The Leopard; Big Cat of the Forests

I’ve just returned from a fantastic 8-day photo safari on lands just outside the famed Maasai Mara Reserve in Kenya.  I photographed this leopard along a tree-lined stream in the Ol Kinyea Conservancy.  Ol Kinyea is one of 16 conservancies adjacent to the north border of the Reserve.  The conservancies are the result of agreements between Masai landowners and safari companies and others interested in increasing wildlife habitat by removing agricultural use of the lands and managing them to benefit wildlife, instead of livestock and crops.  The landowners are paid for this conversion of their lands back to nature, plus the Masai make up almost 100% of the people who run the camps from the camp manager down through the guides and all the other staff.

I booked my safari with Gamewatchers Safaris which is one of the pioneers of the conservancy idea.  I stayed in what they call their Porini Mara Camp in the Ol Kinyea Conservancy for the first four days.  My guide was George Letoluo.  George was an excellent guide.  He got me to the spot where I took this photo like he knew the leopard would stop and pose at this fallen tree.

I went to Kenya primarily to photograph the three big cats and there wasn’t a day George didn’t get me at least two of the three big cats.  One of the plusses about the conservancy lands is that camp guests are few compared to the crowded national parks and staying on roads is not required like it is in Serengeti National Park and the Maasai Mara Reserve.   I was in Serengeti in 2018 and saw only about 10% of the cats that I saw on this trip.

After my four days at the Porini Mara Camp, I went to Gamewatchers Lion Camp in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy for four more incredible days.  They don’t call it Lion Camp without reason.  But that’s a story for another day.  All told, I shot 20,000 photos.  At 50MB per shot, that’s 1TB in total.