Since leopards of Chambal are show stoppers these days courtesy @manishariprasad - Here is a leopard from Ranthambhore which for those who didn’t know touched River Chambal.
Ranthambhore has a very high density of leopards though most visitors don’t see much of them. This is because tigers kill them and to stay safe the smaller cat tends to stay in areas that tigers don’t frequent like steep slopes, hill tops etc. This is a typical sight here.
Leopards in Ranthambhore are not comfortable in the valleys which is prime tiger territory. But they do have to come down to valleys esp in summers when water is short at heights. Often they would do this at the hottest time when tigers are inactive like this one at noon
Leopards around here rarely climb trees because we don’t have too many trees with big trunks here. The climax tree Dhonk is thin. If you see leopards on top of a tree here, chances are there is a tiger below the tree somewhere
My favourite place to find leopards in Ranthambhore is on the walls of the fort. Somehow I just love this setting. Can’t put it in words.
Leopards, Cameras and I have a long history 🙂 We regularly see them around our home sometimes inside the compound. Still
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Pictures of common birds from a tiny sanctuary that we call home. We bought a barren piece of land to build our house on and are slowly trying to turn it into a mini sanctuary. All these pictures are from within our compound. #IndiAves#TribeIndiAves
It’s easy to do and great fun. Every new species that we see is a ‘major discovery’ for us
It soon becomes a pretty cool outdoor studio for lazy blokes like me. No carrying heavy equipment over rough tracks cause we can shoot with a beer glass in one hand. Makes life easier
Let me tell you a sad story from 12 years ago. A story that had a huge impact on me. A story about two tigers that were poisoned on the outskirts of Ranthambhore.
I was called as one of the two independent eye witnesses by the Deputy Field Director of Ranthambhore to follow some ridiculous protocol. If you want details of the event - they are here
How it effected me - One man with accomplices poisoned a goat carcass that two sub adult tigers had killed and then left it for them to eat, which they did two days later. A few hours later they died miserably
Almost all wild cats are ‘ambush hunters’ and #Camouflage is really important to them. I would have never spotted this leopard if he did not turn his head to look towards us
Same here. If this Caracal had not moved her head to show her gorgeous ‘tufted ears’ my guide would have never spotted her.
Name: सिया or Ink - गोश or ears : to make सियागोश in Hindi, their name
We had spotted this Jungle cat entering this patch of short grass and then totally lost her till she came out in the open. We are good at spotting wildlife, really good but this one played with us.
Great fun taking pictures with the #iPhone12Pro in Ranthambhore. Didn’t take the heavy camera bag, just one phone in the shirt pocket. This is what we call the ‘Bada gate’ or the big gate.
Another perspective of the same gate
The phone shoots between 13 and 65 mm so one needs to be close to the subject, pretty close. It handles everything wide very well and has an awesome dynamic range. Much much better than any phone that I have used. In fact as good as good DSLRs in that sense.