A perfectly timed shot of an elusive leopard amazed the photographer who took the snap when he only later realised what he had caught.
Abhinav Garg, 34, had no idea he’d managed to capture the leopard in his shots on June 5 until he got home.
He’d waited hours for a sighting after locals told him about the leopard while he was visiting the Aravali Hills in Jaipur, western Rajasthan state, India,
The amateur photographer, from New Delhi, said: “It was really the best camouflaged animal I had seen in my life.”
Abhinav, a web engineer, was on a visit to a temple when locals told him about a leopard sighting.
(Image: ABHINAV GARG / CATERS NEWS)
He added: “It was lovely weather on a Saturday evening and we reached the temple around 5pm. This temple is surrounded by Aravali Hills and temple priest told us many stories of leopard sightings.
“While returning from the temple few villagers were discussing about leopard sitting on the rock in hills opposite the temple.”
Excited, he placed his camera facing the rocky patch on the hill but to his dismay he couldn’t spot the leopard after waiting for several hours.
It was only after he transferred the photographs onto his computer that he realised the leopard was in the pictures.
Abhinav said: “We also tried to see the leopard but we could not spot it despite waiting for some time. We decided to leave as it was getting dark and I clicked some random shots of hills without sighting [the] leopard.
“After returning home, I transferred all pictures on my laptop and started [to] zoom in them.
“To my utter surprise, I found a leopard resting on a rock which was not visible from the naked eye earlier.
“I had not seen a leopard before and I was really excited to spot it.”