[Leica] Black Leopard Experience

[Don Dory]

Great portrait and it appears you have solved the LUG photographing the
black cat conundrum.

I'm just glad the landowner went for $1000 a day instead of $50,000 to hunt
a black leopard.

On Mon, Aug 5, 2024, 10:14 AM Jayanand Govindaraj via LUG <
lug at leica-users.org> wrote:

>  I returned a few days ago from Laikipia in Kenya, off the beaten track,
> and gaining currency in wildlife circles as a place to go for unique
> encounters with a wild, 3 year old black leopard called Giza.
>
> Laikipia is in the North Central part of Kenya, and is a place to go for
> leopards, (one) black leopard and wild dog sightings - and as it is located
> in a private conservancy, you can be out till 9pm. Thanks to this, night
> sightings of leopards are plentiful. Giza, too, did not disappoint, she
> showed herself in more than 50% of the drives we did, and she had no fear
> of vehicles, making the sightings really satisfying. The service at the
> River Camp where we stayed was excellent, and the staff did whatever they
> could to keep us comfortable. That is the good news.The bad news is that
> accommodation is rustic/basic and the food was of indifferent quality. A
> landowner suddenly found that a black leopard cub was visible on his lands,
> and hastily built a few structures and started charging exorbitant amounts
> (over US$1000 a day per person) for the experience - which is tailored more
> towards the general tourist rather than photographers, but it is early days
> yet, and they will surely learn to cater to photographers in the days to
> come.
>
> The experience is most certainly unique and out of this world, and probably
> is the only one of its kind available, that I know of, for close encounters
> with black leopards, but comes at a high cost, especially given the basic
> quality of the boarding and lodging. The demand is certainly there, though,
> as they are booked solid till July 2025!
>
> On reflection, I am indeed glad that I did go there.
>
> A dozen photographic studies of Giza are available here:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Laikipia/
>
> Please see LARGE
>
> Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome.
>
> Cheers
> Jayanand
>
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