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Leopards of Sabi Sands
Leopards of Sabi Sands
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Leopards of Sabi Sands
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Thlangisa and her daughter Khokovela by Riaan Botha riaanbotha_wildlife
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
 
"An unlikely visitor to Lion Sands!
The Mawelawela male was seen over the weekend which was surprising as this is a far stretch from his current territory which is more towards the central parts of the Sabi Sand. How this story will unfold is unsure with the Hanyile male still strong and capable of defending his territory and the young Nkova male may possibly be in harm's way now with the Mawelawela male's presence."
Looks like Savanna is producing their montly reports again, they published Septembers yesterday
https://savannalodge.com/wildlife-blog-september-2022/ Ravenscourt is still the most dominant male leopard in the west. Although he is getting huge pressure in the north and south, he is still our most viewed leopard as he crosses his vast territory in his characteristically long and expansive patrols. He can be tricky to track because of the incredible distance he can cover in a comparatively short time. He is still the favourite of many guests and guides alike, being such a reliable male leopard to view and observe. One of the more heated sightings this month again involved his northern competitor, the Euphorbia male, who is the most constant source of pressure on Ravenscourt’s territory and bold enough to try and challenge the now veteran leopard. The two males were seen together growling and running parallel to each other at the height of the observed aggression. No one saw any physical fights, but that is rare to see, as both animals know that an injury in the wilds of the Sabi Sands could mean death. The sighting of the two growling males escalated once when one of our guides noticed alarm calls of impala in the distance and then tree squirrels a bit closer. He drove further up and around a bush, only to see that another male had arrived on the scene – the young Kangela male. At only three this year, he was visibly out of place as he spotted the two huge males up ahead and made for a quick and quiet retreat, luckily before he was detected. Thamba has been a very obvious presence this month. He has done very well in scraping back at Ravenscourt’s former reclaimed territory and now patrols almost as much and as far as the old legend. Since Nyeleti’s disappearance (C'mon guys...), it seems as if Thamba has moved to claim his own portion of Sand River territory which hugs Ravenscourt’s most eastern territorial boundary. There is not much contest from Ravenscourt, but he did get somewhat surprised by a newcomer this month in the form of a skinny young male. We enquired at the game reserves around us and it seems that the young male is known as the Eyrefield male. The young male, six years old like Thamba, had been facing a lot of pressure from his former area’s more dominant male and retreated far west. One morning, someone spotted a hoisted carcass deep inside the bush, and on closer inspection, the young Eyrefield male had secured himself a very important and valuable meal. The young male had hoisted the impala right in the middle of Thamba’s habitual patrol route and it was only a matter of time before the male returned to the area. We were lucky enough to witness the first meeting between these leopards of similar age, but very different build. The air was thick with anticipation. As Thamba approached the scent of the meal, we all thought that the Eyrefield male would make for the hills and run away, but in a surprising turn of events, the male charged Thamba in full confidence and there was a stand-off of highly aggressive growling and posturing. Eventually, the Eyrefield male could only watch as Thamba took ownership of his hard-earned meal. The incredible interaction has been captured on video on our YouTube channel here as part of our Safari Diary Series. We usually see more of the males than the female leopards, but recently we had some great viewing of Tlangisa’s adult twins. Both Basile’s and Khokovela’s cubs are still doing well and continue to grow at each sighting. Their mothers are great at keeping them safe, which is not always very conducive to good game viewing, however. Basile keeps her young cub in deep drainage lines or gullies, under huge granite boulders or in the dense undergrowth of the Sand River. When both Basile and her cub were in a seriously playful mood, we watched as they took turns comically climbing up the river bush-willows and then pouncing down on each other, only to run off at great speed. [Basile's cub is now deceased] Khokovela’s cub will be one in November and faces much more serious lessons than the playful antics of its cousin. The cub will start having to learn how to hunt soon and will either be shown by its mother or even start hunting small rodents and birds to really develop those hunting instincts. There will be many hurdles to overcome if the young leopard manages to become an adult and etches out its own territory and life in the densest leopard population in Africa. Boulders has been scarce as she too, is brilliant at keeping her cub hidden and avoiding detection. Her cub, however, is doing very well as far as we can tell and Boulders keeps it well fed and healthy. We recently found her returning to the cub, but while we were following her, watched her successfully catch a scrub hare and carry it back to the cub. Unfortunately she stuck the kill in an area we were unable to see her or the cub feeding on the kill.
Mondzo with her Egyptian Goose
By Deon Kelbrick  *This image is copyright of its original author
A sleeping Ravenscourt reacted quickly and managed to flee in time
 *This image is copyright of its original author Mozam Bleek  |
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