White Dam is a notoriously shy leopardess roaming the traverse surrounding Umkumbe Safari Lodge. With stealth and grace she darts between shrubbery dotted along the landscape. The past week she has exhibited unusual behaviour, quite uncharacteristic of her rather coy demeanour. You’re not going to believe this, but White Dam has been hunting out in the open together with her cub and is unfazed by the limelight!
Rangers and guests at Umkumbe often report sightings of White Dam together with her cub. She is clearly teaching her offspring how to hunt successfully and arm her cub with finely tuned ambushing techniques. Has her playful cub brought out an extroverted side to White Dam? It appears so – this was the third kill in a space of 4 – 5 days. During this period of time, the cub clearly upped its skill set.
We’ve told the tale of two of her kills, now here is the third. When this famously elusive leopardess made her first kill, the youngster hung back. At 10 months old the cub will accompany its mother on a kill – nothing better than on-the-job training. Cubs are often left to their devices while the adults patrol and hunt; and clearly the cub wasn’t confident enough to take centre stage. When the kill was made, the smell attracted our infamous scavengers – the hyenas.
The antics from the second leopard kill were caught on the sneaky camera trap. The antics were incredible and it’s amazing to observe what happens when the game viewers aren’t around ! There’s plenty of playfulness, gentle ambushing and ripping apart of the carcass. Due to successful scavenging from our hyena species, the carcass was stolen, leaving them without a much anticipated meal. At least both leopards were sufficiently full from their first kill. However, this expectation of a meal obviously left them salivating. Leopards are also opportunistic hunters which is why the third kill happened. And this time, the cub was more involved!
Unfortunately guests didn’t see the kill happen but caught a glimpse White Dam’s cub dragging the fleshy carcass up a tree. White Dam was nowhere to be seen but she has clearly taught her cub how to stash a kill for safekeeping.
Watch this space, White Dam and cub are dominating the Sabi Sand leopard sightings!
Not a bad trilogy of leopard kills for the Sabi Sand !
Leave a Comment