Over the past year or so, along with his mother, The Shingi Male has definitely been one of the most viewed leopards at Londolozi. His beautifully rich golden coat and size for a young leopard makes him stand out.
The last surviving cub of a litter of three, he is on the cusp of independence.
We are still seeing him with his mother, The Nkoveni Female, from time to time, technically not making him fully independent, although he would definitely be fine if she decided to leave him today. An afternoon spent with him recently made me realise that he would be totally fine on his own and that his mother is probably the one holding on.
The Nkoveni Female and a young Shingi Male playing.
We set out for our afternoon drive, knowing that we were interested in looking for him as he was seen that morning in the central parts of Londolozi. It being a warmer afternoon, we expected to find him in a thicket somewhere around the last place he was viewed in the morning. While searching the area, things weren’t looking too good as he was nowhere to be seen around the area. After a while, knowing that he had definitely moved on, we decided to search further afield. Literally two minutes after leaving the area, we found his tracks on a parallel road.
Jumping out of the vehicle with Tracker Dorence, he immediately told me that these were fresh, and you could see the excitement come across his face instantly. Dorence decided to continue walking down the road following the tracks, while I went back to the guests in the vehicle. As we approached Dorence on the road, I noticed his large smile. In the short time between my leaving him and getting back to the vehicle, he had found the Shingi Male!
The first sight we saw from a distance!
Driving towards the tree where he was, we noticed that he had an impala kill on the ground. He had definitely made this kill during the day and was unable to hoist because there was far too much weight left on the kill.
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching him slumber in the marula with no worry in the world. As mentioned earlier, for me, this was a moment that really showed his independence. Before this, I had only seen him with his mother around kills, where he claimed them as though it was his, but this impala kill was truly his as he had done the hard work in killing it himself.
Later in the afternoon, he decided it was time to try to hoist, but unfortunately, after one failed attempt, he gave up on that and would rather try his luck with the hyenas in the evening. Before leaving him to his own devices, he went for a drink, the cherry on top of an incredible afternoon with the Shingi Male.
Let’s hope that this afternoon is a sign of many great things to come for the Shingi Male!
Lovely Patrick. Is that a scratch or wound on his nose? Have not seen that on him before?