MANYELETHI MALE
Archives: 2005 || 2006 || 2007 || 2008
Photograph taken by ranger Andrew Bachelor
| MANYELETHI MALE Archives: 2005 || 2006 || 2007 || 2008
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| December 2007 MANYELETHI MALE * +/- 10 YEARS Location: NORTHWESTERN MALAMALA, MARTHLY All sightings of the Manyelethi male occurred just a stones throw away from MalaMala Main Camp during the report period. The male provided some fine entertainment during the report, being followed on the hunt on two separate occasions. Unfortunately he was not witnessed to have any hunting success, but was found finishing off the remains of a baby impala towards the end of the report period close to the old airstrip. Unfortunately, with the wet terrain, the male could not be followed on the last evening that he was sighted. November 2007 MANYELETHI MALE * +/- 10 YEARS Location: NORTHWESTERN MALAMALA, MARTHLY
The Manyelethi male was only seen twice during the game report, making an appearance, strangely at the Mlowathi dam crossing. Importantly, this large male generally frequents the southern reaches of the Mlowathi; through to Wildebeest Crossing and southern Marthly, thus an appearance at Mlowathi dam was not expected. Perhaps the large male leopard from the west has been steadily adding pressure to the Manyelethi male, forcing him north. Time will inevitably reveal the truth of the matter. The male was in good condition, and made his way steadily east. He was followed for a while, going east, but was lost going into some very thick vegetation. The second sighting of the large male leopard was of the male feeding off the remains of a freshly killed juvenile kudu close to the MalaMala Main Camp. He was not seen the following day, and there was indication of hyenas having stolen the remainder of the carcass. Hopefully in the coming report period, this large prominent leopard of MalaMala will be seen more frequently. October 2007 MANYELETHI MALE Location: NORTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, MARTHLY The Manyelethi male was seen fairly often by his standards, most of it was along the river around the Main Camp. He continues to move south along the river towards the West Street Bridge and east from there (this traditionally was the Newington male’s territory).
This male is now also aging - estimated around 10 years of age he is still very active for an elder male and one hopes he continues to live on MalaMala. One interesting sighting involving this leopard was when a kill was located near the eastern flood plain. The cub of the Kikilezi female leopard was also in the tree and there was a lot of aggression between the two. A year ago these two leopards would regularly interact with each other as the female went off and hunted. This aggression now shows that the male sees his offspring as a threat to his dominance. September 2007 MANYELETHI MALE Location: NORTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, SOUTHERN MARTHLY The Manyelethi Male provided some excellent viewing during the report period, with the first sighting of the month involving the male being involved in a territorial stand off. The male was drawn to an area west of Bicycle Crossing by a kill that the Kikilezi female and her cub were feeding off. This probably also drew in the large male, later identified as the Camp Pan male from the west. The two males were not seen to make physical contact, however, the Manyelethi male was sporting some scratches the following day indicating that they had in fact come to blows. The males were witnessed to roar, salivate and scent mark frequently. The Manyelethi male was seen as far south as Maurice’s Pan, interestingly an area that the Bicycle crossing male has also been seen to frequent. Perhaps in the near future, theses two male will come into contact. The male was seen on a number of occasions on the western bank and in the area around Bicycle Crossing. August 2007 MANYELETHI MALE Location: NORTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, SOUTHERN MARTHLY This male leopard has been seen more frequently now that the track that runs in the Sand River west from MalaMala Main Camp has been reopened. He has provided some fine viewing towards the end of the report period, when he was seen to mate with the Kikilezi female for a number of days in the Bicycle crossing region.
The male was also seen to have an interaction of sorts with a large unidentified male leopard close to Elephant Rock. Although no physical interaction between the two leopards was viewed, the male had a number of fresh wounds on his rump. Theses wounds could also very well have developed when the male was seen to interact with a number of hyena to the south of Stwise. The male was mating with the Kikilezi female at the time, and they were seen to kill an impala. The sound of the kill attracted a number of hyaenas to the area, and although the large male held his own for some time, he had to eventually give up, slightly the worse for wear.
July 2007 MANYELETHI MALE Location: NORTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, SOUTHERN MARTHLY The Manyelethi Male has only been seen three times during this game report period. He was seen in the Sand River just north of the West Street Bridge, moving north-west hunting bushbuck in the reeds of the Sand River. The second time he was found on the Campbell Road opposite the airstrip. The Kikilezi female leopard was following close behind him. Mating was not observed between these two leopards and they were soon lost moving east into some thick, impenetrable bush where they could not be followed by the rangers. The territory of the Manyelethi male leopard appears to be situated mostly to the north and west of MalaMala Main Camp in the Sand River. With an old track in this part of the river now usable again we are hoping to see more of this leopard in the future. This certainly held true when he was found in the Sand River west of the MalaMala Main Camp. He was followed as he wondered west along the northern bank of the Sand River finally crossing south over the river and off the MalaMala property.
June 2007 MANYELETHI MALE Location: NORTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, SOUTHERN MARTHLY Surprisingly, the Manyelethi male was only seen once during the report period. This is a little concerning, considering that the male had such an exciting previous report period. He was found on the new fire break that runs to the south of Fred’s tree, taking interest in a small herd of impala, however he did not manage to get close enough to the impala to launch any real form of an attack. The male was left grooming himself on a prominent ridge to the east of the road. Unfortunately he did not make reappearance during the report period. May 2007 MANYELETHI MALE Location: NORTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, SOUTHERN MARTHLY The Manyelethi male provided some excellent viewing during the report period. Memorable encounters involved the male feeding off an adult male impala to the north of the New air strip, and another which he was seen to share with one of the daughters of the Campbell Koppies females in the Mlowathi to the north of Senegal bush. He was also seen to mate with the Kikilezi female during the latter part of the report period close to the old air strip. Importantly, the Kikilezi female’s current youngster is believed to have been sired by the Manyelethi male, this is a clear sign that the female has absolute faith in the male’s dominance through experience in her territory. This male does, however, get quite grumpy at times and shows clear signs of irritation to vehicles. April 2007 MANYELETHI MALE Location: NORTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, SOUTHERN MARTHLY The Manyelethi male was seen more frequently during this report period. He is still arguably the more dominant leopard in the north-western parts of the reserve. At the beginning of the report period he was found close to Paraffin Drift some ways to the north and west of the reserve. A couple of days later he was found some way south in an area that is/was dominated by the Newington male. It is believed that the Manyelethi male and the Bicycle Crossing male are challenging over a small part of their territory. Both leopards were seen to clash over an area around Maxims lookout. This is an area where their territories may overlap to some extent. The leopards roared and scent marked continuously and the Manyelethi male moved off into the Sand River with a gash to his lip.
Another memorable sighting involving the Manyelethi male occurred towards the end of the report period when he was found dragging a carcass of a freshly killed female impala through some thick bush, where he proceeded to feed off the carcass. Not far off was the Kikilezi female. It is believed that that the opportunistic male stole the kill from the Kikilezi female. March 2007 MANYELETHI MALE Location: NORTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, SOUTHERN MARTHLY The Manyelethi Male was not seen to be as prominent in this report compared with the previous month. Towards the middle of the month he was seen more often and still frequenting the area around MalaMala Main Camp. Only a small section of this leopard’s territory actually lies on MalaMala and we believe he holds a massive area to the north and west of the reserve. One of the more memorable sightings of this leopard was when he killed an adult Bushbuck close to the Sable Camp. Even though this leopard has not been seen so frequently, he is still one of the more dominant males in the more northwestern parts of the reserve. February 2007 MANYELETHI MALE Location: NORTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, SOUTHERN MARTHLY This male leopard made an impressive start to the report period, with at least four sightings of this male in the first quarter of the report period. The male was very active close to the Mala Mala main camp, being seen on all occasions within a few kilometres of the camp itself. The male appeared in good condition, and appeared to have been successful at his hunting efforts, as the male was always found well fed. January 2007 MANYELETHI MALE Location: NORTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, SOUTHERN MARTHLY A solid start to the report period for this male leopard as he was found early one morning resting on the eastern bank of the Sand River close to the Wildebeest Crossing. Rangers and guests then followed him as he walked east on the southern bank of the Ngoboswan Donga, leading them to a tree in which was stashed the remains of a sub adult female impala. A hyena entered the area, which the leopard chased off. He was then the left by the viewers as he drifted off to sleep.
This leopard was again seen on New Year’s day as he moved north from West Street Bridge roaring, scent marking and proclaiming his territory. The male was viewed on the western bank close to the old airstrip and in the Picadilly triangle region. He was seen to stalk and eventually catch an impala in the Picadilly region. The male then proceeded to hoist the kill, and fed on the carcass for the following day. MalaMala
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