Mashatu Nature Reserve is a private game reserve located in the Tuli Bloc in south eastern Botswana. The nature reserve covers an area of 29 000 hectares and encompasses a variety of different ecological and geological areas yielding a surprising diversity of fauna and flora. June is early winter in Mashatu and is usually a dry period but there had been good rains for an extended period during the prior summer. The good rains resulted pools of water at the bends of the Majale river. This is the main river coursing through Mashatu.

“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.” ~Edward Abbey

Together with the Sabi Sands reserve in Greater Kruger National Park, Mashatu is the only other place in southern Africa I have been to that has an abundance of leopards. The leopards in Mashatu hunt all over the reserve but tend to concentrate their hunting along the Majale river, especially in winter when the remaining water is found in the rivers. The main rivers are lined with large Mashatu (Nyala berry), Leadwoods and Apple-leaf trees and fig trees which offer plenty of shade, cover and protection for the leopard population.

“Watching a leopard move through the bush is like being let into a secret”~ Mike Haworth

Female leopards tend to be more habituated to the game vehicles than the males. One of the possible reasons is that the young male leopards get chased out of the prime hunting areas by the dominant males, which are also the best game viewing areas. As a result male leopards have much less interaction with the game vehicles and are therefore much more wary and secretive. Leopards can be seen all over the reserve but most sightings are along the Majale and Limpopo rivers and around the vlei (or marsh) area which is around a kilometre north of the Limpopo river.

Being more used to the game vehicles, the female leopards tend to not slink away at the sight and sound of a game vehicle. I have been a regular visitor to Mashatu over the last ten years. During that period the female leopard population has varied but seem to range around eight territories along the Majale river.

At or near Figtree crossing in the Majale river, we often find a solitary leopardess lying on the river bank in the warmth of the early morning sun. This female was just warming up and watching the wildlife activity and listening intently.

Young female leopards usually start seeking their independence at around 18 to 24 months.

A close up of this beautiful leopardess soaking up the warmth of the early morning sun on a winter’s morning.

Leopards’ eye colour varies from blue to yellow, but the most common colours are green and copper. Adult eye colour results from the pigmentation of the structure of the iris. Most of the genes associated with eye colour are involved in the production, transport, or storage of a pigment called melanin. The more melanin, a complex polymer that originates from the amino acid, Tyrosine, which controls the colour of skin, fur, and eyes, the darker the eyes. It is interesting to note that melanin affects the eyes and fur differently. The eye colour in melanistic leopards varies between pale blue and yellow.

” Close up you can see so much more. The looking becomes seeing. This casts a spell of intrigue, wonder and more questions.” ~ Mike Haworth

Leopards have round pupils unlike smaller cat species which have vertical slits. Researchers at UC Berkeley found that the way animals spend their day determines the shape of their pupils. The round pupils dilate allowing more light onto the retina which gives large cat species an advantage when hunting at night.

This was a different leopardess, a young female who was walking along the top of the bank of the Majale river. She walked through the croton bushes growing on top of the river bank which provided plenty of cover for her. Every now and then she would stop and just listen.

“By being still you can be more attentive. With attention you will see more and hear more.”~ Mike Haworth

This young leopardess walked quite a distance along the top of the bank. Stopping when a scent caught her attention and then adding her scent to the morning news.

This young leopardess eventually moved away from the edge of the river, walked through the croton groves and into a large section of mustard bushes.

The mustard bushes offer wonderful cover and we have often seen impala and steenbok grazing quietly in amongst these bushes. Leopards are ambush hunters so this type of terrain is ideal for them.

She was clearly looking for something to hunt. Every now and then when she came across an old elephant dropping she would roll in it in an attempt to disguise her scent. The mustard bushes tend to reduce the prevailing wind so she had to be more careful of her scent giving her position away.

We were privileged that she allowed us to follow her wanderings for about an hour before we decided to leave her in peace.

The usual way to identify leopards is using a spot pattern. The most preferable one is the pattern above the first whisker line. On the evening of the same day, we found the same leopardess some distance away from the Majale on the other side of the river. It was getting dark and she looked as though she was preparing to hunt.

The area she was in was where we regularly found lions. In the low light, just before it got dark she was on high alert. Apart from having to push up your camera’s ISO, you can usually gauge the amount of ambient light by the size of the leopard’s pupils. At this time her pupils were getting significantly larger. Leopards have exceptional night vision which is estimated to be seven time better than a humans. This makes them highly effective nocturnal hunters. Leopards hunting along the Majale have to stay alert because of the lions and hyaenas in the area.

“To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.” ~ Lao Tzu

On occasions we have found leopards, mainly males, hunting in the erosion gullies which lead away from the river. The gullies offer many effective ambush sites. On this particular morning, our guide, Justice, told us that the leopardess in the next image had two cubs tucked away in a fallen tree trunk. There had been a lot of hyaena activity in the area the night before so she was up a dead tree relatively close to the den site ensuring that the hyaenas had moved on.

A leopardess will keep her cubs well hidden for at least six weeks after they are born. She is usually very careful not to draw any attention to the den site.

The den site in this case was a fallen tree trunk on the edge of an erosion gully about a kilometre from the Majale river. She would regularly go to hunt and leave the cubs for many hours and in some cases up to two days. This left the cubs vulnerable so they stayed hidden for most of the time. Apart from hunting, the leopardess still needed to patrol and protect her territory.

The den site (in the image below). The leopard cubs were hidden in the split in the top section of the tree trunk. Unless you had seen the cubs or seen the leopardess you would never have known there was anything there. The leopard mother will usually have several den sites and will move the cubs every three days to a week because of the inevitable scent concentration which will attract other predators.

We think the cubs were around seven to eight weeks old. One cub was definitively more brave, and more inquisitive, than the other.

Leopard cubs are born with their eyes closed, and they only open about ten days after birth. When cubs are still young, their irises don’t contain enough melanin to display their true colour. It’s only as they develop that their eyes begin to produce the melanin that creates their true colour, which typically starts around seven weeks old. New born leopard cubs usually have blue eyes but you can see the image below shows the cub’s iris colour had turned to a fawn colour.

It was clear that the cubs were very inquisitive and presumably had seen many game vehicles since they were born.

It was interesting that the cubs only peeked out of the hiding place in the fallen tree trunk at certain times of the day. This probably had something to do with when their mother usually returned to the den site.

Leopard cubs are known to suckle for around 12 weeks, so these two cubs were totally dependent on their mother for nutrition.

“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” ~ Franklin D Roosevelt

On occasions both cubs came out of hiding and climbed on top of the fallen tree trunk. They were still a little uncoordinated so manoeuvring around the Shepherd tree branches at the back of the fallen tree trunk was challenging.

At their young age these leopard cubs already had sharp claws. It appeared that learning to sheath and unsheathing them was still needed.

We never saw the cubs on the ground. They only moved a couple of feet away from the entrance to their hiding place. Even when the cubs were playing they never made a sound. Our guide told us that the cubs did come down onto the ground when they were allowed to suckle from their mother.

Cub mortality rate is high among leopards. The main threats are male leopards, lions, hyaenas, baboons and snakes. The opportunity for disaster is created when their mother is away patrolling or hunting. If the cubs survive their first year, they will be learning to hunt small prey up from 18 months to two years after which they will be forced by their mother, or circumstance, to fend for themselves.

“Watching the leopard cubs instilled wonder and hope, and showed nature’s innate fragility.” ~ Mike Haworth

The wonderful aspect of wildlife photography is that you can see close ups of your wildlife subject. This helps identification and being able to see much more detail which inevitably raises questions about colour, pattern and physiology.

“Taking an image, freezing a moment, reveals how rich reality truly is.” ~ Anonymous

Explore, see to understand, marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike