Ghost Cat

 

A leopard stares down a pair of lions that chased her up a tree in Kenya's Samburu National Reserve. After bullying the leopard, the young male lions rested in the shade nearby. The expression on the leopard's face was priceless. But leopards internalize even their panic attacks.

I saw my first wild leopard during my first visit to Africa in 2009. I found a mother and her two nearly grown cubs hunting a dry riverbank in South Africa's famed Kruger National Park. It was the highlight of my trip. Pure magic!

Kruger National Park is one of my favorite places for wildlife. It's enormous — the size of New Jersey. Despite spending four weeks there, I have only explored a small part of it.

A mother leopard stalks the scrub along the bone-dry Shingwedzi River. I had just left the rest camp for the morning and wasn't prepared to take photos when I encountered the three leopards. Luckily, I got to spend about an hour alone with them, following them down the banks of the river from the safety of my car before they disappeared.

Find the hidden Mickey. The pattern of rosettes on leopards is unique to each animal. 

January is a brutal month in Kruger where average daily temperatures shot up past 104 Fahrenheit. So the leopards hoped to find something to eat before the heat of the day was upon them.

A closer look at this series of photos revealed a covey of francolin hens hiding in the grass just behind and to the right of the big cat. Don't lose your nerve now, little guys!

A leopard cub poses for a portrait before continuing its morning stroll.

A leopard cub races to catch up with its mom during a night hunt in Kruger. I was able to rattle off about 40 pics of the leopard cub by the light of our safari vehicle, but they were all bad. If you think that's a missed opportunity, welcome to my world. It was the only leopard I got my lens on during my second trip to Kruger. But I would have a memorable encounter with an angry leopard at night at the Malelane rest camp that would prompt me to dash from my tent to the safety of my car.  I still sleep with the light on, ha.

A leopard takes shelter high in a thorn tree to escape the clutches of a pair of male lions in Kenya's Samburu National Reserve.

After chasing the leopard up the tree, the lions lurked nearby in the underbrush. It's not the best picture because I was focusing on the leopard and the lions were barely visible. But I did capture a quick shot of one of the bullies.

Kenya's Maasai Mara gets all the attention from wildlife fans, but I liked Samburu even more for its endemic wildlife and ascetic beauty. Plus, the lions here were the biggest I have ever seen. I saw lions every day of that trip.

An overcaffeinated baby orxy spooked the rest of the herd, which dashed across the scrub in Samburu.

The leopard tried to find a comfortable place to relax after she realized she was going to be up there a while. The lions weren't going anywhere.

I think her face says it all, but the lions were persistent. Why don't you just go away?

Of the tens of thousands of pictures of wildlife I have taken around the world, this is probably my favorite. I hope it captures how every nerve ending of the leopard was on fire after her narrow escape. What an amazing animal.