Encounter with leopards in Sri Lanka

By Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, CEO of Jetwing EcoHolidays.

In July, the British High Commission relaxed the travel advisory to Yala and during the third week I was in Yala with the British High Commissioner Dr. Peter Hayes, his wife Kirsty and their children.

During the last weekend of September I returned with Tom Owen-Edmunds and Libby Southwell.

Our first half an hour into the park and the last half an hour into the park produced two amazing and memorable leopard sightings. Both were close, and provided great viewing. I suspect both were the Kohombagaswala cubs.

The first sighting was on the Uraniya Road, just before Palugaswala No. 1. We had left the Yala Village hotel and proceeded leisurely. In our first half an hour we came across a cluster of jeeps that were looking at a young male seated on a low rock. We had great views but through a thicket of Weera trees, quite atmospheric. After five minutes or so the leopard stretched and moved away.

We stopped at the tsunami memorial at Patanangala where a male House Sparrow attacked its reflection in the mirror. Tom who is a fairly keen birdwatcher ticked off the birds in a copy of John Harrrison's Field Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka. We examined House Swifts, Crested Tree-swifts, Barn Swallows and Ceylon Swallows which hawked overhead. Near the round wala on the Meda Para we came across a female Barred Button-quail which was foraging in the dry leaf litter. Its technique was to rotate in the leaves as if was trying to make a circular depression to create nest.

We watched it for at least fifteen minutes. The role of the sexes are reversed in this bird and the female was strongly marked.

We exited the park around 12 noon and headed to the Palatupana salt pans. There was a good mix of waders including a single Ruff. Species present included Golden, Grey and Lesser Sand Plover, Common, Green, Marsh and Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Redshank, Black-winged Stilt, Great Thick-knee, etc.

The evening game drive got off to a tremendous start when five jackals visited the lake near the ticket office. At Buttuwa wewa crocodiles were concentrated into a small area. We could see at least 50 crocodiles, some enormous.

Two endangered Lesser Adjutants were in the distance. Two Black-crowned Night-herons were also out in the open. This is unusual for a bird which is nocturnal.

We took the road running past Pimburagala which comes from the far side of Wal Mal Kema. This is a very graphic landscape with sheets of rock bordered by gaunt, leafless thorn scrub. The park was very dry and almost all of the water bodies were totally dry. The evening light was wonderful. At Wal Mal Kema, the effect of the evening light on the pink hued rock was breathtaking. It was quiet and we were the only jeep and we settled in to take it all in. Into this wonderful light walked a peacock, which shimmered and dazzled in the warm but soft light. More..