We were out on an afternoon game drive when we spotted a leopard in a tree.
Nothing particularly unusual about that. Leopards are rather good at finding comfortable places above ground.
But this one had apparently decided it was time to move on.
And down he came.
Head first, carefully negotiating the branches, those enormous paws finding their way down the trunk with an ease that made the whole thing look ridiculously simple.
I managed a few photographs as he made his descent. Moments later, he was disappearing into the vegetation, his spotted coat blending almost perfectly with the surrounding leaves.
And that was that. Back to being a leopard, with no further obligations to the photographer.
No great drama. Just a wild leopard going about his afternoon.
Sometimes you don’t need an extraordinary story. Being there to witness an ordinary moment in an extraordinary animal’s life is quite enough.
Behind the Photograph · A Wilder Eye