Leopard tales
by amogh on 8/08/2009Not many times in life does one come across opportunities like this. Wildlife is full of surprises, and one rewarded and when least expected. Having spent almost 2 weeks in the summer in Kabini and having had no luck with photographing any cats though sighted a few, I didn’t expect I’d get to shoot much in the monsoons. But I was in for a pleasant surprise. I was to see two leopards!
It was the morning safari and after a good session with a pack of 12 wild dogs marching along the safari jeeps for a good 3kms on the main road, we entered the forest track. We stopped when we heard loud alarm calls, we knew we were really close to the cat. We went ahead a little more and took a left cut on the track. When we were all looking into the thicket, Jeevan the naturalist pointed at the leopard running in front of us on the track and only few of us saw it. Then we went further and then we saw the guy hiding in the bushes on the left, given the undergrowth is high after the rains, it was hard to spot anything.
Then the driver said “another leopard!” and I didn’t see it then because I was busy shooting. But when I came and saw the pictures, yes there was another leopard lurking in the back!
After that we did see the second leopard trailing the first one through out but in the thicket. We also figured that the one in the front was male and the other female. Then the male decided to dash on to the road
Then he waited on the road for a while, hoping that the female would join
When she didn’t turn up, he gave up and sat posing on the slight open patch next to the road and that’s when I got the portrait shots
Then we saw the female walk behind him and ofcourse he faithfully followed and we lost track of both
Light was low because the sun wasn’t around and photography was hard, but I enjoyed every bit of it! Also this time I got very close shots of wild dogs, will post soon…
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