There is such a dense population of cats surrounding Umkumbe Safari Lodge, each lion pride and leopard with their distinct character and story to tell. Their stories are all knitted together, with long and dramatic histories. The fights, the birth of cubs, the splintering of lion prides and the solitary lifestyle of leopards makes for an incredible intricate big cat journey. The Sabi Sand is the place to watch big cat action unfold. Choose your favourite leopard, pick your favourite lion pride and follow their stories here…
Game drives at Umkumbe Safari Lodge are always jam-packed with exceptional predator sightings. Leopard’s are in abundance on the Umkumbe traverse and they have such a dominant presence around the lodge. Each leopard appears to have their turn in limelight and rangers are always there to witness a leopard’s time to shine. A male’s territory may overlap with 3/4 female’s territory’s, which means we often see more than one leopard in a sighting.
Our social and pride orientated cats, the lions, have also decided to share the stage with the leopards. As if being rewarded with leopard sightings isn’t enough, the lion sightings have been equally as noteworthy. The wild being the wild is always unpredictable, but recently Umkumbe has struck gold with its big cat sightings.
Here’s a big cat update from Umkumbe Safari Lodge:
Catching up with the Sabi Sand Leopards
Rangers have reported regular sightings of Mxabene, Tatowa and Kigelia over the past couple of months. Mxabene boasts a dominant presence and is an old school favourite with guests. He is superbly nonchalant with the presence of vehicles and pretty much “owns” his area. This male has quite a commanding presence and an absolute highlight of the week was when he casually strolled past a vehicle full of guests. His delicate body brushed the side of vehicle and he just continued his patrol while everyone looked on in wonderment!
Kigelia is a young leopardess and the daughter of Little Bush. She’s been spotted hunting and appears to have inherited Little Bush’s prowess and pouncing ability. Little Bush hasn’t been seen in a while, but then again she does have two cubs to protect and defend. Rangers haven’t had any recent sightings of White Dam but she was caught on the camera trap with her male cub!
Sightings of another majestic leopardess, Tatowa, have been reported. Tatowa is a slender and beautiful leopardess who crossed over from the northern boundary onto the Umkumbe traverse. She’s built a name for herself as quite a tough cat and is the only surviving leopard from a litter of 4. She used to wander over briefly and then return to the northern reaches, but sightings are definitely more regular now. This past week Nicki Steenberg said guests observed Tatowa marking her territory and sniffing buffalo dung. Leopard’s mark their territory by leaving claw marks on trees and by littering faeces and urine over their turf.
Just when we were getting used to the flood of photographs and information about the above leopards, in steps sightings of different leopards who’ve been on the “down-low”. These two include Mahlatini and the Bicycle crossing male. Mahlatini is renown for being more of a nomadic male and solitary wanderer, whereas Mxabene and the Bicycle Crossing male appear to be more territorial.
The Bicycle Crossing male is definitely making his present more dominant. He has been rolling in buffalo dung and grooming himself. Their territories intersect at the Sand River, which runs in front of the lodge, but they don’t overlap. Male leopards guard their territory against other males but their traverse overlaps with, on average, 3/4 females.
One to watch: I’m keeping my eye on the Bicycle Crossing male. A few months back he came right up to the ranger’s block at the lodge and seems to be fast racking himself as a firm favourite in sightings. Who will you be watching?
Catching up with the Lions of the Sabi Sand
The Charleston’s, the Southern lionesses and the Mangeni Pride have certainly wowed guests with sightings. In the past it was all about the Sparta pride and Matshapiri males, so it’s great to see these other prides on a more regular basis. And of course, the Southern Pride lionesses have a bit of exciting news…There have delivered two new cubs into the Sabi Sand!
It’s endearing to watch tawny bundles of lion cub fluff blunder about trying to establish themselves within their pride. The Southern Pride lionesses have two new cubs sired by the Charleston boys.The cubs are doing well and guests were elated to witness their playful antics in the wild. The Charleston male lions are absolute warriors and one of the males is easily recognisable by his decaying, straggling tooth which hangs from the side of his jowls.
Guests at Umkumbe have been incredibly lucky with the sightings of the two roguish Charleston boys, their cubs and the southern lionesses.
But, just when you thought the lion sightings couldn’t get much better, rangers stumbled across the Mangeni pride of lions, a pride 9 lions strong. Guests and rangers saw the pride two days in a row. The second sighting of the pride unfolded into quite a chaotic scene. The pride were stampeded and chased by a huge herd of buffalo, totalling around 400 bovines. The lions were about 200 metres away from the buffalo herd, just sleeping and then the drama ensued.
The buffalo herd became weary of the lion pride and began their chase, almost knocking them down in the process. A rather gutsy lionesses turned around and tried to hunt; but to no avail. The Mangeni’s sought refuge in a drainage line. Ranger Nicki Steenberg said, “Watching the buffalo herd chase the lion pride looked like black death approaching!”.
One to watch: I’m keeping my eye on the Southern Pride lionesses two little cubs. Let’s hope the cubs see maturity!
All in all, a successful couple of months of leopard and lion sightings for the Umkumbe team.
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