Seeing a leopard is always quite tricky. They make a living out of being extremely discreet. South Luangwa National Park, Zambia is one of the rare places were leopards are commonly seen.
On that day, I was spotting at night when I heard some noise behind the car. The guide turned the car around and we saw the leopard hanging on the throat of the impala. Lion kills can be messy. Leopards' aren't. It took the leopard about 3 minutes to suffocate its victim. During that time, no noise was made. Then she dragged the impala to a tree and climbed with her prey, out of reach of the lions and hyenas that were nearby. It was killing at its most professional and effective.
When I saw the scene in front of me, I passed the spotlight to the guide, put my 500mm on a monopod, set the ISO of my Nikon D200 camera to 800, and lit the scene with my SB800 flashgun.
Date: 10/10/2007
Location: Luangwa Wafwa, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia
Photographer: Arnaud Germain
