Tracking the Elusive Leopard at Ranipur

The Ranipur range hides its leopards well. Our naturalists share the alarm calls, pugmark techniques, and light windows that make a sighting possible.

If tigers rule the river valleys of Rajaji, leopards own the rocky ridges. Ranipur, on the park's western edge, is the most reliable place to try for a sighting of Panthera pardus fusca — though reliability here still means patience measured in seasons, not hours.

### Reading the alarm calls

A leopard on the move announces itself through other animals. Sambar deer give a deep, resonant bark. Langurs deliver a sharp staccato cough that tracks the cat's progress across the canopy. Spot the direction of the calls, and you are already halfway to the sighting.

### The hour that matters

Dawn (6:00–8:30 AM) and the last light before gates close are the golden windows. Leopards hunt along the fringe forest where Sal meets scrub, often crossing the firebreak tracks that run below the ridgeline.

### Field craft

- **Scan the branches:** Unlike tigers, leopards rest in trees — a horizontal limb two-thirds up a Sal is a favourite bed. - **Check the firebreaks:** Fresh pugmarks on soft ash tell you the cat passed within the hour. - **Travel light:** Loud groups scatter prey, and prey scatters leopards. Small, silent jeeps see more.

A leopard sighting at Ranipur is never guaranteed. But every dawn drive teaches you the forest's quieter signals — which is, in the end, the real prize.