An update on Kwandwe’s Cats and their little ones
By Ryan Hillier

The big cat viewing has been sensational over the last month and it has been made extra special by all the cubs around. There are multiple litters of cubs being raised and it has always been one of my absolute favourite parts of being a guide here at Kwandwe: to watch how the stories of the different animals unfold. For young predators out here, life is full of dangers and opportunities. Here is a quick update on how some of the current cubs are faring.

Lions: The North Pride

On the lion front, there are cubs in both prides, and a strong possibility of more shortly. At least one of the younger North Pride females has been mating with one of the Boschgift males recently. At just over 3 years old, she is right at the age when lionesses usually have their first litter. The whole pride is often seen together but the two younger lionesses, now accomplished young huntresses, have also frequently gone off on their own to explore their territory and more recently to mate.

The Blonde Male has also been seen in the north, but whether he too has mated with these females remains unclear at this stage.

The three youngest cubs in the North Pride are now 7 months old and are growing fast. They are in fantastic condition and are at a particularly curios stage now, investigating everything…including us, which is always conducive to exciting viewing! They have been spending the vast majority of their time north of the Great Fish River along with their mother and big brother, who is turning into a beautiful looking young male.

Lions: The South Pride

The South Pride have been all over the central parts of the reserve, with the odd foray into the southernmost reaches of their vast territory. They are accompanied by the Boschgift males more often than not. With 11 individuals moving together, there is lots of interaction between pride members which is always lovely to watch, and with many mouths to feed, hunting is a very frequent activity.

There are 5 cubs in the pride, a 10-month-old male belonging to one of the older females and then the oldest lioness’s litter of 4 cubs who are now 4 months old. It’s amazing how quickly they grow, the big cub on the left in the picture above is the same cub who is snuggling his mother in the picture at the top of this blog! We have been a little surprised that neither of the two younger lionesses have had their first litter yet, especially with the timeline of when we saw them mating, but no doubt it is simply a matter of time before they do!

The 4 youngsters are weaning and attend all the kills the lionesses make. One of the more notable of late was a giraffe calf that the lionesses caught overnight and that kept the pride well fed for a few days! The cubs are also still very dependent on their mother’s milk, and inevitably seem to always have full bellies regardless of the rest of the pride’s hunting successes. Often play sessions between them end with them whining at their mother, nuzzling and jumping on her repeatedly until she resignedly allows them a chance to suckle, leading to a chaotic jostle for position between the hungry cubs!

Cheetah

Cheetah mothers probably have the toughest job of Kwandwe’s cats to successfully raise cubs, and one of them is on the brink of doing just that for the first time! To do so as a first-time mother is fantastic. Her son is now 18 months old and the bond between them is still strong and he still benefits from her experience in both vigilance and hunting prowess.

Gradually that bond will start to wane before he and his mother eventually will part ways. He has continued to develop his ability as a hunter in preparation for life on his own. Recently he’s been sporting a fresh scar on one shoulder which presumably occurred during a chase or the final moments of a takedown from a stray hoof or horn. It is healing nicely and will become nothing more than a sign of a lesson learned, and hopefully a lesson learned well with independence drawing slowly closer.

The youngest cheetah cubs are barely 3 months old, and they are little bundles of pure cuteness! They have moved far and wide in their young lives already, traversing a massive area on both sides of the river, with the abundance of prey allowing their mother to move wherever she deemed necessary to avoid other predators. It is never easy with such young cubs, and sadly at the time of writing it appears one cub may now be missing. As yet we aren’t sure if that is temporary or if we should fear the worst for the missing cub. We remain hopeful and will have to wait for another sighting or two to get the full picture.

Piecing it together is also usually the only way to know when cheetah have been mating, as witnessing such a thing is very rare! Going on the behavior of the dominant coalition recently, however, suggests that they have been mating with at least one female as we found one brother running through their territory calling frantically for the other to no avail. The brothers were reunited 2 days later, but for one to be ‘’awol’’ for that long in such circumstances can only mean he was in the company of a female. We are hoping for at least one new litter in the coming months!

Leopard: Fort Dam Female

Arguably one of the most exciting finds of the festive season was that of brand-new leopard cubs, the Fort Dam female’s new litter of 3! They have been seen mostly in the vicinity of Mkululis Crossing where the thickets along the river provide ideal refuge for the little ones. She has been seen a lot in recent weeks, and although she needs to keep her cubs well-hidden at their age, especially when she goes off hunting, they’ve been seen moving with her on quite a few of those occasions.

One such sighting occurred when the Melton Male was also briefly in attendance and seeing 5 leopards in one sighting really is phenomenal! Her cubs are nearly 3 months old now and are still suckling but have also started eating meat. She has been seen taking smaller kills, such as warthogs, back to the cubs, but as the cubs grow so will the frequency with which she will opt to take them to the kill instead, especially when bigger prey is caught.

Leopard: Inkwenkwezi Female

The Inkwenkwezi female, daughter of the Fort Dam female, is also raising a cub of her own. These two leopards have made the beautiful area around Galpin Dam their own. Anyone who has driven through the valley beneath Mbila Cliffs will know how beautiful the scenery is there and seeing leopards in that environment is simply breathtaking! We have seen leopards here many times in the past, but the frequency with which these two leopards have been utilizing the area of late has been extraordinary! It is perfect habitat for them with abundant prey such as monkeys, bushbuck and nyala frequenting the dense thickets while the cliffs support large numbers of both baboons and rock hyraxes (or dassies).

This is her first cub, a young male who is now almost 8 months old. For a young leopard developing his hunting skills, the cliffs with loads of unsuspecting hyraxes lurking on it, are a superb training ground! We have been spoilt with some incredible feats of agility from both predator and prey as the young male has practiced his stalking skills before chasing along the ledges of the near vertical rock faces. The hyraxes have to be quick to escape into the nearest crevice, from where they alarm call in protest (which has often been what has helped us find these leopards), but especially when both leopards are hunting them. Quick reflexes are absolutely key for survival!

Even when not terrorizing the hyraxes, seeing these beautiful cats stretched out relaxing high above us on the ancient cliff faces is something I could never dream of adequately describing…it’s something you’d have to experience first-hand.

The future is being seen through many sets of bright young eyes… and it looks like a fantastic time to visit Kwandwe!

Images by Ryan Hillier, Danel Hart, Christina Freitag and Tristan Stead