Author: LH Focus Online

February flew by in a flash, and before we knew it, it was already the end of March. These two months have been filled with adventure and excitement. This year the big rains came late, and we had half our annual rainfall, about 300mm, in a matter of four days during March. All this rain added to the rain we had during February kept us from heading north of the Sand River as the levels were too high to cross.

Over the last two months Dayone seems to have found a liking in the Lodge as he made 3 different kills in and around the camp. He was seen in an altercation with another unidentified younger male Leopard. When the Othawa pride and Selati males arrived on the scene due to all the noise, Dayone quickly made his way out of the area. It seems that he has a injury on his left front leg as it is swollen and he is limping a bit, but this is definitely not keeping him back.  Dayone was also found mating with the Dam 3 female.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again Kashane has been very scarce, as he still spends most of his time further to the East.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nyeleti is starting to become a force to be reckoned with as he continually extends his territory further to the West and even a little bit to the South, pushing into Dayone’s territory. We have been having very good sightings of this male over the last two months. He has also been mating with Xikavi as well as Hlaba Nkunzi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Torchwood male still seems to be living a nomadic lifestyle as he is seen in different areas of the reserve. Hopefully he will establish himself somewhere in the Western Sector, so that we can view him more often. On one morning we were very privileged to see him fishing for some Catfish. This was quite a sight to behold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sightings of Hlaba Nkunzi have been few and far between. The reports were that she has had cubs to the East of our traversing area, as she was lactating and kept on going back to the same area. No confirmed sightings of the cubs were reported. With her now being seen mating with Nyeleti, speculations have been coming through that she has lost the cubs. Hopefully this is not the case and that she is having a false oestrous just to keep Nyeleti happy and away from her cubs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Her daughter, Scotia, also doesn’t really seem to have established a territory as of yet. She is definitely a very good hunter, as she is often found with a kill. It looks like she also loves being the centre of attention as she constantly poses for the guests, making sightings of her always entertaining.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metsi and her daughter, Boulders, have not been seen for the last two months. We believe they have been spending time in an area which was mostly inaccessible to vehicles due to all the rainfall.

Xikavi was seen mating with Nyeleti and also walked in on Nyeleti and Hlaba Nkunzi, after which they treed her and both females went their separate ways.  It probably wasn’t her best period of time as she was also found losing an Impala kill to a Hyena.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dam 3 female has been her elusive self, only been seen once in a while. She was found mating with Dayone.

Due to the river levels we were unable to get to the Northern section of the Reserve. This is where the Ximunghwe pride has been spending their time for the last two months. We look forward to the levels dropping and being able to give you an update on the pride.

The Othawa’s once again have been moving all over. Some days they were all together and other days some cubs were on their own away from the rest. A couple of times the Selati males did some babysitting. The last that we saw of them all 3 females and 8 cubs were in very good condition. They also however did cross the river to the North late in the month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All 3 the Selati brothers have been patrolling their territory to the West and East. They spent a couple of days on a Buffalo cow and calf that they killed. This put them all back into good condition. They would split up to patrol and then join up for a day or two before splitting up again. They have been facing pressure from the East in the form of the Majingilane coalition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These 4 Majingilane males have been coming into Selati male territory more often. Luckily they have not come across one of the prides to be able to kill the cubs. The Selati’s seem to be standing their ground. At the time of writing of this report the Majingilane have had an altercation with one of the Selati males.  The extent of the injuries are unknown. Follow our Facebook page for up to date updates on the situation.

 

 

 

 

 

The Wild Dogs were only seen on a few occasions. Most of those were from the southern bank of the river watching as they run on the inaccessible northern bank.

The past couple of weeks have been amazing in terms of Cheetah sightings. We have had the adult male, the adult female as well as her two sub-adult cubs that have now separated from her and making kills on their own. Hopefully at least one of the two sub-adults will become a resident Cheetah in the Western Sector.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The name Hyena is always preceded by a bad reputation. These interesting animals play such an important role in the ecosystem by keeping the bush clean. The youngsters are also always entertaining to observe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although we focus on the predators in these reports, we do not forget the other animals that make this place what it is. Elephant sightings have been amazing as well as with some of the smaller game, reptiles and Birds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we enter into April and Autumn, we can see the bush changing again as well as the temperature starting to drop. We look forward to what is yet to come! Follow our Leopard Hills Facebook page for your daily updates!

Written and compiled by Hugo Breed and Johan de la Rey.

As 2013 drew to an end we welcomed the New Year with a bang. We hope that everyone had a wonderful and blessed festive season and that 2014 will be your year.

Due to the busy festive season our December blog did not go out. This however gave us time to acquire some information on the territories our resident Leopards occupy. The blog will also be a combined December and January blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a very generous rain season so far with over 200 millimeters of rain for December and January alone, so needless to say that the bush is very green and the vegetation is lush. With the festive season behind us and all the babies growing strong, all is good in the bush.

We had good sightings of Dayone as usual; he is still covering a huge territory and covering big distances between sightings. We did see him mating with Xikavi and the Dam 3 female over the two months.

Kashane was seen only a few times and by looking at the maps we can see why. He occupies a huge 77.4 square kilometer territory. He always amazes the guests with his huge size and power and still being able to be agile in trees.

 

 

 

 

 

The Torch Wood male was seen on occasions down in the south. He had a bit of interaction with Dayone but nothing serious.

Hlaba Nkunzi is as usual a good sighting and it seems that she is starting to distance herself from her daughter. She is also moving quite a lot throughout her territory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metsi was seen a few times in the central western parts of the reserve and also seems to do the same as Hlaba Nkunzi by distancing herself from her daughter.

Thlangisa is becoming a regular sighting North of the river for us and it seems that we worked out her movement patterns now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dam 3 female was seen mating with Dayone for two days. When on her own she likes to hide from our view, but it seems that Dayone’s presence relaxes her a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

Although Xikavi was seen mating with Dayone we still saw suckle marks on her which gives us a bit of hope that her cub is still alive, the last time we saw the cub she was taking it into the East.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were also very fortunate to see the beautiful Tasselberry resting in a Jackalberry tree. She is usualy very elusive but on that particular morning she couldn’t care less and gave as a wonderful sighting.

Metsi’s cub, who we now have named the Boulders female, seems to have relaxed with the vehicles and is giving us good sightings and it looks like she is settling in on the far West of her mom’s territory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hlaba Nkunzi’s cub, who we named the Schotia female, is doing well on her own and is even killing adult Impala now. It looks like she has taken a bit of mom’s territory around the Eastern parts of the Western Sector.

The pack of Wild Dogs visited us a few times in the festive season and as always with their busy lifestyle giving us endless sightings of action packed hunting and chasing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a visit from two different male Cheetahs over the last two months one adult male and one young male that has just been kicked out by its mother. We were also lucky to see the female Cheetah with her two cubs again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hyena den is no longer active with permanent pups in the den, although we still get to see the clan there every now and then as they still use it as resting spot during the heat of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

The Selati males are still holding a strong presence over the whole Western sector. They had a bit of a run in with the Sparta and Tsalala males. It seems that the Selati males were able to push them out of their territory for now. The three male are in good condition and still making their own kills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ximhungwe pride is still going strong with all six the cubs still in good nick. They spent a good bit of time North of the river, but lately they are back in the central part of the reserve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Othawa pride is also doing well with all eight cubs growing quickly to young lions. They did spend good part of the festive season in the East outside our traversing but they are back home now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had some interesting sightings of our summer birds and the beautiful colors they display.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the general game we had very good sightings with big herds of both elephant and buffalo moving through the area. We had a fair amount of sightings of zebra and giraffe always giving amazing photos in the open grass areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The year has already started with spectacular game viewing and hopefully it is only a prelude to what is to come. 2014 is going to be yet another interesting year which we look forward to sharing with you!

Our new Leopard Hills Website has also been launched! Go and have a look at www.leopardhills.com.

Written and compiled by Johan de la Rey and Hugo Breed.

Out in the Bush time can stand completely still for that moment as the Leopard or Lion is stalking its prey. And before you know it time has flown by and another month has come to an end. November was filled with exciting and amazing sightings as well as some beautiful thunder storms.

With the Othawa Pride covering most of the Western Sector this month we had the opportunity to see them moving quite a lot. They also killed a big Waterbuck Bull and spent a few days on the carcass. All 8 cubs are as playful as ever if not more, and supply us with endless entertainment as they tackle each other and flop over one another. The 3 Lionesses have been taking very good care of the cubs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fortunately for us the Ximhungwe Pride spent most of their time this month in the Western Sector. They were also found on a Zebra that they had killed. At the end of the month they followed the scent of a Rhino, which had died of natural causes, and the whole pride got to feed on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Southern Pride, a pride that as a territory more to the South East of the Western Sector , is a pride which we do not see often. During this month a big Hippo Bull had a fight with a younger Hippo Bull and killed it. This carcass attracted a couple of Hyenas as well as 8 members of the Southern Pride which spent a couple of days feeding on the carcass in the mud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 3 Selati boys have been patrolling a lot and spending some time to the East. They also spent some time with the Othawa pride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hlaba Nkunzi has been leaving her cub on her own for longer periods now. With all the new Impala lambs around it has been easy for both Hlaba Nkunzi and her cub to make kills. We were lucky enough to see her cub take down an Impala lamb as if she has been doing it her whole life. Hlaba Nkunzi was also found mating with Nyeleti.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metsi was found mating with Dayone for a couple of days, and it seems that she is also ready to separate from her cub. We were lucky enough to find her cub on her own and spend some time with her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Xikavi has been providing us with some glimpses of her cub throughout the month. Unfortunately one of her cubs did not survive. There are speculations that it might have been killed by a snake. Xikavi was also found on the move and hunting quite a lot, to ensure that she has enough milk for her young one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thlangisa is still up in the North and moves all over. When she is found she gives us amazing sightings with her most of the time ending up in a tree.

Dayone has been very busy patrolling his area and also mating with Metsi. We found him up in a tree hiding away from the 3 Selati male Lions, which picked up on the scent of a kill that he had made in the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately we don’t have many sightings of Kashane, as most of his territory is to the East. When he is found it is always a great sighting and amazing to see this big male move around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With all of the rain we had, it seems that the Hyena den is not as active as usual, and as a result we have not been having as many sightings and especially no sightings of cubs. They however had a feast on the Hippo that died in the South.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the Wild Dogs left their den site in the West we have not seen them a lot. Near the end of the month the pack with all 6 puppies did however come back West and spent a couple of days, giving us once again amazing sightings and opportunity to see them behave as only Wild Dogs can behave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This month the Male Cheetah made an appearance, causing a lot of excitement. This time he appeared in the North and not the South as we are used to.

 

 

 

 

 

The General game viewing has also been astonishing with all the little ones around, ranging from baby Elephant, Impala lambs, Warthog piglets and even a couple of Side Striped Jackal Puppies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birding, as always this time of year, has been very good. With almost all the migrants back and some still returning we are seeing some beautiful birds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end of year draws near as we enter into December. With summer in full swing we anticipate some hot days followed by some powerful thunderstorms. On behalf of the Leopard Hills Team we would like to wish everyone a Happy Festive Season to be spent with family and friends.

[FMP width=”640″ height=”360″]https://www.leopardhills.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/November2013comp.flv[/FMP]

Written and Compiled by Hugo Breed and Johan de la Rey

With lightning and the soft rolling thunder threatening on the horizon we awaited the first storm of the season to give us relieve from the dust and heat. The beautiful summer sunsets are back with the odd cloud in the sky enhancing the array of colours.  

 

The Othawa pride is still going strong, with the three females and all eight cubs still going about normal life, including the one female without cubs that was seen mating with the Selati males. Hopefully in the next three months we might see a new litter of cubs. The pride was also found on a Buffalo kill this month which created some very full and uncomfortable bellies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ximhungwe pride spent most of the time in the South and East only giving us glimpses for a couple of hours at a time. Lucky for us, at the end of the month, they did cross back and went all the way West and North, ensuring for some more frequent viewing. They are still all accounted for, the three females and all six cubs are looking good and strong.

The Selati males were still split up with the three still sticking together and the one ill one on his own, whom eventually succumbed to this lone lifestyle. There was a report from the East that he got caught up in a group of Buffalo and got killed. The three boys are still spending a lot of time with the Othawa pride.

Hlaba Nkunzi and her cub gave us a good chance to practice our tracking skills with the areas she chose to spend time in this month. Once they were found she provided us with awesome sightings. The cub was found alone on quite a few occasions exploring the area that mom left her in. With the cub at just over twelve months of age mom will start to leave her alone for longer and more often to get her use to the lone lifestyle, luckily for us the cub is just as relaxed as mom and we are still getting grate views of her. Round the end of the month Hlaba Nkunzi and Dayone was found mating close to the Lodge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We only saw Metsi on one occasion this month, it was however a great sighting with her up a tree with an Impala kill and a Hyena on the ground waiting for scraps with Metsi’s cub also on the ground hiding from the Hyena. We did have more frequent sightings of her female cub who was amazingly relaxed with the vehicles around her. She was seen quite close to the lodge and then we got tracks the next day of mom and her leaving the area, we can only assume that Metsi came and fetched her to a kill as we did not manage to stay on the tracks…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Kashane’s territory being so huge we don’t see him a lot but when we see him, he usually gives us a good show and time for awesome photos……

 

 

 

 

Thlangisa is becoming more of a regular sighting North of the river for us, it seems that we managed to work out her behavior in the North, we did at some stage see suckle marks on her and excitement was high, but later in the month the suckle marks dried up and we suspect that she might have lost the litter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Torchwood male is also becoming a regular in the Western Sector with this young male even making kills with vehicles following him, so needless to say this is a welcomed addition to the Western Sector’s Leopards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Xikavi broke the new cub drought with her addition of two new cubs to the West. She has shown them to us but at only a month old you can imagine that the view was limited. Let’s hope that in the future we will get many more great sightings of the two little ones!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shy Dam 3 female was seen a few times, she seems to be more relaxed at night time with us than what she is in day time. We are also proud to announce that there is reports that this shy lady has also shown us a glimpse of two tiny little cubs, crossing our fingers that we will get a view of the two soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close to the end of the month we saw the Blue eyed female called Hukamuri up in the North.

 

 

 

 

The Dayone male is still doing his usual marathon walks covering huge distances in a day to patrol his massive territory; he is in good nick and still keeping the young males at bay. He was also found mating with Hlaba Nkunzi for a couple of days!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the risk of running into Dayone or Kashane, the Nyeleti male is keeping a low profile but still giving us good sightings, at some stage been seen very close to Hlaba Nkunzi’s cub in the center of our area but luckily he did nothing to her and the peace was kept. At the end of the month he was found mating with Xikavi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a brief visit from a full-grown male Cheetah down in the South for a couple of hours and then he silently sneaked back to the east. It is always a privilege to see these gracious animals as they in general avoid the areas with a high population of large predators like the Western sector.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the Hyena population on the up we are definitely getting more sighting of them, apart from the Den site we also see their presence around kills more often. With the ongoing age old battle of eternal enemies we witnessed the demise of a young Hyena to the fangs of a Othawa female.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the last couple of months the Wild Dogs were denning in the Western Sector. They started taking the youngsters on day trips further and further away from the safety of the Den. This gave us amazing viewing of the whole pack and also a sneak peek into the dynamics of everyday pack life. Unfortunately they have now moved more East, and we await their return. We also had a brief glimpse of a different pack from the North East.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The General game viewing was good as always with large herds of Buffalo coming into the area and with the heat all the Elephants in the river. The odd Wildebeest hanging around with the Impala and the flash of black and white stripes from the Zebras are still breaking up the clearings. We are anxiously awaiting all the new born Impalas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With most of the migratory birds back in the area we still await the first Woodlands kingfisher to break the morning silence with its sharp distinct call. We had some amazing bird sightings this month with some of the old issues returning, like “Which big brown raptor is flying up there? Tawney,Wahlberg, Yellow billed Kite or Brown snake eagle?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sand River has started to fill up, the bush is getting greener and thicker and the Dung Beetles are hard at work. We look forward to what November has in store for us at Leopard Hills and the Western Sector.

[FMP width=”640″ height=”360″]https://www.leopardhills.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/October2013comp.flv[/FMP]

Written and compiled by Hugo Breed and Johan de la Rey