This may not be the best photograph i have taken, but it means a lot to me. It was my first photograph of a wild cat and it was a Jaguar. Some might think it odd that this was my first wild cat as this particular feline is famed for its elusiveness, yet it really was my first wild cat. It was during a rich golden yellow sunrise, early one day on the Manu Rio as our group was returning back from the Manu National Park Reserve Zone with Bonanza Tours. We had just experienced a remarkable five day trip, an adventure where we had seen just about everything I had dreamt of seeing, except the elusive Jaguar. All of us were all lazily looking out of the traditional canoe at the jungle banks whilst the crew and Lordes Huamani Choquepuma studied the river banks. The canoe carried on snaking down the fast flowing river, in and out of the semi submerged trees and skirting white sandbanks. Then suddenly Lordes shouted and pointed to the opposite bank where, sunning itself on a grassy ledge in front of the thick folliage, was the Jaguar. The driver quikily cut the engine, swung the boat around and we edged back upstream whilst all of us passengers were now transfixed by this sleepy animal. We enjoyed a good ten minutes edging closer to it, watching it yawn and preen before he swaggered off into the undergrowth. A unique, memorable experience.