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Makwela brings her cubs out to play

Leaving Camp early this morning, we had one mission and one mission only, to find Makwela and her cubs.


She has had them holed up in and around Leopard Hills for the last few weeks and her tracks told us she was on the move with the cubs in the direction of a Warthog kill she had from the previous day.

Having Allen and Ruth Wolf with me, who are regular visitors to Leopard Hills, we made the decision to go to the kill site, and wait to see if she would appear. On arriving in the dry river bed she was nowhere to be seen, so we decided to sit it out and wait. Our patients were rewarded when Makwela arrived at the carcass with not one, not two, but three little cubs. We estimate the cubs are about 8 weeks old!!

In all my years in the bush I have never had the privilege of witnessing cubs this small, and what an honour the “Mother Leopard” chose us to witness this first visit to a kill site for these tiny little cubs. I have had the incredible opportunity to view Makwela over the last 12 year that I have been in the Western Sector of the Sabi Sand Reserve, and to see her with what might well be her last litter of cubs left me feeling a little humble to say the least.

We shall keep you posted on their development; watch this space for updated news.

Thank you to Mary Kay for the pictures.