Queen of the Msuthlu

This female hasn’t been a regular during my last three years here at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve, actually thinking of it, she first made an appearance about 8 months to a year ago.

She is a young leopardess who is stretching her territory and even intruding among other female’s territories as she searches for a compatible mate. Having been in oestrus about four times over the last year, she has been very unsuccessful in conceiving and I hope that within the next few months, luck will be on her side as she tries again to introduce new cubs to the area.

As I write this blog, it brings up many memories of leopard cubs that I have witnessed on this reserve and it truly shows how special it is to witness these beautiful cats in the wild as the mortality rate is so high and we have just experienced that as one mature female leopard has just lost her cub who was 20 – 25 weeks old, heart-breaking but it reminds us of how wild and natural this place is. However, away from the sad times as we cross fingers for this young leopardess’s success in the future.

Equipment Used

• Camera – Canon 7D mk ii
• Lens and Focal length – Canon-EF100-400mm f-4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400 mm

Settings used to capture this image

• ISO – 400
• Aperture – f5.6
• Shutter – 1/1250

Editing used on this image

With this image I used the beautiful lighting that was falling upon the subject as it contrasted perfectly with the dark background of the thick vegetation of the drainage line. I then decided to not crop the photograph as the light on the grass made an interesting effect especially when putting it into sepia.