Kikilezi FEMALE
Born October 2001

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Kikilezi Female - Photographed by Matt Meyer

December 2011

KIKELEZI FEMALE 10 YEARS 2 MONTHS
WESTERN MALA MALA, MARTHLY (11 sightings)

It was a great month for the Kikilezi female, having more than tripled her sightings from last month. This could be due to the fact that she was seen with the Airstrip male for six days of the month. This is a great sign for this powerful female and we can only hope that in the upcoming months we will see more and more of her. Hopefully there will be some new additions to MalaMala’s leopard family as well. On the last day of the report period we had a great sighting of her showing her power and prowess after her 6 day marathon with the Airstrip male. One of the rangers was heading northwards to the west of the Mlowathi, when all of a sudden a flash of rosettes came bursting through the bushes. In one fell swoop the Kikilezi female killed an adult male steenbok right next to the vehicle. She then proceeded to drag the carcass into the Mlowathi River, where she was left feeding ravenously into the night.

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November 2011

KIKELEZI FEMALE 10 YEARS 1 MONTH
WESTERN MALA MALA, MARTHLY (3 sightings)

Not the best month of sightings for the Kikelezi female. Although the good news is that on two of the three occasions that we did see her, she was mating with the Airstrip male. They seem to have put aside whatever differences they had October. Will she sire the Airstrip male’s first offspring? Only time will telll.

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October 2011

KIKELEZI FEMALE 10 YEARS
WESTERN MALA MALA, MARTHLY (8 sightings)

Everyone is watching closely to see when this leopard will fall pregnant again. Her record as a mother has been very good, and she’s always managed to raise at least one cub to independency. With a total of eight sightings, this month proved to be a better one for the Kikilezi female. It is possible that we will see more of her now that her daughter is being seen less and less. She had a brief encounter with the Airstrip male in the Mlowathi River, before she ran off, leaving him to steal her bushbuck kill.

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September 2011

KIKELEZI FEMALE 9 YEARS 11 MONTHS
WESTERN MALA MALA, MARTHLY (6 sightings)

A significant drop in sightings of this female compared to this time last year. It may be that she has shifted her territory out of the area, and the places that we have been seeing her most frequently - which is Marthly - are just the fringe of her new territory. If this indeed the case, then it looks like she has shifted north and west.

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August 2011

KIKELEZI FEMALE 9 YEARS 10 MONTHS
WESTERN MALA MALA, MARTHLY (10 sightings)

For many months she has been elusive, but once again she has come back to her core territory in the lower Mlowathi. She was seen with a variety of kills, including a young kudu kill that was so big she had to leave it in the middle of the river where it was eventually stolen by hyenas. We saw her mating with the Emsagwen male at the beginning of the month, which is exciting news indeed. Hopefully this means that her fourth litter isn't far off.

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July 2011

KIKELEZI FEMALE 9 YEARS 9 MONTHS
WESTERN MALA MALA, MARTHLY
(4 sightings)

A change of pace in sightings over the report period for the Kikelezi female, but none the less very exciting. We saw her briefly with her cub right at the start of the month, but the two were lost in some very thick bush, so it's not known if she was leading the youngster to a kill or not. Either way, a few days later the close bond between mother and daughter was finally broken when the youngster became independent. The sign indicting this break could not have been any clearer, as we found the Kikelezi female mating with the Emsagwen male. She understands fully that she is in the prime of her life and must therefore try and get as many litters as possible independent before she becomes infertile. We found the pair on three consecutive days, and most of the time it was far out of the Kikelezi female's territory. So inbetween mating the Emsagwen male also did the rounds of his territory. Why there have been less sightings of the Kikelezi female is not known, although it is possible that she has temporarily moved out of the area so as to ensure that her daughter becomes completely independent of her.

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June 2011

KIKELEZI FEMALE 9 YEARS 8 MONTHS
1 FEMALE CUB 18 MONTHS
WESTERN MALA MALA, MARTHLY
(2 sightings of female, 0 sightings of female and cub, 6 sighting of cub alone)

In stark contrast to last month the daughter of the Kikilezi female (as she is now known) was seen far more often than her mother. The young leopard was seen moving on her own in the heart of her mother's territory. This perhaps shows that as the young female grows, her mother is happy to leave her alone more and more. The daughter of the Kikilezi female was seen hunting on a few occasions, but on most occasions she was left hungry. She did however manage to catch a couple of birds which is pretty common for a young leopard. It will still be some time before she has the experience to successfully hunt larger prey. That said, we found her one afternoon in possession of a young Waterbuck carcass. From what we could gather it was very unlikely that she killed the antelope, so we suspect that she most probably found it and just tucked into the hearty free meal.

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May 2011

KIKELEZI FEMALE 9 YEARS 7 MONTHS
1 FEMALE CUB 17 MONTHS
WESTERN MALAMALA, MARTHLY
(10 sightings of female, 3 sightings of female and cub, 1 sighting of cub alone)

She is starting to move back to her more traditional territory around Piccadilly Triangle, which is why we have enjoyed such good viewing of her this month. In the recent past she had been spending a lot of time on Marthly, but possibly as the cub nears independence she is slowly starting to move back. The cub wasn't seen that much in May, which is another sign that she is possibly nearing eviction and is starting to get forced out on her own. The Kikilezi female is still looking in excellent condition, even though she has started to age a bit. She continues to be an excellent hunter and provider for her cub however. Let's hope it's not too long before she has another litter that we can all marvel over and hopefully watch go up in front of us.

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April 2011

KIKELEZI FEMALE 9 YEARS 6 MONTHS
1 FEMALE CUB 16 MONTHS
WESTERN MALA MALA, MARTHLY
(6 sightings of female, 3 sightings of female and cub, 3 sighting of cub alone)

This female and her cub continue to patrol the areas around Marthly and the western parts of MalaMala. Seen on a few occasions by herself, it has become evident that the young cub is growing in confidence as she explores the areas where her mother leaves her while out hunting. The young female appears to be a little nervous when she is found, but settles down shortly after. Her mother continues to be the great attraction she's always been. Seen on many occasions hunting impala, with the vehicles hardy causing her to miss a beat. On one occasion she was hunting and getting very close, before being left to herself. When rangers found her the next morning she'd fetched her cub and returned to a large adult male impala she had killed the evening before. The cub then began to feed, after which the Kikilezi female dragged the carcass under some thick bush.

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March 2011

KIKELEZI FEMALE 9 YEARS 5 MONTHS
1 FEMALE CUB 15 MONTHS
WESTERN MALA MALA, MARTHLY
(5 sightings of female, 2 sightings of female and cub, 6 sighting of cub alone)

This female pair again provided many highlight during March. They are now basing themselves around Piccadilly and the Ngoboswan donga. The young cub is starting to make some of her own kills with her managing to kill a white faced duck in the middle of the month. she is also being left alone for extended periods of time which is a sure sign mom is starting to sever the ties between them. Perhaps by the end of winter the cub will be forced out, out to start a life of her own. But for now she is still enjoying the success of her mother amazing ability to catch prey. A true killing machine.

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February 2011

KIKELEZI FEMALE 9 YEARS 4 MONTHS
1 FEMALE CUB 14 MONTHS
WESTERN MALA MALA, MARTHLY
( 5 sightings of female, 5 sightings of female and cub, 1 sighting of cub alone)

The Kikilezi female and her cub continue to provide great viewing opportunities for all here at Mala Mala. Continuing to see the Kikilezi female alone on own numerous occasions indicates that she is getting more and more comfortable about leaving the cub alone as she matures. The Kikilezi female and her youngster were seen on one occasion hunting an Egyptian goose in Piccadilly triangle, the hunt was a success and is an indication that the cub is indeed coming of age. The two were seen hunting a variety of antelope on many occasions but none of these were successful. In one of these episodes the Emsagwen male was present, (see Emsagwen Male), however even this proved to be unsuccessful. During the next few months the cubs progression into adulthood will be watched with great interest and we can only hope that she matures successfully. The sightings of the Kikilezi female and her cub were concentrated around Piccadilly triangle while the Kikilezi female was seen roaming from West Street bridge to Senegal bush and west towards Marthly.

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January 2011

KIKELEZI FEMALE                                                       9 YEARS 3 MONTHS
1 FEMALE CUB                                                                13 MONTHS
WESTERN MALA MALA, MARTHLY

(5 sightings of female, 6 sightings of female and cub, 4 sighting of cub alone)
Over one year old now the cub is now been seen more by itself as her mother leaves her for longer periods of time. Been a young cat she has an unbelievably amount of inquisitiveness. Of the few times the cub was seen by herself she was looking curiously across at a herd of impala. Once spotted by the impala she would go bounding off into the thick bush to conceal herself. Still very much reliant on her mother for food though and so the majority of the sightings where the two were seen together was when they were in the area of a kill. For most of the month the movement of these two leopards have been between Campbell Koppies and West Street Bridge. Hopefully the two will stay in this area for longer and not go back to the land around Stwise where it was always very difficult to follow due to the difficulty of the terrain.