Leopard (Panthera pardus)

(I seem to have originally posted in Nature and Landscapes)

We saw leopards twice along our Safari in 2009. Both times in the Serengeti. Here are a few shots from those encounters.

1. Leopard in a tree with his kill

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Beautiful shots, must have been a fun Safari.

Nice shots. It's fun to see the interaction between the two leopards. If the leopards were your favorite, you should try the private reserves outside Kruger National Park in South Africa. The leopards are habituated to the vehicles and often are very close.

Litespeed wrote in post #15548374
Beautiful shots, must have been a fun Safari.

Thank you... It sure was!

wanyc wrote in post #15548974
Nice shots. It's fun to see the interaction between the two leopards. If the leopards were your favorite, you should try the private reserves outside Kruger National Park in South Africa. The leopards are habituated to the vehicles and often are very close.

Of course shortly after posting that, I looked at my lion shots and remembered the lion cubs that practically walked right under our vehicle.... The whole thing really was one big highlight!

Really nice. How close were you able to get?

Beautiful.

You're a lucky guy to get to see them in the wild.

tacphotog wrote in post #15549161
Really nice. How close were you able to get?

The roadside leopard was probably less than 20 feet from the road when we approached. The big problem was the darkness. Some of these were shot at 6400 ISO. Thank God he sat so still!

i-G12 wrote in post #15549170
Beautiful.

You're a lucky guy to get to see them in the wild.

Thank you! It really is amazing to be so close to something so powerful and wild - a sense that stays with you for years later..