Matilda

Our first meeting with Matilda was a long-overdue one. We received numerous reports of a large female, usually with one or two cubs, who were spotted for a fleeting moment. Racing towards the area at breakneck speed our efforts were always rewarded by a cat that just left, and comments like: "Wow, what a sighting. You just missed her!".

Finally, we found her on a hot January afternoon in a large and comfortable marula tree just as the sun was setting. Judging by her extending belly and her enlarged and darkened teats, it was clear that the cat was heavily pregnant. She was the first cat that finally started relaxing and gradually allowed herself to be viewed from a vehicle. Size-wise, Matilda was a massive female. Her size, coupled with the distinctive tilde (~) marking between her eyes made her easily identifiable, even from a distance.

Matilda sparked our interest in the leopard population of Hlambanyathi and was the cat that persuaded us to invest in decent quality motion sensor cameras.  These we placed in strategic positions where we expected leopards to traverse. Little did we know, but these cameras opened up a whole new world to us, not just by identifying our local leopard population and their estimated range use, but also recording the comings and goings of a myriad of other species, ranging from cane rats to elephants (who, up to date, have trampled two of our expensive cameras!).

Sadly, Matilda went missing in November 2006, but the two years we spent with her and the efforts and rewards in successfully tracking her down will forever live on in our memories. Where she disappeared to no-one knows. She could have died due to an injury or a poaching incident or maybe she just found a better area to live her life. The result of her pregnancy on that night we met, is a young leopard which also made Hlambanyathi its home. It is now Caroline's direct neighbour to the west and occupies a part of Matilda's former home range.