He spent over 9,000 minutes or 150 hours or almost seven days on a single road in a national forest in Karnataka to wait for a glimpse of the elusive black panther and capture it in his camera. The wait ended, and finally, he won! His perseverance and dedication towards wildlife photography has paid him good dividends.
Eighteen-years-old Dhruv Patil from Bijapur is passionate about wildlife. He always wanted to capture a black panther in his camera. There are only 5-6 black panthers in India and only one is residing at Kabini wildlife sanctuary near Mysore.
Dhruv made over 25 visits to Kabini with his cameras, spent over 9,000 minutes on a single road called Kaimara waiting for a glimpse of the real life Bhagheera from Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Books.
Finally, the elusive black panther crossed his path and Dhruv captured it in his camera. Elated, he shared his exhilarating experience with the media describing it as one of the best days of his life.
He has adopted many animals at Mysore Zoo and is also taking care of many birds at his home.
Dhruv happens to be the youngest son of senior Karnataka Congress leader and former minister MB Patil.