Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Tanzania 18 - Serengeti National Park - Leopards

21 - 25 December 2014

The highlight of our time in the Serengeti was (arguably) the cheetah, but leopards are a close second. We saw two leopards clearly, and two more that moved out of sight before we could get binoculars out. On the ground in high grass, they are invisible. The ones that are seen are almost always in a tree.

The first leopard we saw was napping in a tree, having had its fill of its kill. The carcass was stashed higher up in the tree, but we couldn't see it clearly enough to determine what kind of animal it was.

Two days later, we had a good view of a second leopard. To give you some idea of how difficult it is to see them, here's a general photo of the leopard and its environment:

Can't find the leopard? With the photo reduced  in size this much, it's probably only a single pixel (maybe two).
Original pixels. If you know what you're looking for, you can see that the leopard is looking to the right.
Let's zoom in a bit -- you've got a chance with this one.
Original pixels. The leopard is in the background tree in the middle of the photo.
Viewed with a telephoto lens. The view through binoculars is even better.

Two more photos of the leopard before it dropped off its lookout post and disappeared into the grass:

Profile view.
Sitting up.


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