Thanks Sabyasachi. This sighting came from nowhere! We were in the last 10min of the evening safari when she walked out of the bushes on our right all of a sudden..there really was no time to change my settings. Hence, EV -1/3.
I really wish I had set my f value to f5.6, the f8 was honestly unintentional..it just happened Every ordinary image we make comes a learning experience and so does this! Thank you for your honest suggestions

Thank you Mrudul. A higher shutter speed....yes. I really should have held myself and changed the settings. f5.6 would have certainly helped. As for the space from the top to bottom, there really is no crop at the bottom. That is all is the space available

Bhargava