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Guest Gallery Photographs
submitted by guests of Djuma | ||
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Xivati,
a massive and imposing male leopard. Read Yves
and Jacqueline's story below. (photo by Jimmy Hurlimann. To see
more of his photographs, click here)
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A
Family Dinner in the Bush
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It
was a beautiful day in May, starting early morning with the strongly
determined comment from our ranger, Jimmy, "Let's find Xivati".
How probable was it? No one could tell of course and the fresh tracks
along the sandy road were no more than encouraging. This fabulous spotted
cat is known to be covering a huge territory, way off Djuma boundaries.
Where was he on that very morning? Jimmy looked confident, as he had
made known from all the rangers on this part of the Sabi Sand that these
crazy French guests were back again…. Radio messages were passed
on from Land Rover to Land Rover and, despite the fact that my poor
English prevented me from understanding them, I couldn't miss the word
"Xivati" which kept coming over and over in the messages.
Why all this agitation?
The story behind this cat is quite long but let's try to make it reasonably short… This male leopard was born in October 1995 in Londolozi, a property south of Djuma and we had the privilege of spending some incredibly entertaining time with him and his sister during their early lives. Already then and though he was very playful as all young leopards are, he had a quite "aristocratic" attitude and we immediately called him "Prince", his sister consequently being "Princess". Reaching independence age, Prince got chased away by his mother, the lovely ¾ Female. And it became more and more difficult to see him. For years and despite all our efforts and our frequent visits to the Sabi Sand area, we could not find him any more. And we missed him a lot…. We only knew that he had moved and extended his territory northwards. But where exactly? In the cellar, the layer of dust on the bottle of Dom Perignon we had bought to celebrate the expected encounter, sadly, got thicker and thicker over the years…. A few days before Christmas in 2001, we met in Mombo, in the Okavango delta, a lovely couple, Tony and Neil Ponting who happened to be the owners of Torchwood, a property adjacent to Djuma. In our hope of hearing something new about our relentless quest for Prince, we asked them whether they knew of a big 8-year old male leopard with a distinctive mark on his right nostril. The excitement rose when they told us that they were quite frequently seeing a big male leopard of Prince's age…. We immediately got in touch with the people in Djuma who kindly sent us by email pictures and detailed information about this cat. Unfortunately, it became obvious that this cat, named " Three Spots " could not be Prince. It was a huge deception but nevertheless, in May 2002 we decided to visit Djuma. Just to make sure…. Upon our arrival, Chris, our ranger at Vuyatela Lodge, informed us that Three Spots had recently almost vanished from the property after a very serious fight with another huge male, named Xivati, who had just started to show up in the area. Though being quite compassionate for Three Spots' misfortune, we started hoping again. Could the new invader be our Prince? We showed pictures to Chris who rushed from camp to camp, collecting pictures from his colleague rangers. Back to Vuyatela, carrying a projector in one hand and slides in the other, the leopards were put under close scrutiny…. And the most unlikely event happened: doubtless, Xivati WAS our Prince! ! ! It was a marvellous and quite moving moment. Not only was Prince alive but also he was in excellent condition. The most difficult part of our quest was over. Now we just had to find him…. On that visit in May, Prince (Xivati) was unfortunately not to be found. But once back to Paris, we nevertheless opened the bottle of Dom Perignon…. Knowing from the Pontings' emails and the Djuma rangers' diary that he was being seen on a more and more regular basis, three months later, we were back to Djuma, staying at Bush Camp this time. The pressure on Jimmy was high and he tracked the cat by all means, driving back and forth, from the slightest alarm call to the other. No sign of Xivati…. Just his genes as we met one of his sons patrolling with his mother, the Safari female. Our stay was almost over and the radio message came late at night: a big male leopard, which could be Xivati, was found on the remains of a very small kill, close to Torchwood. We crossed our fingers, hoping that by the time we could be on the scene, he wouldn't have vanished in the dark…. And the most improbable 5-year search ended there: Prince was in Jimmy's spotlight! Excitement, emotion, pleasure were at their peak and, at last, Jimmy could relax… I wished I had a mobile phone in my pocket: I would have called Grant in Johannesburg immediately and described the scene to him. But he wouldn't have believed me! Sorry for this long introduction which is just a very unlikely story of leopard addiction. Let's go back where we started from, on that morning game drive on Xivati's tracks. With a short flash back though: two nights before, one of his females, Safari, had killed an impala and on the following morning one of her 18-month old sons, " Light " was found feeding with her on the kill. This was no surprise, as this leopard is known as being a very altruistic and loving mother, frequently sharing her kills with her grown up sons. But where was the other cub, " Shadow " who we saw on the evening of the kill, only a few hundred meters away from his mother, still in a rather precarious condition? The nasty puncture in his thorax that he got during a fight, probably with a wharthog, two months earlier was still partially open. This young guy used to be the stronger of the two but within the past few weeks he had turned skinny and weak, struggling to stay alive. Obviously, he did not get any significant meal for quite a while and we were secretly dreaming of dropping a chicken from the car for him. Just to give him the energy he needed to start hunting again… Where was it on that morning? The answer came around 7:00 am from Chris on the radio. At first, Jimmy looked rather sceptical. Wasn't it a joke? Chris swore it was the truth: Safari, Light, Shadow AND Xivati were all together on the remains of the impala! Four leopards on the same kill. A very special family dinner, indeed! To Jimmy's relief, the long 3-day track for Xivati was over… He rushed through the bush and to our great delight; we found Xivati hanging from the biggest branch of a Marula tree, a few meters away from the impala stuck in a fork. Safari and the cubs were lying behind a large termite mound under the tree. Looking at the four guests' stomachs made clear that the meal had not been fairly shared among them. Sadly, Shadow had not got a bite yet…. We stood under the tree for the next few hours. Head down, Light was tiptoeing to the bottom of the Marula tree, hoping his father wouldn't notice, wondering how he could crawl to the fork the impala was stuck in without incurring hostility…Prevented from having a quiet sleep, Xivati was showing great displeasure and suddenly, made the situation clear : he yawned and moved to the carcass, determined to finish it up. It was not long before Light got up in the Marula tree and laid on the big branch Xivati had just moved away from, expecting an opportunity. There was not much left on the carcass and some scorned pieces bones were falling to the ground to Shadow's great excitement. These few scraps were far from being enough to bring him back to life but at least he ingested something… After a quick breakfast at the lodge, we headed back to the scene. Xivati had moved even further to the very tip of a small branch, bending it to an extreme limit while, on the big one, Light had given way to Shadow. The two cats were engaged in the most amusing duo: Shadow was complaining with a plaintive growl and Xivati's answer was a big, loud and threatening sound which did not need to be translated. Who could be fool enough to attempt a bite in the kill? Teatime did not last long and back we went to the Marula tree. The four cats were up in two adjacent trees: Xivati and Shadow in the same one, Safari and Light the other. Safari was already staring to distant bushes with probably another kill in mind for later in the afternoon while Light was secretly approving his mother's plans. Lucky 18-month teenager still invited to his mother's table! Xivati, at the tip of his branch, was in the most awkward and uncomfortable position, sitting on a tiny stick, the upper part of the body wrapped around a vertical one, trying to keep his balance as much as he could and with such a fat stomach, it was not an easy task. Our comfort in the Land Rover was much higher and we were having the most enjoyable time watching him. Shiny fur, huge paws, long whiskers, curly tail…. images from the past came through our minds. Lots of wonderful hours spent with our dear Ehrence, watching Prince and Princess chasing noisy and upset vervet monkeys up and down the trees, Mother ¾, close by, looking on in wonder at her promising offspring, and in the background, Ehrence's whispered Shangaan chatting. I couldn't help wishing he could share with us the present sighting. And Prince's image got blurred and wet: we will miss Ehrence forever. Some rustling leaves raised our attention: two hyenas were joining the party. Cautiously but carefully, they wandered through the grass and found some scraps of the impala. Far from being enough to calm down their hunger but it was most likely that, in a short while, they would be on Safari's tracks, waiting for the opportunity to steal her new kill. Despite his very uncomfortable situation, Xivati did not seem to be willing to leave the tree. Just as if he did not want to give way to Shadow. But the little guy was patient. Very patient. Unfortunately, he had no other option… It was most likely though that the big male would not spend the entire night there and Jimmy wanted to check after dinner whether he would start an evening patrol. Good guess. Just as we approached the Marula tree, Prince raised, stretched and made his way to the trunk of the tree. The easiest way to get down would have been on our side but, rats! This land Rover was really close… The opposite side, for some reason, did not appeal to him and he came back, adjusting his way down. Did he intend to give us a big hug? May be not but, wooohh, the big cat was close! In a second, Shadow was on the remains of the impala: no more than crunchy bones and small stripes of skin. But he did eat everything with the strongest determination. Poor Shadow! Good luck to him. Jimmy had in mind that Prince would want a drink now and he was right. As we got to the water hole at Vuyatela Camp, the cat was enjoying a few mouthfuls of water from a small puddle. Then he lay down on the cool ground, his white, round and full stomach shining in the spotlight. And we left him there, wondering when we would see him again and wishing him a dominant future for a few more years. Chances are good, as good as his gene pool: Tugwaan, his grandmother died at 16 after giving birth only one year before dying, Mother ¾ is still in excellent condition, Princess became a famous cat in the Sabi Sand area after killing a full grown female kudu when she was less than 4. The younger brother (born in 1998) is currently enjoying an excellent status on an ever-extending territory over Mala Mala and Londolozi. Moreover, it seems that the young guy, named Pink Nose by the rangers in Djuma is now showing up in the southern part of the property. How will the two brothers manage to settle their respective powers? This will be another story…the upshot of it is unknown. | ||
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Djuma
Game Reserve |
