Ngoboswan Female - Photographed by ranger Nic Proust
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| December 2007 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE * 15 YEARS 4 MONTHS Location: SOUTHWESTERN MALAMALA, NORTHWESTERN FLOCKFIELD The Ngoboswan female was a sought after sighting this month as she allowed us to view her cubs for the first time. There are now two young cubs that rangers have been able to see. The female has them stashed in a rocky outcrop along the banks of the Matshipiri river system, coincidently the same place the White Cloth Female used to use as a den site. The female was seen on a number of occasions hunting trying to provide for her new litter and the cubs were seen infrequently as they played amongst the rocks in between suckling from their mother. Lets hope this female will be as successful as she was with raising her last litter.
Son of the Ngoboswan female: (2 years 2 months) This young male was only seen twice during the month, both times they were fairly brief sightings along our western boundary. On both occasion he was hunting impala but we were unable to see if he was successful. With his father, the Bicycle Crossing male, still dominant in the area it seems unlikely that he will remain in this area for long. Perhaps he might move east and take over the land vacant in eastern Flockfield or Charleston. November 2007 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE * 15 YEARS 3 MONTHS Location: SOUTHWESTERN MALAMALA, NORTHWESTERN FLOCKFIELD The Ngoboswan female has not been seen very frequently this month, but that is understandable as female leopards with newborn cubs become very secretive in order to protect the whereabouts of these cubs. This month also witnessed the first sighting of her new cub. Only one was seen as she moved it to a new den in the Matshapiri River south of an area known as Buffalo Pans. However it remains possible that there are more cubs that we have not yet seen. When she was seen she was often hunting in the early evening. But she always appeared in the vicinity of the den site. She has subsequently moved the den site out of the river and possibly into the deep impenetrable dongas in the area of the White Cloth.
Her independent son provided some excellent viewing this month. He has been seen a lot more frequently than his mother. He has been found most frequently on the western bank of the Sand River south of the West Street Bridge. Here he has been seen to hunt and kill. He has been moving between Rattrays camp and the northern part of the new airstrip, and east to the Sand River. Hopefully in time he will come to use this section of MalaMala as the eastern part of his territory. He is growing strong, but this area is typically part of the Bicycle Crossing male’s territory, and though we have not yet seen any interaction between them it is unlikely that father and son will see eye to eye on this part of the land. October 2007 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: SOUTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, NORTH-WESTERN FLOCKFIELD The heavily pregnant female was seen often for a female about to give birth. Interesting interactions she had was firstly with the Kapen female leopard whom she chased up a tree in defense of a kill and territory. And secondly when she appeared on the scene of a kill the Bicycle Crossing male had stolen from wild dogs.
During the latter part of the report period she was seen in the area of Flockfield lookout for a number of days running. She was constantly moving into and out of the Styx donga and finally the reason became clear when rangers had audio of cubs. The Ngoboswan female had given birth to her new litter of cubs and although rangers have not seen them yet, in time this veteran leopard will show them and hopefully they will grow up to be the next generation of dominant leopards at MalaMala. Her now independent son was only seen once, briefly, during the month as he moved west off our property. Hopefully he will look to settle down somewhere on MalaMala and build a territory as he is going to be a large male in the future.
September 2007 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: SOUTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, NORTH-WESTERN FLOCKFIELD The Ngoboswan female was seen with regular consistency throughout the report period, with the first sighting being on the first of the month. She has been spending a lot of her time around the West Street area and south of Rattray’s camp. The female leopard killed an adult male impala just north of Rattray’s camp and provided some great viewing of her in a tree; her cub was not seen to feed on this kill so this could show that the cub is now fully independent and the mother not providing any food for him. There was some interaction seen with the female and her cub a day after she had finished her kill, she was aggressive to her cub. The female leopard did come across the carcass of a giraffe and did feed on the dead animal for a day but was pushed away by many hyenas in the area. There was some great interaction between the Bicycle crossing male, the Ngoboswan female and her cub - there was a bushbuck kill in the area and it seemed that the Bicycle Crossing male was trying to steal the kill from the cub. An elephant came into the area when all the leopards where fighting with each other, breaking off one of the branches from the tree. The Bicycle Crossing male had a brief scuffle with the cub in the very top of the tree, this resulted in the cub falling and racing off for cover.
August 2007 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: SOUTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, NORTH-WESTERN FLOCKFIELD
The first sighting of the Ngoboswan female involved her interacting with a possibly over excited young male of just over two years of age, known as the son of the Kapen female. She was then only seen again twice towards the end of the report period. Although it was not witnessed, rangers believed that at least two of the kills the Bicycle crossing male was seen to feed off, were in fact made by the Ngoboswan female. The cub of the Ngoboswan female is clearly coming of age, with the young male evidently catching a bushbuck opposite Rattrays camp. The male was also seen to scavenge off scraps of a carcass dropped by the Bicycle crossing male, showing little concern for the large male’s aggressive motions towards him. This young male leopard continues to show much confidence, actively hunting during the day, and providing some fine viewing as he attempts to take on the unexpected.
July 2007 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: SOUTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, NORTH-WESTERN FLOCKFIELD This female leopard has once again been a bit elusive during this period, only being seen a handful of times during the report period. She was seen feeding on a female bush buck kill with her cub in the area. Aggression towards her cub was noted, but she let him feed on the kill. Whilst feeding, the Kikilezi female moved into the area. Interestingly, she is one of the Daughters of the Ngoboswan female but as is expected, there was lots of aggression between all the leopards, with the Kikilezi female shortly moving out of the area. Then a few days later the Ngoboswan Female was mating with the Bicycle Crossing male. The mating lasted about four days but they were only viewed for two of the days. The female leopard was seen later on with a large cut on her back leg, but it did not seem to cause her any problems as she moved north-west from the West Street area. Most of her sightings have been in the Sand River close to West Street. She has only been seen once with her cub, showing that she is starting to push him away. The cub has been seen three times without his mother and is looking good. He was seen to try to hunt bush buck, in the heart of his mother’s territory. June 2007 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: SOUTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, NORTH-WESTERN FLOCKFIELD Not much was seen of the Ngoboswan female this month, and the sightings that were had were fairly fleeting. Her son is turning into a wonderfully relaxed and very large male. He is easily as large as his mother now if not larger and it can only be a matter of time before he is turned loose and left to fend for himself. The Ngoboswan female appears to be frequenting the Sand River north of Rattrays camp all the way up to the West Street Bridge. All the sightings of the female with her son have been sell within Mala Mala land, however the son is seen frequently by himself along the Sparta/Mala Mala break, where he appears to move between Mala Mala and Sparta, from the Rattrays corner of the Campbell road up to the northern end of the new airstrip. May 2007 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: SOUTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, NORTH-WESTERN FLOCKFIELD
Both the Ngoboswan female and her cub were seen to have a successful report period. Importantly the female was seen to mate with the Bicycle Crossing male, a clear indication of the female becoming receptive as her cub matures. Interestingly the mating period was at least eight days, and may have been so long as the female was seen away from the male for a short period, where she was seen to reunite with her cub.
The cub also appears to be well on his way to becoming a self-sufficient mature leopard, with the most significant sighting involving the young male catching an impala at Flockfield drift. April 2007 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: SOUTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, NORTH-WESTERN FLOCKFIELD As always the Ngoboswan female and cub have been active on the western parts of Mala Mala. Her cub is now able to hunt for himself and was seen killing an adult impala in the middle of April. With his ability to hunt proven, she might be looking to abandon him and mate again but this is yet to be seen. He has been seen frequently without his mother and this may be the first sign. Like the Kapen female though she is getting old but hopefully she will give us another couple of years of good viewing. March 2007 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: SOUTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, NORTH-WESTERN FLOCKFIELD
The Ngoboswan Female has once again become on of the more frequently viewed female leopards in the northern parts of the reserve. On the 12 th of March the Ngoboswan and her cub were found just to the north of West Street Bridge, on the eastern bank of the watercourse. The leopards were viewed for some time, before them moved west into some impenetrable bush. These two leopards have been spending a good amount of time in this area, maybe due to the absence of the Newington Male, who killed her second cub a year ago. February 2007 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: SOUTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, NORTH-WESTERN FLOCKFIELD
This female has provided some great viewing of late with her been found with more regularity around Rattrays camp, often very active with her nearly mature male cub on many occasions. This young male leopard is now of the age were they start to become independent. He was found while rangers were watching a herd of buffalo at the West Street bridge. He was seen to stalk and make attempts on some young calves in the herd but always got repelled by a very protective mother. Some great interaction was witnessed between these two Big 5 animals, this behaviour is not common of leopards as buffalo are not considered prey species for leopards, however not every lesson can be taught by his mother some he needs to figure out on his own. Taking on an angry female buffalo is one lesson he has learnt and shall not repeat again any time soon, he safely made a sheepish exit and only his honour was in ruins.
January 2007 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: SOUTH-WESTERN MALAMALA, NORTH-WESTERN FLOCKFIELD The Ngoboswan female and her male cub made an early appearance in the report period as they were spotted on the western boundary of the reserve north of Rattray’s Camp. She lay in some cool shade while her cub practised his hunting techniques on a herd of impala. He was seen by rangers and guests to be unsuccessful.
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