Spots and shadows

BENGALURU: Just days after taking the internet by storm, Saya, the rare black panther from Kabini, is making waves online again. This time, however, he’s sharing the spotlight with another big cat, named Cleopatra. The picture of Saya standing behind Cleopatra as the leopard’s shadow has gone viral, and has garnered more than 60,000 likes on Instagram. And behind the lens is Bengaluru boy Mithun H, who calls the unique moment captured by him a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The picture has reached tinsel town too with many celebrities like actor Nimrat Kaur and director Homi Adajania expressing their awe by sharing the image on their social media feed too. Speaking about the picture which he named The Eternal Couple, Mithun, whose phone has not stopped buzzing, says it took tracking for six days in Kabini Forest Reserve to capture this moment. “Saya and Cleopatra have been courting for the last four years.

For that particular camp in the winter of February 2019, we all knew where they were because we could hear them. When we finally spotted them together, it was a sight to behold,” says Mithun, who clicked this image with a Nikon D5. The 31-year-old wildlife photographer who captured the image while previously working for National Geographic’s project – The Real Black Panther –  says, “I clicked this image while working on that project but didn’t post it earlier since it would have been a spoiler. This is my personal click, which still stays close to my heart.” 

The photographer has been following the life of Cleopatra since 2010 and Saya since 2014. “Cleopatra was just a cub when we sighted her and now she has seven cubs, with her last batch of litter coming after mating with Saya. Everyone was curious about how the cubs would look but they had normal leopard prints and are equally gorgeous,” says Mithun, who has been doing wildlife photography for the last 10-12 years. The two big cats look enigmatic and seem to be basking in all the attention. 

“Positioning and being in the right moment also count but that’s just 10 per cent of it. About 90 per cent credit goes to Cleo and Saya. They look so ethereal together,” says Mithun, whose love for wild came at a very young age. Thanks to pictures of Saya going viral, melanistic leopards are getting a lot of attention at this point, to which he says, “It was high time. They are an ignored animal in the conservation list.” 

Having spent his childhood in Dandeli, where his father was posted as a forest officer,  Mithun knew going back to wild was his true calling. After studying engineering and working as a consultant in an IT company, Mithun took up wildlife photography fulltime. Once the lockdown was eased, he did manage to spend some time in Kabini. Now back in Bengaluru, the shutterbug can’t wait for the situation to get back to normal.