Into the West

A mother leopard (Tito, left) and one of her two cubs silhouetted in a dead euphorbia tree just after sunset in the Maasai Mara. Finding these two in the tree was such an incredible rush given the location and the timing as the amazing colours from the setting sun painted the storm-tossed sky in magical hues. It was truly an evening that I will never forget. So much more so because, as it turns out, this is the last time either she or her cubs was knowingly ever seen with all three presumed dead.

I have followed Tito for many years and, in this case, had stayed right up until the last day of the season in camp trying to spend as much time with her as possible whenever she was spotted. Her territory was in a hard-to-access area so it was fantastic to find her out on the open plains as we watched a magical and ultimately, sad, sunset. There was no sign of her or the cubs the following morning and neither she nor her almost independent cubs was ever seen again.