The Big Eye effect, this leopard sees the photographers lens. He is a big boy, with a thick role of skin around his neck and shoulders. He also has his last meal on his paw and face. He is up a tree and stayed there looking around until he decided to come down stretch and trot off, not that differently from the way a domestic cat might come down off a kitchen perch.
These wild animals have a tolerance for tourist vehicles and tend to go on about their lives as if we were not there, but this image shows this mother lion's wariness extends to us as well. It is an enormous privilege to get this close to wild life and I think we all respected that. We try not to add stress to the animals' environment.
Even while mother digs in this young cub has learned to watch out for trouble lurking in the tree.
