These are some truly unique places.
Black leopards are a rarity, and black leopards with visible spots are even rarer. So when 24-year-old photographer Anurag Gawande saw such a beautiful creature this month during a safari at Tadoba National Park in India, he knew he was blessed with a truly lucky shot.
“It was surprising because we thought we would see a tiger, but we saw a black leopard walking on the path,” Gawande told the Daily Mail that he was only 30 meters away from the leopard.
About 11% of leopards have a pigmentation condition, called “melanistic”, which turns both their clothes and their skin black, according to the Daily Mail. The unique genetic coincidence has unfortunately made such creatures targets for poachers and it is believed that only 12,000 to 14,000 still inhabit India.
He managed to capture some photos of the animal, which he says is the only black leopard in Tadoba National Park, after he failed to catch a deer and ended up resting on the red clay road.
“He came back on the road and stayed there for 15 to 20 minutes and I got an amazing photo of the majestic animal.”
Their meeting this month was not Gawande’s first: he also met her last year, but that didn’t make the more recent meeting less special.
“It was the second time I was watching her,” he said. “I felt the same thrill as I watched him, but this time I was aware of his moment. We kept our vehicle stationary and kept enough distance so that it would not move from the spot. ”
In 2019, a photographer appeared on the front page when he photographed a black leopard at the Laikipia Wildlife Camp in Kenya. Also in 2019, a rare “strawberry” leopard was photographed in South Africa.