Text: Ranger Pieter van Wyk In April of 2016 the late Kikilezi female leopard gave birth in the Mlowathi River to two cubs, a male and a female, fathered by the Treehouse male. Over the 12 months that followed we watched as the most successful mother leopard in modern times raised her eighth litter along the […]
Text: Ranger Liam Henderson With the Manyeleti River flowing again for the first time in two years, a pool of water had accumulated around a large set of granite rocks. At that point, the southern bank of the river is adorned with large trees within lush thickets while the northern bank is a steep and rocky […]
Text: Ranger Pieter van Wyk On Friday, a stone throw away from Sable Camp, we experienced all the pre-fight drama one might expect before a world title clash between two heavyweight boxers. The contestants: the Inyathini male and the Senegal Bush male. In truth, they are more in the ‘middleweight’ class and neither has really earned […]
Text: Ranger Pieter van Wyk It is human nature to find fresh cause for optimism and to keep on believing despite the odds. A year of tragic losses within our leopard population left us reeling and desperately searching for that eternal spring called ‘hope’. While we were doing that, the leopards were getting on with life. […]
Text: Pieter van Wyk | Photographs: Pieter van Wyk, Daniel Bailey, Matt Meyer, James Moodie, Dave Landey, Dean Wraith, Jonno Short, Jacques Proust fighter /’fī-tər/ Someone who does not easily admit defeat in spite of difficulties or opposition. The textbooks tell us that to truly appreciate nature, it must be looked at void of any human […]
Text: Pieter van Wyk | Photographs: Theo York and Matt Meyer | Video: Mike Kirkman Whilst enjoying a cup of coffee in the early morning before the game drive, the peaceful atmosphere on the deck of Sable Camp was shattered by the unmistakable sound of a buffalo bellowing in distress. Our excitement levels went through the […]
Text: James Moodie | Photographs and Video: Daniel Bailey March 7th was by all accounts, a hot day. As the African sun crept across the blue-sky, temperatures soared into the 40’s and on this day the heat took its toll. During the course of the morning we watched an adult female giraffe being constantly harassed by two […]
Text: Dave Landey | Photographs: Dave Landey and Adi Stander There are no fences between MalaMala and the Kruger National Park, which we share our entire eastern boundary with. It has been this way for over 20 years now. Occasionally, we will see unidentified animals on the property – some fairly briefly before they return back to […]
Text, photographs, and video: James Moodie It is without a doubt that one of the major attractions that MalaMala Game Reserve has to offer are the big cat sightings we have on a daily basis, in particular the leopards. Seeing these elusive predators doing as they please in their natural surroundings is in itself […]