I generally like the lesser-known leopards.
Partly because as leopards I believe the more mystery they have about them the better, and partly because by default they tend to inhabit the further reaches of Londolozi, and a sighting of them usually has just your vehicle there, with unlimited time at your disposal to spend in the company of this magnificent creature.
The Tutlwa female, the 4:4 male and now the Ndzanzeni female have all at one time or another occupied the top spot in my list of favourite individuals on the reserve, albeit not only for the reasons I mentioned above.
This female is a success story all in herself, being born as a single cub to the Riverbank 3:3 female in early 2012.
With the former two having both met their fate at the hands of the reserve’s lion population, only the Ndzanzeni female remains now as the leopard I’d always pick to spend time with above any other. Still raising a male cub of roughly a year old, weeks can go by without a sighting of her, so any time she resurfaces I find myself heading down into Londolozi’s southern reaches to follow up on the fortunes of the two animals. If she hasn’t been seen for awhile I’ll often make a concerted effort to check out some of her favourite haunts in the hope of even just a glimpse of her or her offspring.
Ranger Sean Zeederberg and tracker Joy Mathebula were recently driving with their guests in the incredibly picturesque Dudley Riverbank area of Londolozi, and were descending into a steep section of a gulley named 3:4 Crossing, in honour of the 3:4 female leopard who lived for 17 years on Londolozi and whose body was found at the crossing point, when movement on the bank caught their eyes.
Born to the Tugwaan female in August 1992, this leopard would redefine the relationship between man and wild cat.
According to Sean, the next few minutes dissolved into a crazy whirl of excitement as a female leopard with her kill was spotted, her cub came out, another female arrived and was chased off, and the Inyathini male was all the while watching from the lip of the bank. I’ll let Sean summarise the sighting in a separate post, as I wasn’t there, but hearing of this insanely rare grouping of four leopards, and hearing that one of them had been the Ndzanzeni female, I made sure I headed there that afternoon to see if anything had developed.
Our expectations were high on the way down, and were significantly boosted by ranger Nick Kleer’s update as we approached the sighting, “James move it up, the male and the cub are in the tree!”. Slotting into position next to Nick’s vehicle, the most beautiful scene was in front of us, with the Inyathini male draped languorously over the branch of a spreading Jackalberry tree, with the Ndzandzeni female’s cub lying on the same branch facing him. The female herself was at the base of the tree, but no sooner had I turned off the engine than she too leaped up along the sloping trunk to join the pair already up in the branches. The unidentified female from that morning was nowhere to be seen, but with three leopards there we weren’t complaining!
The cub meets snarl with snarl as the Inyathini male won’t let him past.
The female (right) joins her cub in the branches. Tensions were high in the tree, as any close contact between any of the three leopards resulted in aggressive hissing, even between mother and cub.
The kill appeared to be a young bushbuck, and what was left of it was hoisted into a Tamboti tree, the access to which lay along the branch on which the Inyathini male was lying. Any attempt by the female or her cub to skirt round him to get to the meat was met by instant snarls and aggression, and it wasn’t until about twenty minutes later that he shifted his position, which opened a gap for the female to sneak past him up to the kill.
Three leopards in one shot is not common. L to R; Inyathini male, Ndzazneni female, Ndzanzeni young male.
The male glances back to where a hyena was circling. The fact that the Jackalberry tree was growing out from halfway up the bank allowed us to park higher up to be almost at eye level with the leopards.
A merge of five shots showing the full extent of the branch. The kill is out of picture to the top left.
Once she was at the carcass the Inyathini male didn’t seem to mind (often male leopards won’t allow females near to their kills) and settled down again, with the cub remaining on the branch near him. At least four hyenas were circling the base of the Tamboti tree in which the Ndzanzeni female was feeding, hoping for any scraps to drop down to them. In repositioning the kill she almost dropped it, which caused an immediate intake of breaths from all observers, but a quick snatch recovered the situation, and she managed to lodge it a bit more firmly in the branches, to the disappointment of the hyenas.
The Inyathini male glances up to where the Ndzanzeni female was feeding.
The next morning the kill had been entirely consumed and all three leopards were gone, vanished into the surrounding thickets.
The Ndzanzeni female is the great granddaughter of the 3:4 female, so it was a wonderful thing to witness such a sighting at a place that forms such an iconic part of the history of the Leopards of Londolozi.
Wow!! How amazing! Lucky you.
Fantastic James.!
The Ndzanzeni was also my favorite during our visit last month–spectacular coloring and lines.
I was fortunate to get a great shot of her drinking from a pond early morning. (Kyrie was kind enough to feature it in her 6/24 blog entry.)
Hi Vin,
Nice to hear it! All leopards are beautiful, but the younger ones in particular (she’s around 5 years old) are particularly photogenic!
Best regards
Lucky you
Grand story and beautiful pictures. I am growing very fond of these beautiful cats.
An amazing, insane sighting!
is the male the father of her cubs ?
Hi Mishal,
He is, or at least thinks he is. Females will often mate with multiple males in an area to confuse the paternity.
If not, it’s most likely he would have tried to kill the cub.
Regards
Oh how amazing a sighting, I can only imagine the excitement! Thank you for your experience with us James. I still get such a thrill from the Londo posts. Enjoy the rest of your week in paradise 🙂 Only a leopard can make a branch in a tree look so comfy 🙂
Great video, photos, and narrative.
Great photos especially like the montage of 5 great sighting and description.
Unbelievable sighting Jamo!
Just when you think they can’t surprise us, they do!! What an awesome sighting!