Big cats in Southern India come either in spots or stripes. While I've seen the striped kind several times, the spotted kind have always eluded me. Until now, that is. We thought we were done for the evening - the day's catch included several herds of elephants, gaur, several birds and a really friendly mongoose. At sharp six, as if we had an appointment with his highness, we met him at a crossing. He was surprised by our presence, but was arrogant enough to stand his ground and look into our eyes - exactly what we wanted! He did that for a brief couple of seconds and walked away, calmly and with total disdain, across the road and into the forests on the other side. I managed a photograph of him though and I should say I've been very lucky to get a crisp and clear image considering the fact that I had a non-VR lens and the light was fading quickly. :)





His Royal Highness, the leopard king of Balle, Nagarhole!