A video taken by ranger Sam on Valentine’s day 2016 of leopards mating next to his safari cruiser. Mating leopards, to the best of my knowledge, was first captured on film during the 1980’s by a film maker called John Varty in a private reserve not too far away to the south of us. Although captured many times since then it still remains a very special sighting. The honeymoon period lasts about 4 – 5 days and copulation occurs about every 15 – 30 minutes. The male leopard is called Chavaluthu (the fearless one) and the female holds a territory to the west of Pondoro. This male has a territory of at least 5000ha while several females would own their own separate territories within his larger domain.
