Mafufunyana
He used to be the dominant male for six years, covering around 5500 hectares including Robson’s, Elephant Plains, Simbambili, Londolozi, Hoffman’s, Safari Lodge, Arathusa Private Lodge and Vuyatela. He was recently overthrown by a new dominant male, Tyson. Mafufunyana now dominates the Newington male’s old territory around Hoffman’s, Little Gowrie and Chitwa Chitwa. Mafufunyana is about thirteen years old and weighs around 75 kilograms. Mafufunyana means the angry one, because he used to growl at the game drive vehicles when he first came into the area.
Tyson
He is the dominant male covering Elephant Plains, Simbambili, Safari Lodge, Londolozi and Robson’s. He is about eight years old, weighs around 85kg and has a territory of about 4500 hectares. He has mated with most of the females in the area including Salayexe, Nyeleti, Safari and Ntima. Tyson got his name from the legendary boxer, Mike Tyson.
Robson’s Male
He occasionally enters our traversing area from the western side of Robson’s property. He moves around Arathusa Private Lodge, Elephant Plains and Simbambili. He’s about eight years old. Unfortunately, we do not know very much about this male as he is very elusive. We have not recently seen him. This might mean that Tyson could have chased him further west due to a territorial fight. He gets his name from the farm he originates from.
Nzila
He moves around Chitwa Chitwa and is about seven years old. We haven’t seen him in the last couple of months and we suspect that he might have moved more to the Kruger Park’s side. Nzila means tail, as he has a twist in his tail.
Matimba
He is a young male of about four years old. His father is Mafufunyana and his mother, Safari. He moves around in the north eastern sector. At the moment he is more active in the Manyeleti game reserve. Matimba means the strong one, as he looks quite powerful.
Safari
She is seventeen years old and moves around Arathusa Private Lodge, Safari Lodge and Simbambili. She is classed as an old leopard as their life expectancy is on average twenty years. She is easy to identify because she has one blind eye. Safari is the mother of Tsemba, Kurula, Matimba and Mbali. Mbali died of a snake bite when she was about a year old.
Nyeleti
She is Saseka’s daughter. She is estimated to be about seven years old and moves between Londolozi, Elephant Plains and Arathusa Private Lodge. She had one cub, Mbilo, who is nearly three years old. She also had another litter of three eight month old cubs. These cubs have not been named yet. There are two males and one female. Nyeleti means star. Saseka used to leave her in the dry Manyeleti riverbed when she went hunting. The word Manyeleti means many stars, and therefore she was one star surrounded by many stars.
Salayexe
She is also Saseka’s daughter. She is estimated to be around five years old and has taken over her mother’s old territory, including Elephant Plains, Simbambili and Arathusa Private Lodge. She mated with Tyson and has a male and female cub of about ten months old. Salayexe means the only one as her brother died when they were three months old.
Kurula
She is Safari’s daughter and is estimated at around seven years old. She moves around Hoffman’s, Little Gowrie, Safari Lodge and Simbambili. She has two cubs of about fourteen months old. Kurula means the relaxed one, as she has always been very relaxed around the vehicles.
Ntima
She is about eight years old and moves around Londolozi and Arathusa Private Lodge. She had a cub of about three years old, called Kwatela. Kwatela has moved to the south and we do not often see her. Ntima has three new cubs of about eight weeks old. Ntima means black, because she has a lot of darker markings on her face.
Whitecloth
She is estimated at around ten years old and moves around Chitwa, Nkorho, Wessel’s and Little Gowrie. She has two cubs of about thirteen months old. Whitecloth gets her name from the Whitecloth open area where she used to spend a lot of time.
Mvula
Is a male that dominates in the southeastern sector around Nkorho and Annette’s. He is about six years old and weighs around 75 kg. Because he is still fairly young, his territory will still increase in time. Mvula means rain, because it was raining the first few times he was spotted. His eyes almost have a bluish shade, which looks like water.
Shadow
She is the daughter of Kurula and is four years old. She likes to move around Little Gowrie. She got the name Shadow as she remains an elusive leopard.
Thandi
She is the other daughter of Kurula and is also four years old. She moves around in Big Gowrie. Thandi means love.
Kwatela
She is the daughter of Ntima. Kwatela is three and a half years old and has recently moved south. Kwatela means the grumpy one. |
