“Leopard!” someone in the Jeep yells, and my body jerks into meerkat position as if jabbed by a cow prod.
I see golden movement ahead and fumble for my long lens, all the while fixated on the distant green growth.
We drive closer and I see spots. But something’s amiss – they are white spots, not black.
And no, it’s not an albino leopard. It’s a spotted deer, which had well and truly been spotted many times before on this safari. Their presence at around ten head per minute contributes to why Nagarhole national park has the highest density of prey in India. Its predator density is pretty high too, but on this occasion, the prey wins out.
A lesson is learnt. Do not believe the identification calls of anyone other than the safari guide. But I can’t be annoyed at the boy who cried leopard for long – it’s hard not to be caught up in the jungle guessing game and I’d rather be misled than miss.
Anyway, it’s unlikely that a leopard would be lurking on the ground at this time of the day – once the sun rises, so does the big cat, which finds itself a tree branch to sleep the day away.
With around 90 leopards in this park and 70 tigers, chances favour a leopard sighting. Both big cats are notoriously shy however.
“We have a video of a tiger who sees the jeep and then slowly back steps into the bushes,” Orange County safari guide Venti says.
So instead I pin my hopes on the leopard, as this park is one of the best places in the world to see the common leopard, which also eluded me on safari in Africa.
“This is prime leopard territory,” Venti says, “look out for tree branches at a 45 degree angle, that’s their favourite spot”.
At ground level there are wild boar, sambal deer and monkeys, but I am fixated on the high tree branches, desperate for a semblance of orange and paw.
The jungle scenery is magnificent at this time of year, after the monsoon. Lurid green and abundant, the environment may be beautiful, but it also makes big cat sightings all the more shrouded and difficult.
After three and a half hours and every animal sighting except a big cat, I admit defeat and console myself with the notion that I possibly did see a leopard, but mistook it for bark. It’s all down to camouflage.
On the jeep drive back to the resort through local villages I decide there’s nothing else for it. I have to return.
