How this one happened

We had been sitting at the Kumbukkan crossing since half past four, mostly because the trackers had heard alarm calls the evening before and nobody wanted to be somewhere else if it turned out to be true.

She came up onto the rock at 05:42, when there was just enough light to work at ISO 3200, and the cub followed about forty seconds later and sat down exactly where you would have asked it to. Eleven frames, then they were gone into the scrub. It is the only time in nine seasons I have seen that female with a cub old enough to travel.

What you get: the frame as shot, cropped only at the edges to square the horizon. No compositing, no added animals, no sky replacement — that goes for every photograph on this site.

The details

Species

Sri Lankan leopard

Place

Yala Block 1, Sri Lanka

Date

14 November 2025, 05:42

Camera

Nikon Z9

Lens

400 mm f/2.8

Exposure

1/250 s, f/2.8, ISO 3200

File

8256 × 5504 px, 45.7 MP

Edition

25 per size, 21 remaining