Leopards of Sabi Sands

[Ngala]

From Londolozi Game Reserve, The Week in Pictures #277 by James Souchon:
"The Flat Rock Male lies up on the banks of the Sand River as the female he has been mating with for the last few days lies up behind him. Can you identify her in the next picture?"

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"The female tries to attract the attention of the Flat Rock Male early this morning. Go to leopards.londolozi.com and see if you can identify which female this is. Be sure to post your answer in the comments section below."

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"The Mhobeni Male leopard is often seen to the west of Londolozi. This last week he killed an Impala Ram and hoisted it into a large Jackalberry tree."

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"The Flat Rock Male is being seen more and more often as he settles into the territory left vacant after the demise of the 4:4 Male."

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[Ngala]

From Umkumbe Safari Lodge:
Leopards spend the daylight hours reclining in trees, hiding in drainage lines and resting on termite mounds. They love to survey their landscape and search for potential prey. They're the ultimate opportunists and will pounce at a moment's notice; but generally stick the night hours to conduct hunts.

This is exactly what the Bicycle Crossing male was doing when Nadia and guests spotted him. Nice to see this male back on his turf ! And we're due a leopard catch-up with you - here is your album of long overdue leopard pics.

A close-up of this exquisite leopard we've come to know and love on our traverse. Between him and Mxabene, we're not quite sure which one is our favourite! 

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Leopards often patrol their territory ensuring that no bush is left unmarked. 

You'll find they aggressively patrol after the rains because their scent has been washed away. Leopards mark their territory with urine and faeces; clawing areas and rubbing their cheeks up against trees. 

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Bicycle Crossing takes time out from his exhausting patrol of his local area. Leopards will often place themselves in an elevated position to survey for unsuspecting prey. 

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The Bicycle Crossing male casually strolls down road. Leopards love nothing better than taking the easiest route to a destination. During a hunt, plenty of energy is expended and leopard's need to conserve their energy during the daylight hours. 

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[Ngala]

From Umkumbe Safari Lodge: Week in Pics : The Genius of Genus Panthera
The Felidae family contains the genus Panthera which refers to lions, leopards, tigers, jaguar and snow leopards. Snow leopards aren't common in the bushveld; but our precious Panthera pardus (leopard) and Panthera leo (lion) are found in abundance throughout Botswana and Kruger.
Now that you're more aware of the taxonomic hierarchy of our cats, it's time to celebrate the pure genius of these master stalkers, powerful pouncers and finely-tuned killing machines. Have a fantastic weekend and enjoy the "Week in Pics"!

A close-up of the stoic and powerful legend of a male, Bicycle Crossing. Our leopard sightings have been dominated by males this week! 

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A cat that is renown for straddling branches. A leopard's safe place - an elevated position in a tree.

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[Ngala]

Tingana, credits to E.p. Rangers, 28 Feb. 2017.

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Tingana from Chitwa Chitwa Safari Lodge, 02 March 2017.

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Tingana from Arathusa Safari Lodge, credits to Berend-jan de Leeuw, 16 March 2017.

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[Ngala]

Tingana from WildEarth Sunrise Safari, Djuma Private Game Reserve, 31 March 2017.

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[Ngala]

Tingana from Djuma Game Reserve, At Close Quarters, credits to Villiers Steyn, 31 Mar 2017.
"We then headed off for a coffee stop and heard that a leopard had been spotted nearby. It was Tingana. He has really been elusive over the last few days but we decided to follow up and try our luck a third time.
The other guides lost Tingana in a block and we all worked together to relocate him. We used alarm calls from some francolins to finally locate him. He was moving very erratically through the bush from termite mound to termite mound, checking for any meals lurking below. We spent a good hour with him and everyone managed to get some different but great shots of him."

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[Ngala]

From At Close Quarters - Safari Specialists, credits to Villiers Steyn:
"Its been an unreal few days on our first #BigCatPhotoSafari of the year. We had a great sighting of Tingana Male leopard this morning to end off what was nothing short of an incredible few days. Our next safari starts in a couple of hours and we are hoping for more of the same."

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Tingana from WildEarth Sunset Safari, Djuma Game Reserve, 30 March 2017.

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From Cheetah Plains:
"After a period of us not seeing him, male leopard Tingana was located yesterday attempting to hunt. Image by Andrew Khosa"

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[Ngala]

From At Close Quarters - Safari Specialists, credits to Trevor McCall-Peat:
"This morning we headed out and decided to see what the bush had in store for us. Very soon after leaving the lodge, we bumped into Tingana on the road. He was behaving erratically again but this allowed for some great photography as he walked up and down the road. We managed to have 4-5 amazing walk-bys!
After Tingana moved into some thicker vegetation we decided to let him be and stopped for coffee before heading back to the lodge for brunch."

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[Ngala]

From Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve:
"We had the Kashane male moving deeper and deeper into Maxabeni's territory up in the northern part of the reserve. It’s surely only a matter of time before these two meet!"

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[Ngala]

From Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve:
"We came across leopards last night, mating frequently. Kashane, however, did not seem as interested as Kigelia may had wanted as he kept chasing her off whenever she tried to initiate a mating session too soon after the last."

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[Ngala]

Photo and information credits: JRD Photography
"Quarantine male leopard. A favourite amongst many leopard followers in the northern Sabi Sand"

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