THE PUMA - CAT OF ONE COLOUR (Puma concolor)

[Ngala]

Photo and information credits: Jayanth Sharma
Lion on the mountain, run run run!

6:03 PM and the sun started hiding behind the mountains and the light was now on it's way out perhaps only to be overtaken by the sheer pace of our hopes that dropped faster than a waterfall. It was almost over before we had to pack bags and make the close-to-a-kilometre hike to the transportation.

Like in the Tiger parks where the spotted deer or the sambar deer bring good news, here in Patagonia the Guanacos take responsibility of that and exactly at 6:10 PM (Btw getting these time stamps from my GPS tagged images) a few of them started running away sounding their distinct alarm calls.

Eureka! She was walking down the slopes of a hill which perhaps was at least a few hundred meters away. Too far? who cared then. I was floored! But thankfully the cat walked directly towards where we were drooling over and this time jaw dropping isn't just an expression. In less than five minutes we were sweating, panting, clicking, blushing, running around finding better angles. Mind you within a few hours, it was already a successful recce to Patagonia for me. Soon, the queen of the valley, this individual Puma was less than a 100 feet away from us. Surprisingly not worried about us at all. 

She gave up her hunt as she had more guanacos watching her moves than just the half a dozen of us. She soon sat down looking at us and at one point we were shivering when she walked past us not more than 30 feet away and wondering how on earth could Indians come down to the southern tip of south America, especially when the world economy is not doing very well.

Hey! common, I had to tell her that things are just getting started as far as India is concerned. The stock market today is at a 16 month high today and she can surely expect a few more Indians in the coming months and years to lech at the beauties of Patagonia. Isn't it?

I can't believe, we actually decided to leave her majesty at peace and backed off after a satisfying one hour. I photographed this image on a Nikon D5 with a 600 FL. This strong, healthy female was one of the best individuals we saw amongst 29 Puma sightings of at least 15 different individuals. We had males and females and at least three mums with cubs a few months old, all sighted at respectable distances for photography. 

*This image is copyright of its original author

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