Portrait of a female African Leopard, Panthera pardus pardus, in Buffalo Springs National Park, part of the Samburu complex of reserves in Kenya, East Africa.
The best place to see Leopards in Kenya is in the Samburu Complex, because lodges at both sides of the river put meat out for them at dusk, so towards the end of your afternoon game drive, the leopards are making their way towards their supper, and the drivers know where to look for them. Also, the lodge staff will let you know when the leopard at the other side of the river has come for its meal. The meat is spotlit, but at that time the leopards are distant and difficult to photograph, it’s getter to find and photograph them in later afternoon.
Otherwise, African Leopards while not uncommon within their range* in Africa, can be quite secretive and difficult to find. They often spend much of the day up in trees dozing, where keen eyes are needed to spot a twitch of the white tip of their tails.
*However, Leopards as a species are globally listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. Their main threats are habitat fragmentation, hunting and poaching. They are currently found over only 25% of their former range.
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