03/05/2026
Happy International
To mark International Leopard Day, we are highlighting the work of Clement Kiragu, a wildlife filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer from Kenya, and the ClementWild Productions team.
Over the past four years, Clement and his team have been working in Laikipia, Kenya, on a story featuring a melanistic leopard, also known as a black leopard. Through periodic field visits over four years, supported by long-term camera trap monitoring and in close collaboration with rangers and the local community at Mpala Research Centre, the team has worked to better understand the movements and behaviour of this elusive African Predator in a landscape where people, livestock, and wildlife coexist.
Their National Geographic funded short film explores the importance of local knowledge, coexistence, the responsibility we share in protecting species like leopards for future generations and in safeguarding African stories about iconic species such as the black leopard, so that they are told with accuracy, respect, and connection to place. The short film is nearing completion and will be shared soon.
Clement says:
"Black leopards have taught me patience. They can truly test your resolve, but I have also learnt that when you listen carefully to the land they call home and to the people who protect it, the landscape begins to reveal its secrets. Protecting wildlife begins with respect for the places that sustain them, and respect for the communities with whom they share that space.”
Photo credit:
© Clement Kiragu / ClementWild ProductionsClementWild Productions
