The Leopards of Yala

I had to make a trip to Yala National park its only a 45 minute drive to the Sanctuary from where base is in Krinda, having heard about the Leopard population there I was keen to try and sight one, it gives a great break from the fishing and something different to see, I love being out in the open and a break from throwing big poppers was welcome.

There is something about the road the instantly makes you feel like you are getting out of civilization, its bumpy and cut up and you have drive slowly, but the 12 km drive gives you plenty of scenery to take in, peacocks and sounders of wild boar, hare and iguanas, a sanctuary must be nearby.

Once you get there you pick up your guide and pay the entry fees, and your off. Foreigners pay a different entry fee, you wonder why but then it is a developing country and you need funds to conserve and protect, tourism is one way and are they doing a good job? In my view yes.

Ever had a feeling you were being watched, or wondered how an elephant can conceal itself, the picture above gives you an idea, they just blend with their surroundings.

A heard of cows, calves and adolescents frolicking by a waterhole, do they love the mud in the heat or what.

I love this picture it has Elephant Rock in the background and a huge tusk less male elephant in focus, I learnt something that day thanks to a friend, in Sri Lanka 90% of male elephants are tusk less and only 10% have tusks, evolution or depletion of the gene pool?? Unlike the Indian elephant in which 90% males have tusks, the island pachyderms are supposedly the largest among the Asian Elephant.

20 minutes into our drive we cam upon this big male Leopard he was relaxing under a tree in the afternoon heat, conserving energy for later I suppose, he was in no hurry to get up and knowing that we could not get any closer to about seventy yards from him he just stayed put, till we moved on.

Spotted deer or Axis Axis probably the main prey for Yala’s leopards. Our guide was keen to show us a leopard close up and was taking us through some super country, rocky terrain with vantage points, big trees which could be the perfect spot for a leopard to keep a look out from and then plan an ambush.

We had just rounded a corner and were driving by when I saw something move that broke the silhouette of the undergrowth, stop, stop, stop quick…. and then there was spots coming through the undergrowth.

 

This young male leopard put on a display for us as he gave us photo opportunity after photo opportunity before he decided to do some more posing by climbing up a tree for us.

Amazing how the cat can just melt into any surrounding, see how his rosettes blend with the bark of the tree.

 

And finally found a comfortable branch from where he could keep a look out, totally relaxed, it was a surreal experience with the apex predator of Sri Lanka.

With the exhilaration of the leopard sighting still very much present and just when I though I could not get any luckier we run into a very rare tusker, what a super way to end the evening of taking in the fauna.

Till next time.