Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

It would be fully impossible to sneak up on a leopard. If you’re around one, make no mistake — they are allowing you to be there and they are choosing not to disappear. It’s like you are being given this gift directly from them. This humble realization was in the front of my mind as I carefully and slowly approached the territory of this elusive female. Pre sun-rise, I settled into position where I’d left her the evening before, and I almost immediately caught a glimpse of her rustling in darkness. She had accepted my presence for three days now. During that time, when she did appear, she ignored me 99% of the time. Yet there were also fleeting moments where she would glance in my direction – a brief yet exacting glint. She was just keeping an eye on me of course, but her eyes were piercing – I could feel them. As the light of day began to turn the total blackness of morning into barely discernable shades of shadow, I could slowly make out her spots among the brush. And then it happened – she stood up and cast her gaze back at me. Her eyes and tail seemed to glow like beacons along with a myriad of dew drops – each appearing as a point of contrast to the nearly-black underbrush. And then, a second later, she was gone.