Blossoming young survivor…

We are all very cheerful at Leopard Hills today, yesterday we viewed Hlabankunzi’s remaining 14 month old cub for the first time in over a month…she is looking very healthy and strong!

Hlabankunzi has been hiding the cub in the east as far away from the Xinzele male leopard as possible so we were not sure on the condition of the youngster. We have seen tracks a few times but have been unable to locate the cub.

We heard that both Hlabankunzi and her cub were found late the other evening on a fresh Impala kill quite far to the east of Leopard Hills.

We were unable to go and view them in the dark but vowed to try the next morning…only to find out that there was no sign of them in the morning and 2 Mapogo male lions had stolen the kill!

We returned to the area yesterday afternoon ever hopeful…and there she was high up a Marula tree only 100m from the male lion, not phased by him at all! She has had much tougher obstacles than an ageing male lion in her young life!

Enjoy the pictures below, she is a survivor for sure.

It is possibly 6 months or so until her independance, anytime between 18-24 months old is normal for female leopards in this area. Hlabankunzi is already leaving her on her own for extended periods now, possibly up to a week at a time!