Seeing a leopard in the wild. Who doesn't want to see a leopard in the wild? No one, going by the number of Jeeps that clog up the roads through Yala NP everyday.
There's a 60% chance that you'll see one of the, approximately, 30 leopards in Yala NP. We were driving along in a quite measured fashion when up ahead on the track, after another Jeep had just passed through, I spotted what I thought was a leopard. For a couple of seconds my brain went into overload/overdrive squeezing out a, "Leopard!!" to Nix and then not being sure if I should take a photo, focus the binoculars or alert the driver. I managed to do none of those things successfully but as it rounded the corner we finally got the point across the our driver. It was then that we realised what the afternoon was going to be about.
The driver sped off like a madman in a way that would have caused any leopard within 10 kilometres of us to flee. We flew around the bend, still hopeful that he was just walking down the road, but he'd disappeared. Those moments made us realise two things - leopards are not just a figment of nature documentaries and kid's books, and this was going to be no pleasant, leisurely affair like Udawalawe NP.
Our driver now had the taste for blood so we began to fly around the park at breakneck speed and he'd occasionally let us stop to see something that wasn't a leopard.
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| Grey Langur |
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| Painted Stork |
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| Indian Mongoose |
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| Wild Boar |
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| Land Monitor |
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| Black Naped Hare |
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| Spotted Deer |
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| Little Green Bee-Eater |
As we came up to a clearing we noticed about 20 Jeeps clustered together with everyone peering into a bush which meant one thing - leopard. Trying to find an angle through another Jeep and under a fat bloke's arm we spotted him (excuse the pun) sat regally in a hole in the scrub. Wow..... There he was in all of his glory just looking back at us fools and judging like only a cat can.
We left him and headed off for another drive that was fairly fruitless apart from this scene. You won't be able to make much out but in the background is a herd of elephants and up front there's a crocodile and a kingfisher, there's a painted stork in the tree and heaps of other birds all around. Like a real life Where's Wally.
And then we were back with our leopard friend. This time he was hanging limply from a tree and we watched a herd of buffalo go over and make themselves known to him before we sat and waited for him to come down. We waited and we waited and we waited... AND THEN, he yawned, he began to clean himself and then casually, with all the swagger in the world, he climbed down out of the tree, walked up to that old tree stump and perched himself on top of it to, again, watch and judge. Truly epic.
Apologies for quite possibly the worst photo that has ever featured in this blog.
By that point all Jeeps had maxed out their time in the park so it was again time to drive with no consideration for anything but yourself (stuff the leopard that may run out in front of us, WE need to leave). But the meat market had one final act.
A family of elephants was spotted in the jungle so all the Jeeps roared around the corner to block their path and whilst it was nice seeing two baby elephants that could hardly stand yet, if we didn't have a sour taste in our mouths already we really did now. Drivers yelled at each other, us and the elephants had an early dinner of diesel fumes and it meant we had to drive even faster to exit the park on time.
Travel is sometimes quite paradoxical. I sit here and complain about the experience but it's because of people like us wanting to see a leopard in the wild that the meat market atmosphere of Yala exists. #FOMO
My advice? Do a couple of safaris at Udawalawe NP (where wildlife sightings appear to be better in general anyway) and keep your fingers crossed that your decision to not contribute to the problems of Yala NP result in your good karma providing a leopard sighting at Udawalawe.
Bird Nerd Notes
Alexandrine Parakeet
Black Headed Ibis
Black Headed Oriole
Black-Winged Stilt
Bluetailed Bee-Eater
Cattle Egret
Cormorant
Eurasian Hoopoe
Greater Coucal
Indian Peafowl
Indian Pond Heron
Intermediate Egret
Lesser Whistling Duck
Little Green Bee-Eater
Oriental Darter
Painted Stalk
Red-Wattled Lapwing
Stork-Billed Kingfisher
White-Bellied Fish-Eagle
Yellow-Wattled Lapwing
