BLACK BEAUTY

‘I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW LONG THAT ENCOUNTER WITH THE BLACK LEOPARD LASTED. FOR A WHILE, IN THAT REMOTE CORNER OF KENYA, IT WAS AS IF TIME HAD STOPPED’

THE night is black. Clouds blot out the stars and the air is thick with the promise of rain. The drone of crickets is occasionally punctuated by the eerie alarm call of a rock hyrax.

I turn off my headlamp, plunging everything into total darkness. A move in the wrong direction and I would tumble down a sheer rock face into a jumble of boulders and knotted vegetation. I take a step forward and there’s a muffled click and a flash of light as the motion sensor detects me and triggers my camera.

I stand still for half a minute, letting the African night envelop me. Standing here in this remote corner of Kenya I feel far removed from the rest of the world.

The camera shutter clicks again as it closes. I turn my light back on and circle round behind the camera trap to review the image. There’s a picture of me on the back of the camera, perfectly lit, as if I were standing in a photographer’s studio.

Now I just have to wait for the elusive creature to pass this spot, preferably on a clear night when the long exposure will reveal the stars in the