Across three continents, spotted cats carry mystery in their stride. But the goal of tracking a leopard in the wild is so much more than a tick on a wildlife checklist. It’s a sacred pursuit that will take you through shade and silence, across savanna, forest and snow. From the southern African bushveld to the Himalaya, from the Amazon rainforest to Sri Lanka’s rock jungles, we trace rosettes and shadows around the world.
If leopards have a kingdom, the Sabi Sand Nature Reserve is it. Bordering Kruger National Park, this private wilderness is among the best places in the world for a leopard safari—its river systems, prey density and decades of conservation have created a stronghold for these elusive cats.
At &Beyond Tengile River Lodge, set discreetly along the Sand River—both highway and hiding place for rosetted hunters—you’re offered more than just proximity. You’re given a front-row seat. With no fences separating this luxury lodge from the landscape, &Beyond Tengile is immersed in leopard territory. On occasion, guests have watched leopards pad past their private decks, the encounter unfolding without ever needing to leave their suite.
And when the cats don’t come to you? Our finest guides will take you to them. Armed with intimate knowledge of leopard behaviour and movement, our guide and tracker teams follow subtle signs—pawprints, alarm calls, a shift in the wind. Many leopards here are known by name, their stories unfolding over seasons. Your guide may even introduce you to a lineage.
This is also big predator country. Lion. Spotted hyena. African wild dog. And sometimes, when luck leans in, the rarest safari prize of all—a leopard locked in a silent standoff with one of these adversaries.
At &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve, leopards aren’t the conventional headline act in the way they are in Sabi Sand. The reserve is traditionally celebrated as one of the best places to see another spotted cat—the cheetah. Yet to overlook Phinda’s leopards would be a mistake. While leopard sightings may perhaps be slightly less predictable, they are often of exceptional quality: unhurried, intimate encounters that unfold against a backdrop of landscapes as varied as they are beautiful.
What makes Phinda so compelling is its extraordinary ecological diversity. Within a single reserve, seven distinct habitats coexist—rare dry sand forest, broad grasslands, woodland, mountain ranges, river courses, wetlands and even coastal plain. And leopards inhabit them all! This variety also supports a remarkable spectrum of other wildlife, allowing guests to witness predators and other high profile species moving fluidly across ecosystems. One moment it’s a leopard disappearing into forest shadows; the next, a cheetah sprinting across open savanna.
Leopards may not be Phinda’s calling card, but when they appear, they do so within a greater narrative—one that feels abundant, layered and deeply memorable. Beyond the wildlife, Phinda’s story is also one of purpose: rhino protection, habitat restoration and community partnerships are woven into every guest journey.
In the Okavango Delta, seasons dictate everything–as they shift, so do the patterns of prey—and where prey moves, leopards follow. This fluid landscape of reed beds, floodplains and islands is a theatre of constant change. Whether drifting silently in a mokoro or crossing sun-baked plains on a game drive, every moment invites anticipation. A twitch of grass, the flick of a tail, the sudden stillness of impala—all signs that a leopard may be near.
What makes the experience here even more remarkable is the land itself. &Beyond’s concessions in Botswana are vast, private and profoundly wild. These exclusive tracts allow for limited vehicles, flexible drives and the freedom to follow a leopard’s story without interruption. It is safari at its most intimate, where the wilderness feels wholly your own.
Leopards love Botswana. And so do we.
At the edge of the Serengeti, &Beyond Klein’s Camp sits in a private concession leased from the Maasai. Here, leopards roam beneath the escarpment and through valleys untouched by mass tourism. Off-road driving, night safaris and community partnerships make this a standout. When a leopard appears here, it does so in solitude. No radio chatter, no rush. Just you, your guide, and the quiet drama of a cat in its kingdom.
The famed “black leopard” is a rare treasure. Still a leopard, only dressed in midnight—its darkened coat the result of a genetic quirk known as melanism. Excess pigment deepens the rosettes into a sleek, shadowed camouflage, so that a glimpse feels almost imagined… a living ghost in the undergrowth.
Most often, melanistic leopards are seen in dense forests or rugged terrain—the very landscapes that define Kenya’s Laikipia region, where &Beyond Suyian Lodge looks out across vast, untamed wilderness. Here, fleeting sightings are transforming legend into lived experience.
Within the private Suyian Conservancy, there are no crowds, no rush—only the chance to linger, track, and wait. In this setting, silence becomes the truest luxury. And sometimes, for those with patience, the silence delivers a shadow with eyes.
You don’t spot a black leopard. It lets you see it—for a moment, maybe two. Then it’s gone.
Leopards are certainly not exclusively African. Sri Lanka’s Yala National Park boasts the highest leopard density on Earth thanks to its varied terrain; from lagoons and beaches to rocky outcrops immersed among the scrub jungle. In the lowland scrub, Yala leopards have grown used to safari vehicles, allowing for astonishing sightings. Yala is part of several &Beyond Asia itineraries, offering a tropical contrast to Africa’s savannas.
The rarest of all is found highest of all. To see a snow leopard is to earn it—through patience, altitude and silence. It is the Himalaya’s greatest gift. A Snow Leopard Journey will lead you into Ladakh’s remote valleys, from Rumbak to high passes like Kharlung, where expert trackers read the mountains as others read the savanna—searching for scrapes, pawprints and the faintest signs of prey. Here, at 3,000–5,500 metres, the safari unfolds in snow and stone, every glimpse hard-won, every moment unforgettable.
Snow leopards are not “true” leopards genetically, though they share the same Panthera lineage. Their pale grey coats, patterned with soft open rosettes, melt into rocky slopes and snowfields. A long, fluffy tail—used for balance on cliffs and warmth when wrapped around their bodies—defines their silhouette. Medium in build, weighing between 25 and 55 kilograms, they are master mountaineers, their thick fur and enlarged nasal cavities perfectly adapted to life at altitude. In these ranges, from the Himalayas to Mongolia and Tibet, the snow leopard is more than a predator. It is the spirit of the high places.
Across the Atlantic, in the rainforests and wetlands of South America, it is not the leopard but its cousin, the jaguar, that rules. Though they share the same Panthera lineage, jaguars are a different species altogether—stockier, more powerfully built, with rosettes marked by a distinctive central spot. Where leopards are agile climbers, jaguars are equally at home in water, strong swimmers that stalk riverbanks and flooded forests. Travellers may encounter the jaguar in Argentina’s Iberá Wetlands, where rewilding projects are helping restore this keystone predator; or in the Amazon, where expedition yachts heighten the possibility of crossing paths with one of these shadowed hunters. Jaguars are elusive, but the knowledge that they are near lends every ripple in the river and every rustle in the forest a sharpened edge of anticipation.
So, where do you begin your leopard safari? Africa’s golden savannas, the snows of Ladakh or amongst the shadows of Laikipia? Wherever you go, remember this: the leopard arrives on its own terms. But once it does, you’re changed forever.