All seven of the lion cubs (see January’s Journal) are doing very well and have progressed from being undeniably adorable to undeniably adorable and naughty! They are obsessed with biting their mothers’ tails, stalking and pouncing upon each other, attacking sticks, jumping into muddy ponds, pestering to be fed and, as you can see from the above photograph, if your mother won’t wake up or is ignoring you, you can always use her as a balancing beam…

The dominant male leopard that ruled these lands for many a year has, we conclude, passed away. He was remarkably old for a territorial male but had been losing condition for some time and we haven’t seen him for many months. His absence his drawn a quite a few male leopards that are unknown to us onto this prime property and we are eagerly waiting to see who the new ruler and sire to future cubs will be.

A leap of leopards in a Leap Year

I hinted at it in the December Journal but at last we have the proof! Two baby leopard cubs (Panthera pardus) were born on about the 14th of December 2007. They are the perfect pair – a male and a female. They look like miniature versions of their mother, but the rosettes of their coats are still tightly bunched together and their eyes are a soft blue-grey.

Their mother chose a den site surprisingly close to the lodges. Although the cubs were very well hidden in a rocky outcrop they now seem quite used to the sound of vehicles and human voices. They were first glimpsed perched upon a rocky outcrop surveying the goings on between Ebony and Boulders lodges.

This is the second time this mother leopard has chosen a den site so close to the lodges - she successfully raised a male cub who, in his ‘growing up’ stage, thought nothing of helping himself to certain items that were left lying about these included hot water-bottles, shoes, Nguni cattle skin rugs, mops and a jacket (see photo).

Who knows if these new twins will follow in their big brother’s paw prints but by the curiosity in the cub’s face on the next page I would certainly think so!