{"id":1206290,"date":"2016-10-23T19:13:49","date_gmt":"2016-10-23T17:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=1206290"},"modified":"2019-12-23T01:13:51","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T12:13:51","slug":"in-search-of-leopards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/in-search-of-leopards\/","title":{"rendered":"In search of Leopards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A few years ago my wife and I traveled to Sri Lanka in the hopes of seeing and photographing Leopards in Yala NP.<\/p>\n<p>One of the few places in the world were they are reportedly active in daylight hours.<\/p>\n<p>We were somewhat disappointed with result, one sighting over three days and then having to put up with being jostled by at least 20 other very crowded jeeps all trying to get a closer view of a distant male, high in the branches of a tree.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1206311\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 1034px\"><a href=\"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_1346_02_name-1024x731.jpg\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_1346_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=75&amp;resize=75&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_1346_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=100&amp;resize=100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_1346_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=150&amp;resize=150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_1346_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=240&amp;resize=240&amp;ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_1346_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=320&amp;resize=320&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_1346_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=500&amp;resize=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_1346_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=640&amp;resize=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_1346_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=800&amp;resize=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_1346_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1024&amp;resize=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_1346_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1280&amp;resize=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_1346_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1600&amp;resize=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1206311 size-full\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_1346_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1\" width=\"1024\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Male Leopard in Tadoba, India.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Two years ago on a spring trip to India, to the Tadoba reserve, mainly in search of tigers , we were surprised to get the opportunity, early one morning, to photograph a pair of mating leopards, capturing what I thought to be my best images of these wonderful creatures.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1206312\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 1034px\"><a href=\"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_4523_01_name-1024x731.jpg\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_4523_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=75&amp;resize=75&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_4523_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=100&amp;resize=100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_4523_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=150&amp;resize=150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_4523_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=240&amp;resize=240&amp;ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_4523_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=320&amp;resize=320&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_4523_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=500&amp;resize=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_4523_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=640&amp;resize=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_4523_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=800&amp;resize=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_4523_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1024&amp;resize=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_4523_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1280&amp;resize=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_4523_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1600&amp;resize=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1206312 size-full\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_4523_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1\" width=\"1024\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">At the water hole near Notten\u2019s Bush Camp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In Oct 2015 on a trip to the Greater Kruger area of South Africa I was very surprised to find that as well as a very healthy number of lion there was also a prolific population of leopards and that you could not only get very close to them but they seemed to be happy with the presence of humans. Within an hour of our first drive we had come across two leopards one of which was drinking at a water hole, both allowing us to get very close.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1206323\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 1034px\"><a href=\"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_6244_02_name-1024x731.jpg\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_6244_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=75&amp;resize=75&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_6244_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=100&amp;resize=100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_6244_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=150&amp;resize=150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_6244_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=240&amp;resize=240&amp;ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_6244_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=320&amp;resize=320&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_6244_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=500&amp;resize=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_6244_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=640&amp;resize=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_6244_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=800&amp;resize=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_6244_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1024&amp;resize=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_6244_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1280&amp;resize=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_6244_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1600&amp;resize=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1206323 size-full\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_6244_02_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1\" width=\"1024\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Motswari Leopard with scrub hare kill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1206320\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 1034px\"><a href=\"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5639_01_name-1024x731.jpg\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5639_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=75&amp;resize=75&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5639_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=100&amp;resize=100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5639_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=150&amp;resize=150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5639_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=240&amp;resize=240&amp;ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5639_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=320&amp;resize=320&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5639_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=500&amp;resize=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5639_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=640&amp;resize=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5639_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=800&amp;resize=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5639_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1024&amp;resize=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5639_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1280&amp;resize=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5639_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1600&amp;resize=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1206320 size-full\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5639_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1\" width=\"1024\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">One of two leopards seen at night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Over the next days we encountered at least one Leopard on each drive, each time a new individual and all of them just going about their daily routine, from guarding a recent kill up in the branches of a tree to following another hunting a scrub hare and on a night drive watching a male rejecting the advances of a female that had strayed into his territory. So if Leopards are on your must see and photograph list these unfenced areas outside the main Kruger park, where you can drive off road, are well worth a visit.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1206315\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 1034px\"><a href=\"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5110_01_name-1024x731.jpg\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5110_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=75&amp;resize=75&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5110_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=100&amp;resize=100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5110_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=150&amp;resize=150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5110_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=240&amp;resize=240&amp;ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5110_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=320&amp;resize=320&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5110_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=500&amp;resize=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5110_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=640&amp;resize=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5110_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=800&amp;resize=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5110_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1024&amp;resize=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5110_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1280&amp;resize=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5110_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1&amp;w=1600&amp;resize=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1206315 size-full\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_5110_01_name-1024x731.jpg?ssl=1\" width=\"1024\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Portrait of Leopard No Six<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<span class='mb-center maxbutton-6-center'><span class='maxbutton-6-container mb-container'><a class=\"maxbutton-6 maxbutton maxbutton-subscribe-to-our-free-newsletter\" href=\"http:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/subscribe\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><span class='mb-text'>Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few years ago my wife and I traveled to Sri Lanka in the hopes of seeing and photographing Leopards in Yala NP. One of the few places in the world were they are reportedly active in daylight hours. We were somewhat disappointed with result, one sighting over three days and then having to put [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1942,"featured_media":2196729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/MG_1346_02_name-1024x731.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6984,5],"tags":[1043,4143,2998,8454],"class_list":["post-1206290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogs","category-wildlife","tag-kruger-national-park","tag-leopards","tag-south-africa","tag-tadoba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1942"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1206290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2196729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1206290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1206290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1206290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}