Quick facts: Present but elusive · Found in wooded areas of the north bank · Best odds: early morning and night game drives
Leopards are solitary, mostly nocturnal, and spend a large amount of daylight resting in trees or dense cover — which makes them the hardest of Murchison Falls' Big Five species to see reliably, even though the population is healthy. Unlike lions, which move in prides across open savanna, a leopard sighting usually comes down to a guide noticing an indirect clue rather than the animal itself moving in the open.
Experienced guides read behaviour in other species as much as they look for the leopard itself — birds giving alarm calls, monkeys staring fixedly into a tree canopy, or kob unusually alert near woodland edges. The classic giveaway is spotting a tail or legs hanging down from a tree branch, since leopards frequently drag kills up into trees to keep them away from scavengers, then rest nearby.
Early morning game drives, before the heat sets in, offer better odds than midday. A night game drive meaningfully improves your chances further, since leopards are most active after dark — if seeing one is a priority, it's worth specifically requesting this add-on rather than relying on standard daytime drives alone.
Big Five in Murchison Falls · Night Game Drive · Game Drives
