[Leica] Black Leopard Experience

[Jayanand Govindaraj]

Nathan,

Thanks for looking.

The Laikipia region is not really suited to agriculture, because it is
hilly and has poor quality soil. Many water rich areas around the world,
like the Pantanal in Brazil, for example, are poor for agriculture because
of the soil quality. Like the Pantanal, Laikipia is more suited to cattle
farming, because grass for grazing is plentiful even though the quality of
the soil cannot support agriculture - other countries like Ireland and New
Zealand also come to mind. This is the reason you find cattle herders like
the Masai tribe, and their close cousins, the Samburu tribe, dominant
across the rift valley in Kenya. In addition, Laikipia is close to the
Southern reaches of the Sahara, not very far from the Southern Sudan
border, and is a fairly arid place. They have had unseasonal rains this
year, like many other parts of the world (like Chennai!!!), which accounts
for the lush green landscape in my photographs.

Cheers
Jayanand

On Sun, Aug 25, 2024 at 9:45 PM Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu> wrote:

> Your photos are, as always, awesome. As an economist and an
> environmentalist, I also find satisfaction in this nice example of wildlife
> being much more valuable to the locals than clearing the land for
> agriculture.
>
> Cheers,
> Nathan
>
> Nathan Wajsman
> photo at frozenlight.eu
>
> http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
> http://www.greatpix.eu
> http://www.frozenlight.eu
>
> Слава Україні! Героям слава!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > On 5 Aug 2024, at 17:13, 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
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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