!
Fantastic week! So lucky!
Hi Nick such stunning images once again in TWIP. My favorite would definitely be the Tsalala lion cubs, such cutiepies. I also loved the mother Cheetah and her 3 cubs. What a photo you took of the Fish eagle on the hippos back. So very glad the Tsalala female has her own cubs and can start making a family and pride, for she was all by herself for tooooo long.
Nick, great pictures this week. My favorites are the head on shot of the Ndzhenga male lion and the beautiful sunset shot of the marula tree in the foreground.
Thanks William!
Wonderful images, cubs are always nr one, the cheetah cubs di brighten my day, as well as the Tsalala female ‘s, they have grown up greatly! The lioness looking at the sun is something really special, a rare view and a fantastic picture. The Ndzenga male is in his best and so leopards and the adult cheetahs. I’m always in awe at the trees at sunset, and how long are elephant bulls ‘talks .. the female is so entertaining. The giraffe bull and the landscape… the eagle on the sleepy hippo is funny. I love giineafowls too, they are so nice and entertaining birds! I see goshawks from a close distance but they aren’t among my favourite birds. Anyway the picture is well done
The African Fish Eagle on the back of the hippo was certainly novel! Gorgeous sunset, too.
Hi Chelsea! The fish eagle landing on hippo was so rare!
OMG! I found myself oohing and ahing throughout this collection. Standouts for me were the sleek beauty of the three rivers female, the Goshawk, the Cheetah family and the Marula tree in the sunset. Just WOW!!!
Stunning photos, Nick.
My favorite one is the goshawk on his prey. The colors of this bird are so well emphasized in this photo.
Otherwise, of course, the Tsalala Lioness’ cubs Ada the cheetah cubs with their mum are my favorites as well.
But all photos are great.
Thanks for that TWIP-so many different styles of the wildlife. The cheetas are fabulous.
Lovely photos Nick. That Goshawk sighting must have been amazing to watch, and the fish eagle on the back of the hippo is brilliant. But as I’m such a sucker for cubs, my 2 favourites are the Tsalala cubs and the cheetah with her 3.
A question for you….is the brother of the young Nkuwa male still around, and is he is the same area?
Thanks for the comment Suzanne. Im thrilled you enjoyed the collection of images. Yes at this moment he is still alive however we do not see much of him as it is at this stage of a young male leopards life where he becomes more nomadic and moves further away from his mothers territory.
The sunset photo gave me goosebumps. The image is vibrating. The landing of the vulture was another image that caught my attention. Greatphoto of the Tsalala female’s cubs as well. All of your photos are truly amazing. Well done Nick!
Thank you very much Camilla!
I love the photo of the Tsalala female’s cubs.
Some lovely photos (as always) but I feel I would like to go “left field” and choose the sunset as my favourite (by a lion’s whisker)
Thanks Ian, that’s my personal favourite from this weeks collection.
Awesome TWIP Nick! So many wonderful shots, and especially loved the cheetah images and the photo of the Toulon dog after the impala take-down. But my favorite picture is the brilliant photo of the marula tree at sunset! Bravo!
Thanks Paul!