Pench National Park, The land of Mowgli

My first visit to Pench was in Mar 2016. There was a total of 12 participants for this trip and we were pretty excited to see the good sighting in the Pench.

The first 2 safaris went dry and we were into our third safari. The evening safari was about to end. One of my friend (Sameer) asked the question “Nikhil, Suppose in this low light condition if we get to see any Tiger or Leopard then what camera setting is recommended?” My Simple answer was to boost the ISO setting of the Camera to get a sufficient shutter speed so we can able to capture the moment (record shot). Luckily, I was carrying Canon 7D ii (Crop sensor camera) and Canon 5D iii (Full frame camera) and in no time I shifted my telephoto lens from 7D to 5D, just in case we get to see any activity of Big Cats.

Around 6 pm, our gypsy started the return journey towards the gate and we were ready to accept one more dry safari. Suddenly, someone from our gypsy shouted “Leopard” “Leopard” “Leopard”!!! The driver pulled the brakes of the gypsy and we started to search the area where one of our friend spotted the Leopard. Forest was dry and all leaves were scattered in the jungle, we were facing difficulty spotting the Leopard as it was so camouflaged with the surroundings. Finally, we saw one sub-adult leopard sitting in the surroundings and staring at us.

A few more gypsies were gathered around that spot. By nature, Leopard is a shy animal, and looking at many gypsies definitely, it must have got scared. I took out my camera and managed to get a few clicks and knowing animal behavior I was sure that the leopard will try to run. So boosted ISO to 4000 in anticipation that I might be able to get running Leopard click. 

Plan worked! As soon as the leopard got some space it started running and I managed to get one good running shot.

What a memorable tour that was in the Land of Mowgli’s…