Spotted Napping
Category Zoom-in
[BPA2024-117]

I love how well hidden leopards can be and I'm in awe of the Maasai guides who have the most incredible vision to be able to spot them from such a distance! Looking at the zoomed out image would you know that there was a leopard there? Maybe once you know it's there and you know to look for it you can see it but otherwise it just looks like a photo of a tree. I took that image ahead of the zoomed in one as I wanted to show others just how well hidden these cats are even in plain sight. This particular female leopard had clearly had a busy night and was taking a cat nap as the morning sun rose. What you don't see just out of shot is a wildebeest carcass that she must have killed earlier on and dragged up the tall branchless tree trunk! She looked somewhat comfortable sprawled across the brances of the tree, her legs and tail and even her head hanging down. Zoomed in she is very clear to see but zoomed out you could walk past that tree and have no idea what was above you!

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