Male Leopard

During my most recent South Africa tour, we wrapped up our trip at MalaMala Game Reserve.  MalaMala is part of the Sabi Sands Wildtuin, a collection of private reserves bordering Kruger National Park.  There are no fences between most of the reserves (or between MM and the park), so wild animals roam in and out.  It also happens to be one of the best spots on the planet for leopard viewing.

This is the Bicycle Crossing Male, a longtime dominant leopard who primarily resides on the MM property (leopards at MM are named after their territory).  He's known for having the largest recorded territory of any male leopard documented in the Sabi Sands, and has been the big boy on campus for some time.  During this visit, he was limping from a noticeable wound on his hind leg, but he was still going about his business as if nothing was wrong.  At one point we watched him face off with a rival male right in front of our lodge (lots of growling, drooling and kicking up dirt... no fighting), and in this photo he was out on his morning patrol.

I asked our driver to position us in front of him and at a slightly lower angle so we could get a clear head-on view.  Though the BCM was moving away from the sun the whole time, I found the dappled light on the subject and throughout the scene quite appealing.

Canon 1DX
Canon 600mm
ISO 800
1/800th
f/5

Max