Feline ecstasy

Artistic rendering of a leopard (Panthera pardus) gracefully raising its head in ecstatic posture with closed eyes while straddling the forked bough of a tree during a post-prandial nap. The foreground and background were darkened purposely in post processing to heighten the sense of feline ecstasy, hinting that the glowing bliss of the feline is lighting it from inside and reverberating to the supporting bough. The photographer stood in the rover for a good 45 minutes from a distance of 25-30 meters until the leopard woke from sleep to vary its head position. Captured in Tarangire National Park near Mpingo ridge, Tanzania.