Pictured above is a leopard, stalking.
He had targeted a springbok, on the morning of 07 November 2022 in Etosha National Park, northern Namibia.
Almost exactly four months later, in very different habitat we enjoyed our first Indian sighting of a leopard.
The next two Pelican Yoga posts will feature each encounter, separately.
Prior to November 2022 my beloved and I had twice seen a leopard – in Botswana in 2006, and on the Tibetan Plateau in 2019.
The former was quite close to us, but our sighting was merely fleeting.
The latter – a snow leopard – was visible for more than a few minutes, but far distant; s/he was meaningfully visible only through a telescope.
Then, in November 2022, in Namibia (my third visit, over 51 years) we had four leopard encounters, all prolonged and close.
(for easy access to all posts about the first three November ‘22 encounters click this. They are best read/viewed in “bottom up” sequence)
In India, late in the afternoon of 07 March 2023 we saw another leopard, barely visible, well camouflaged, deep in the forest.
One hour later, a very confident leopard sauntered out of the forest, and proceeded to strut, then rest, very close to us.
I suspect that both leopards were in fact the same individual.
All photos copyright Doug Spencer, taken at 400mm focal length.
I loved the way one of the forest’s curving branches fortuitously “echoed” the above leopard’s tail.
wow…