Last week we shared Marius’s photographs of Umkumbe Safari Lodge’s leopard sightings. This week, Mauritz compiled a selection of leopard photographs from his encounters with Kigelia, Tatowa and White Dam. There have been plenty of leopardess sightings but only the occasional sighting of dominant male, Mxabene. Seems like the females are stealing the show and hogging the limelight ! Let’s hope the exquisite female leopards of Umkumbe retain their power to enchant us.
Kigelia, the young leopardess, certainly has come into her own. During the course of last year she was often spotted with her mother, Little Bush. She has matured and blossomed into a curious and tactful hunter. Kigelia was spotted chasing an ostrich, which is an unusual choice of prey. She pounced, prowled and darted around after the flightless bird, but eventually gave up and took refuge in a nearby Marula tree. Mauritz and the other rangers marked this as unusual sighting. It’s not often you see a leopard chasing an ostrich !
It is always a privilege to see White Dam. Recently, there have only been fleeting sightings of her and she doesn’t hang around. When Warthog Wallow and Mxabene were seen mating close to the lodge, White Dam started to move south of the property. She actually has two cubs sired by Mxabene – a male and female; but we’ve had any recorded sightings of them in the past few months. Mauritz spotted White Dam lapping up water from a small waterhole and managed to capture her on camera before she disappeared into a drainage line.
Tatowa is a breathtakingly beautiful leopardess who crossed over from the northern boundary onto the Umkumbe traverse. She’s the only surviving leopard from a litter of 4 and appears to have no fear. She ambushed an young impala and made a successful kill. The area is surrounded by other predators and hungry scavengers, so she dragged the antelope up a Marula tree to prevent it being stolen.
We hope you enjoy Mauritz’s photographs of this trio of leopards.
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