Black Leopard sighting in Huai Kha Kaeng

Jos, a sighting like this without a doubt deserves its own special thread, never mind a photo and a great photo as well!!

So I have just moved it to its own thread.

Absolutely incredible! Congratulations! You must be so psyched! I would be ecstatic. I think we have our next photo of the month winner and front page post. Magnificent. Ecstatic for you.

Woooow!
I believe I have photographed a Long-tailed Macaque on that exact same tree. Or maybe it was another very similar tree...
My jealousy says this is just that same long-tailed macaque wearing a black cat-suit ;).

Woooow!
And not just a 1 second fleeting sighting without photographic evidence... Great image that indeed captures the elusiveness of one of the most beautiful big cats that walks this earth.

Absolutely incredible!
And the fact that you see this on probably the busiest day of the year in such a park...
Congratulations!
Honestly, I'm far from jealous; it makes me so excited that people are having this luck, and it makes me want to go there right now...

I haven't seen 'resident' Wild Dogs, but indeed boars seem to be common around the camping area.
BTW do you mean Asian Wild Dogs, or the Golden Jackals? If it is the first one, I expect they might have had a kill nearby and therefore stayed a couple of days.

May I ask you to roughly estimate the number of visitors during your stay? And how about the trails? Did the people go out to walk? A ranger told me they might offer join-in group walks accompanied by a ranger during these holidays. Did you see that or did the people just stick to their camps and leave most of the area alone?

Happy new year to you, and hopefull you will be just a s blessed the rest of the year!

Fireworks, haha, and in the meanwhile strict regulations not allowing a naturalist quietly taking a seat safely in an observation tower without disturbing any wildlife. The world upside down...
It brings me to another point. I doubt the neccessity of playing the national anthem in the national parks as loud as they do in Khao Yai. Not sure if they do it in other parks. Well, there are more things the park chiefs do that go against their own rules. No music in the parks, but in Khao Yai they don't mind to set up loudspeakers and turn the volume to the max, and play music. Nothing eductional about it, and even if it was eductional information, a reduced volume would be enough for the people to hear it. But well I should not change this thread about such an amazing sighting into a park-chief-bashing thread ;) My apologies.

Thanks for answerring my questions.
Even though a 100 campers is about 99 too many if you plan a quiet visit, haha, it's still reasonable.
I'm not too surprised that the fireworks did not chase off the wildlife. For sure the moment it happens they will be scared, but in such a reserve animals are used to dangers, especially the prey animals, and they simply can't afford it to hide the rest of the day. They need to eat. And will likely smell tiger or leopard spray on a daily basis, hear them roaring, etc. And when the prey doesn't move the Leopard will be out there to find it.

The dogs being Golden Jackals makes sense since they are scavengers. I don't think Jackals will make a large kill, but would love some leftovers from the rangers/ visitors.

And about your pic. Better a clear high ISO shot, than a blurry one at lower ISO.

I imagine it must have been such an unreal feeling. You wake up in the morning get ready to set off, and honestly I never expect to see much when I just get on the road, especially when you are so close to people. But then just 200m past the gate on the road you spot this black creature on a tree...
Is it still the alcohol from New Years Eve playing with my brain?... no wait it is real!
Thanks again for sharing!

Indeed terrible timing to visit Khao Yai, and good chance to catch a cold, haha. I'm thinking of going there anyway tomorrow, just a daytrip. Exploring a 'new' trail. Still not sure which area I will try, still have quite a few on my ever growing to-explore-list. But in all cases for sure I won't see other people there. Well, poachers perhaps, haha.

BTW I don't think these crowds will ever move to HKK. No waterfalls, and the scenery is not too special; don't get me wrong I love it, but I think the general Thai public won't be interested.
Lets hope the DNP won't decide to pave any more roads in other national parks. And hopefully other park chiefs - unlike the one in Khao Yai - will not change 'their' park into a Lumpini city park kind of place. It's great the locals are enjoying nature, and I hope it will stay that way. It is what has saved Khao Yai from the planned highway they wanted to built through it. But no need to further degrade the park with all this development. The people are not staying away now, are they?