The Return of our Leopard Legends

The African bush is full of surprises, and just when we think we may have unraveled its mysteries, it finds a way to astonish us once more. Over the years at Tanda Tula, we’ve witnessed incredible moments—some joyful, others bittersweet—but few compare to the thrill of rediscovering a leopard long thought to be lost. Chad shares with us the story of unexpected reunions, mistaken identities, and the remarkable resilience of these elusive cats.

“With the sun setting behind us, I pulled into a sighting of a leopard with a kill that I had not been to see in the morning, as I knew that the individual our neighboring colleagues had identified her as was not always the most relaxed cat. As I approached the so-called “Tawane female leopard” (named after the property in Tanda Tula’s far southeastern corner, which abuts the world-famous Kruger National Park), it took me all of two seconds to realize that someone had made a large error in judgment.

Not only was the leopard I was now looking at very calm and comfortable with our presence, but she was also only half the age of the aging Tawane female. I was somewhat dumbfounded, as we did not know of any other leopardesses that utilized this corner of the reserve, and since leopards are fiercely territorial, there should not have been another spotted beauty sitting there. Due to this corner of the reserve being surrounded by non-commercial properties within the Timbavati, as well as a vast wilderness area of the Kruger Park, the leopards here do not get exposed to a great deal of vehicle activity, which generally makes them a little shyer. Yet, this cat was anything but shy.

Ntsongwaan in his prime in 2022

To make matters even more perplexing, this leopard looked very familiar. She reminded me of Thumbela, our late, blue-eyed beauty, who was last seen in her twilight years over two years ago. It clearly couldn’t be her. The feisty Mafufunyane female hadn’t been seen for months, so it couldn’t be her either. Besides, she didn’t have the same soft, natural beauty as this Thumbela lookalike. This leopard was way too familiar. As my mind went back through possible matches, one option stood out, but it was far too unlikely to be true.

When I arrived at Tanda Tula in 2017, Thumbela was one of our more frequently seen leopards. I had watched her grow up from a small cub in the northern Timbavati some eight years earlier, and now she had settled further south, close to Tanda Tula Safari Camp. I won’t forget being surprised by finding her a couple of months into my time at Tanda Tula with two young, sub-adult cubs. Until then, I had had no idea that she even had any cubs—we had seen her with kills, but unusually, she had not brought her cubs to feed on them. As a result, I had no way of suspecting anything. Needless to say, it was a pleasant surprise, and even better was seeing that her young daughter, later named Nkaya female, was taking after her mother’s relaxed disposition. Tingana, the brother, was not nearly as comfortable with vehicles and—unless he was with mom—was a rare sight.

The last time we saw Nkaya in April 2019

Both youngsters made it to independence. Tingana moved off into the wilderness areas and beyond. Nkaya began spending time to the south of Thumbela’s territorial core and was pushing deeper into Tawane property. We were seeing her with some regularity, and it seemed like she was getting ready to begin her independent life adjoining her mother’s territory. One morning, we left her walking off to the southeast and went for a cup of coffee. I never imagined that would be the last time I saw her. Weeks passed, then months, and there were not only no sightings of Nkaya, but not even any signs. I sadly conceded that she, like many young leopards, had met her end at the hands of one of the lion prides that frequented this area.

My last sighting of Mondzweni in November 2017.

As the years passed, I had no reason to believe anything else… until I drove up to a sighting of “not-the-Tawane female” leopard. It seemed like a far-fetched theory, but could we be looking at Nkaya female? Her age matched the seven years of Nkaya. Based on her relaxed disposition, this leopard had clearly grown up around vehicles. Importantly, she also looked like her mother. Realistically, it seemed more likely that this unknown leopard would turn out to be N’weti female (Thumbela’s niece, but part of the same family lineage) who had merely wandered out of her usual territory. But I knew what N’weti looked like, and this wasn’t her. A quick glance at her spot pattern confirmed this. Regardless of this beauty’s identity, we spent time following her as she walked to a nearby pan, had a drink, lay down and groomed, and then casually sauntered off back to where her kill was stashed. Heading back to camp with smiles on our faces, I had seldom been more excited to check my photos. But was I being too unrealistic in my hopes that Nkaya had returned after five years?

If the recent months had taught the Tanda Tula guides and trackers anything, the answer was “no.”

We had been surprised by the random return of three male leopards to the area. It started with Ntsongwaan male, a stalwart of the western sector for many years. But as age caught up with him, he lost his grip on his kingdom, and after a year of almost no reports of him, he suddenly arrived back in his natal area. For a couple of months, he became a regular around Tanda Tula Camp and, at one point, spent four days feeding on a dead hyena opposite our main bar deck.

A young Ntsongwaan male in 2012

Ntsongwaan returns to Tanda Tula in September 2024

Sadly, the scavenging of hyenas and other dead leopard carcasses (namely the Xiwumbane male, whom he had evidently killed in an altercation) was a sign that Ntsongwaan was past his prime and living on borrowed time. At the end of 2024, sightings became less frequent until they stopped, and we can only assume that age caught up with this once-handsome tom.

Desperate times for Ntsongwaan, feeding on a dead Xiwumbana male leopard in October 2024

During this same period, we had a confusing couple of sightings where Ntsongwaan was reportedly seen in two places at once. We almost renamed him Houdini, but soon discovered that the very relaxed male—who was of the same size and general appearance as Ntsongwaan—was not Ntsongwaan, but in fact, his younger brother, Mondzweni.

Mondzweni was born in the area in late 2014 and was last seen as he approached three years old. This is the typical age at which young male leopards are ousted from their natal areas by the dominant male. Moving off, these young males encounter other dominant males in adjoining territories, and these larger males also put pressure on them until they move off. This leapfrogging from area to area helps to disperse the genes away from the area in which the young males were born.

Mondzweni as a cub in 2015

In 2023, we saw firsthand just how far these leaps can take young cats! Independently, two young brothers—the Dumbana brothers—each walked over 60km from the Kruger Park’s Lebombo mountain range on the eastern border and arrived in the central Timbavati. Months later, both brothers were back in the Lebombo mountains (once more, journeys taken independently—we have no evidence to suggest that they encountered one another in the Timbavati). Subsequently, one of the brothers has returned to the Timbavati, got a new name (the Lebombo male), and became dominant in the western part of our concession.

These events made me realize that when our young male leopards disperse from Tanda Tula, they could really end up anywhere. This made the fact that Mondzweni reappeared after a seven-year absence quite a remarkable sighting. Where had he been all this time? A week later, upon seeing a large male leopard crossing the Nhlaralumi riverbed just south of camp, we were all blown away to find out that it was Mondzweni, back in the heart of the area he was born in for the first time in years.

Mondzweni once more exploring his natal area in October 2024

If that wasn’t enough, another new semi-relaxed male leopard was starting to be seen around Nkhari. Upon checking my extensive list of IDs of close to 100 different leopards I have seen in the Timbavati over the years, I soon discovered that this was not a new male at all, but rather Marula female’s firstborn son, Ndzuti. He too had been absent for over six years before making a return.

My last sighting of Ndzuti in October 2018

Ndzuti makes a return – November 2024

So, with this all in mind, could our relaxed female leopard really have been the long-lost Nkaya female? Spot after spot that I checked matched. Amazingly, I could confirm that we had found Nkaya female after a five-year absence!