This week’s recap focuses on the cats we have seen over the past 7 days...

We had plenty of sightings of Kigelia and her cubs this week! Last week the youngsters seemed a bit shy, but that was not at all the case this week... or perhaps because food was in abundance for the trio...

When a leopard has a kill high in the branches of a Marula tree, the key is patience. If you wait long enough, you could be lucky enough to watch her scale the tree to get up to her kill. Here the fruits of our labour paid off as we watched the Kigelia female leopard and her two cubs feed on a small kudu she had caught the previous afternoon. When we thought it couldn’t get any better, the trio headed off to quench their thirst at a nearby water source!

Our final sighting of them for the week was when Kigelia found herself in a precarious position. She had made a kudu kill but placed it in a less-than-ideal tree, making it hard for her and her two cubs to get a good grasp on it. The leopardess descended the tree after tiring herself out trying to move the kill around, after which her cubs tried to get a bite of it but one of them had manoeuvred the kill around too much and dangled it from the tree, holding onto it as best as it could, but the weight was too much, and it plummeted to the ground. The leopardess then dragged the kill around, we hoped that she might take it up into the many other more suitable trees around her, but instead, she retreated with it into the thickets.

As we finished our drinks during our sundowner stop, we decided to head to a small dam nearby to see if there was any activity. Our instincts were rewarded as we found the Golonyi female leopard quenching her thirst.

A leopard feeding on a kill can sometimes not only surprise you by sight but your other senses are consumed by it as well. The crunch of bones and cartilage by her powerful jaws and even the smell of the carcass itself can often leave you speechless, but an incredible sight to witness nature as intended.

On our way back to the lodge, we found the Mawelawela male leopard on the road scent-marking heavily on the surrounding bushes. He was also salivating profusely, a sign that he might have picked up the scent of another male leopard in the area, and he would not be wrong because this area is already occupied by one.

A wonderful sighting of these three young Kambula sub male lions. They were showing interest in some wildebeest feeding in the distance, but being in such an open area, the wildebeest noticed them very quickly and ran off. It is not always easy being a young male lion, given that they must now try and catch food themselves!

We followed up on the three youngsters the following day, only to find them stalking a big herd of buffalo. The buffalo seemed to always be one step ahead of them and chased the young males. They didn’t give up and left them still trying. We hope they will make a kill at some point!

One morning, the Styx Pride along with two of the N’waswishaka male lions were seen together with very full stomachs. We had not seen them for a few days, but we are happy that they all seem to be doing perfectly fine!

We continued to have regular sightings of the Styx Pride with the three lionesses proving to be a team of fantastic hunters! We found the pride and cubs on a fresh zebra kill and were delighted to watch the cubs fight for a position to get their fill. The sounds and growls that come out when lions scramble for food is something to behold! The following evening, they took on a herd of buffalo but unfortunately left with empty hands despite getting nail-bitingly close. These cubs still have many challenges to face, but we remain hopeful that all of them will reach maturity.

Early one morning, one of the N'waswishaka male lions was found. He seemed to be slightly restless and called a few times; possibly calling the rest of his coalition who were nowhere to be seen. Scars on his face are evidence of the battles he has faced as these males have slowly started expanding their territory over recent months.

Until next time!