It was over in a minute or two, but I will never forget the glimpse we had of this elusive and beautiful leopardess in Mana Pools. They are resident in the area but not often seen and very skittish.
We spotted her under the canopy of a tree on the edge of a bed of reeds in the Zambezi river late one afternoon after the sun had set and we were on our way back to camp.
I love that this is a TRULY wild leopard in one of the last TRULY wild places in Africa...and not one that we were able to almost impale in a game viewer without her budging. :w3
She sat for a minute or two, gave us a fleeting glance, and disappeared into the reeds and out of sight.
The light was at an absolute minimum so I opened my lens aperture wide and pushed the ISO.
The Nikon D3s is amazing at high ISO settings and I was very pleased with how this came out.
Techs:
Nikon D3s with Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f4.0 @ 1/80 SS @ ISO-7200
Rested on beanbag over car window
60-70% of full frame image


