Patricia

This afternoon began and ended with Patricia. Sister of Jorge and daughter of Ruth, at the start of the afternoon she lay in the shade and did nothing. Much later, on our return from the river to the Black Bay, she slumped on the trunk of an overhanging tree and slept, her huge paws dangling like a leopard's, her face lazy, content.

It was miserably hot on the river this afternoon and my month-from-home eyes struggled to stay open; but in the dying light of the day a great cat lay on a tree's trunk over water, and I was there: as I have been privileged, beyond the power of words to tell, to have been there to see at least 160 cats this year.

Mick Jaguar this morning by my friend
Naun Amable

Ruth at lunchtime by Naun Amable

Cats seen in 2015
cheetah Acinonyx jubatus fearonii                3
serval Leptailurus serval serval                    3
leopard Panthera pardus suahelicus            2
lion Panthera leo nubica                              78

snow leopard Panthera uncia                       3
jungle cat Felis chaus                                   2
tiger Panthera tigris tigris                            13

leopard Panthera pardus fusca                    4
lion Panthera leo persica                              7
leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis           15
flat-headed cat Prionailurus planiceps          1
wildcat hybrid Felis silvestris grampia/catus  1
jaguar Panthera onca                                    14
puma Puma concolor                                    14