MAIDEN LEOPARD SIGHTING IN PENCH

Luck favors you when it is least expected. Since last six months I was waiting for the sighting of a leopard and it came in a way where I could not be asking for more. Just half an hour into the forest in the morning, we came across alarm calls of chital and some movement in the thicket near Jodamunnara road. Expecting atleast a predator around, we were scanning the area, when the park guide Raja Ram exclaimed Leopard!! What we saw next was not one but two leopards moving on the rocks. The male was bigger than the female and had a paler coat, which meant it was quite older. Seeing us the courting pair started to move away and we followed without disturbing them. These leopards settled after a while with the male resting distantly from the female for the next one hour, not too far from our vehicle. We decided to wait and watch. It was really exciting as it was a lifer moment for many in the vehicle. Not much action was seen for sometime except occasional twists & turns of the sleeping male. The female after an hour which started to move and began to entice the male by coming near him. The pair mated for 4-5 times during this but mostly in the undergrowth. Though we could see it through binocs, taking a shot was not possible. The growls and roars of the leopards were really thrilling. After two and a half hours the prince of the jungle decided to shift to some place where prying humans and agitated Rhesus macaques would not interfere. We also were kind of hoping the same, so that we can get some decent shots when it crosses the road. And it happened! The male crossed the road at some distance from us cautiously followed by the female after sometime. This time they went deep inside the jungle which we could make out from the direction of alarm calls of the deer & monkeys. By the time the leopards left, it was already time for us to exit the park. And after exiting the park we realised that we saw these two leopards for 3 hours. Now we felt the magnitude of the sighting. Not only it was a lifer animal and but also a sighting which rarely one comes across. Harsha, Arvind, Neel, Shree, Hetal and David were also present. And we all were euphoric after it. Moreover, during the sighting we didn’t have much interference from other vehicles. We really couldn’t have asked for more. Pench has been magical for me with my maiden big cat sightings, read Tiger & Leopard. No matter how frequent sightings are there in parks like Kanha or Bandhavgarh, Pench will be one of my special parks for time to come. PS: Prince of Cats image is by Shree

Posted: Baghvan by Durgesh Singh, Date: 7 January 2008

 
Additional images: