/ 2025 / Nature / Wildlife

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  William Deckelbaum, United States
• Date of Photograph
  March 6, 2025
• Instagram
  willdeckelbaum

I was alone on safari and sat a long time, watching this leopard as it slept in the tree. The sun was going down and most other cars had left; ours was finally leaving too. As our driver headed out, I kept looking at the leopard and saw it raise its head. "Wait!" I told the driver. We went back and watched as it slowly roused and stretched in the tree. Alone in the vast Serengeti plains, the leopard descended in spectacular poised elegance, a serpent wrapped around a branch, the tip of its tail trailing playfully, aglow in the last golden rays of the setting Serengeti sun.