Are you ready for October’s big cat bonanza, fresh from the Kruger and Botswana archives? Today, we’re putting lions and leopards in the spotlight. If you’re lucky, you may have already spotted some visuals, reels, and updates on our respective camp pages. Without further ado, let’s delve into the world of swollen-bellied leopards, iconic lion prides, and more!
Africa on Foot and nThambo Tree Camp
Our Klaserie camps are experiencing a perfect balance of leopard and lion sightings. In many reserves, an increase in lion sightings often means a decline in leopard sightings. However, the Klaserie is currently offering incredible sightings of both leopards and lions, with cubs in tow. Below, we highlight a few noteworthy big cat moments in the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve.
October began with an endearing moment shared between a leopardess and her cub. They were spotted during the day, taking refuge in the shade of a tree and lounging in the crunchy bushveld grasses. Watching the leopardess groom and nurture her young cub beautifully illustrates why leopards are such attentive mothers.
A few days later, the team was rewarded with yet another sighting of the leopardess, sans cub. The female was high up in a Marula tree with a recent kill, enjoying her fill of meat while her cub remained safely hidden from threats. A leopard mother needs to maintain her strength while raising her cubs (which usually number one to two) and patrolling her territory to keep it safe. A leopardess can leave her den site for up to two days at a time while sourcing food and guarding her territory.
A couple of weeks after this sighting, both the leopardess and her cub were seen feeding together on an impala kill. The mother was spotted sauntering across the road with her cub, and guides quietly followed them to the kill site. She lay about two metres away from the cub, allowing it to feed. At around 10 to 12 weeks old, cubs are introduced to meat—the mother lets them feast while she monitors the area for predators. At this age, these young bundles of fluff are incredibly vulnerable to threats. During these remarkable leopard sightings, a stunning male leopard with incredible markings was also observed.
Then, when it comes to our usual suspects the Klaserie team spotted the Vuyela lions chilling in the road, gathering heat from the sun in an open clearing. This mega-pride of lions is always spotted in massive groups, ensuring there’s always some kind of chaos happening. Shortly after this sighting of lazy lions, the pride was spotted tucking into a warthog kill together with their young cubs.
In other interesting lion behaviour in the month of October, the whole of the Giraffe Pride from a neighbouring reserve was also seen relaxing in the road. The Vuyelas are incredibly dominant and territorial of their traverse, and yet the Giraffe Pride seemed quite at ease in their surroundings.
Umkumbe Safari Lodge Riverside
Umkumbe’s guides seem to be experts at tracking and finding leopards, but recently their local lions have also made an appearance. The large Kambula male lion put on a show for onlookers, while the ever present N’weti male could be spotted tucking into a juicy impala kill. Guides Tyron Combrink and Alex Paine managed to get these amazing close-up.
Boteti Tented Camp
Boteti Tented Camp’s claim to fame is its intrepid safari day tours, which include wildlife excursions in the renowned Moremi Game Reserve and the Khwai region of the Okavango Delta. These tours often lead to a plethora of amazing sightings. While in the Khwai region, the team spotted a leopard perched in a tree. However, the sighting that stood out the most was a pride of lions attempting to take down a particularly large tsessebe—an unusual source of prey due to its size. As always, Botswana delivers remarkable wildlife experiences.
Nyala Safari Lodge
The team at Nyala recently spotted two leopards walking side by side during a night game drive. Leopards are typically solitary creatures, so seeing two together can indicate one of two possibilities: they are either about to mate or it’s a leopardess accompanied by her cub. We also enjoyed observing a hefty leopard that had just devoured its body weight in warthog, gorging itself until its stomach visibly expanded.
We hope you enjoyed our October big cat update, a time of year marked by an unusually high number of leopard and lion sightings. While summer isn’t typically known as the peak safari season, we find ourselves nearing year-end with big cat sightings still at an all-time high.
Leave a Comment