On Level Ground---Leopard in Kabini

[Shyamala Kumar]

Nikon7100+150-600mm ISO 800 F/8 1/800s.Early morning hours May 2015

[Mrudul Godbole]

Great you sighting of this male (?) so close. The low angle and the eye contact adds to the composition. How did you get such a low angle from the gypsy? How long was the sighting? Thanks for sharing.

[Roopak Gangadharan]

nice close up. is this that oft sighted ageing male? its coat colour has almost turned pale.

TFS
Roopak

[Shyamala Kumar]

Mrudul, Roopak, It was a morning of thick mists.There was a mating couple of which the male(I told he was about 2-3 years old) came out in the open repeatedly trying to entice the female to come out in the open too. The female remained in the undergrowth and we briefly caught glimpses of her on the branches of trees well outside the range of most camera lenses . The male when he stood up was surprisingly huge and light coloured reminding me of the man-eater of Rudraprayag.This image was the result of a lucky shot between the trunks of two trees on a slightly raised ground.I had to to literally fight with the driver to position the vehicle in such away so as to get this shot.He had positioned his vehicle for the convenience of one privileged photographer who sat in the front.

[Debasis Bose]

Fantastic!!! Scars tell the story of his battles fought to keep his territory intact.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Good eye contact. It looks like that scar-faced male.It seems the leopard is older...........Thanks for sharing. SaktiWild

[Subhash Shrivastava]

Excellent image, the details of face are superb. It's a special moment to see a leopard in a clear line of sight that too at the eye level ! Thanks for sharing.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Good that you got a clear view. These situations can be very tough and irritating. A lot of people suffer silently. Normally one is supposed to avoid a jeep having photographers with a 500mm lenses. A 500mm lens is a minimum for bragging rights. Lens on the shoulder or some other variation, posing for selfies, talking about the last great sighting etc are some of the early warnings that you need to avoid that jeep.

[Shyamala Kumar]

Sabyasachi,I will certainly keep your advice in mind.The frustrating part was that this so called pampered photographer did not achieve any worthwhile shot but both the guide and driver seemed to think that his equipment deserved the best possible angles.Many of these regulars are familiar with the staff and manage to procure the best vehicles with front seat next to the driver (where the guide is supposed to sit).Sighting a leopard is such a rare experience, and being thwarted by such insensitivity is indeed very depressing.

[Roopak Gangadharan]

A 500mm lens is a minimum for bragging rights. Lens on the shoulder or some other variation, posing for selfies, talking about the last great sighting etc are some of the early warnings that you need to avoid that jeep.

...... good one sir.

Rgds
Roopak