Off beaten track

A wildlife photo from the days I spent most of my time above land. King Gemunu walks his terrain in Yala. Sadly Gemunu has been fed by 'pilgrims' visiting Situlpahuwa and now begs for food from visitors to the park. A king transformed to a pauper and an accident waiting to happen. So much for gaining 'merit!'

It was obviously breeding season for the buffalo as all over Bundala and Yala there were grappling males and females with newly minted young, fresh and gleaming. The Sri Lankan water buffalo, though not as formidable as the African version is still quite a large and bulky beast. Having stood a few meters away from a pissed off looking wild buffalo many moons ago, I can still attest to the raw fear that one feels when looking one of these creatures eye to eye, a fear that hasn�t been dulled by time. In the parks though the majority off the buff you see are the domestic creatures that have gone feral. Though by no means dainty, the truly massive and impressive specimens are the descendants of the true wild buffalo, Kulu-harak as these are euphemistically called in Sinhala. As to whether there are any genetically pure wild buff left in the wild is unlikely but you can see the flashes of the old, untamed beasts in some at Yala (for a rather fascinatin discussion on the wild vs. feral buf...

The jeep screeched to a halt as she materialized as if from nowhere. It had been a fruitless, dusty day in the park exacerbated by the fact that our only leopard sighting had been in the midst of a traffic jam that would have put Colombo to shame. As dusk descended over the dry wilderness we headed out of the park, jolting along as thoughts of a warm shower and the delicious bread at Tissa View occupied our thoughts. I think Sumudhu was the most surprised out of all of us as she materialized as we passed Diganwalla. Possibly close to a year old (but then I�m no expert in aging leopards) she sat there looking mildly affronted at our hasty stop. She stared at us for awhile before getting up, stretching lithely and heading down to the water to drink. At the water�s edge she put on what could only be described as a performance for us. Delicately, as though she didn�t want her pristine paws soiled by the mud she paced up and down and snarled at imagined threats in the water repeatedly unti...

As announcing sightings goes, Suren�s was a bit of a mix of anticlimax and irony, as a he turned towards us with a thoughtful expression on his face and announced he could have sworn he had just seen a tusker approaching through the bush as we whizzed past. Sumudhu and the tracker seemed a bit nonplussed by this casual announcement but we nonetheless backed up quickly to investigate. The heat hadn�t gotten to Suren�s head as he had indeed spotted a rather magnificent tusker coming towards the road. Silently one of the Kings of Yala emerged from the brush onto the road. Along with the leopard and bear, the tuskers of Yala are another iconic animal for the wildlife enthusiast. I was brought up on pictures, stories and very occasional sightings of the famous tuskers of the park such as the now dead (mostly from being killed for their ivory) behomeths such as Kublai Kahn and the Podi and Loku Pootuwas (cross-tuskers). This particular tusker was Gemunu, not a tusker with the most impressi...

Craaack! It was a disconcerting sound that echoed like a gunshot as the Defender 110 went over the pothole. The old jeep rattled to a stop, seemingly fatally wounded. Sumudhu turned to us and rather nonchalantly announced that the axle had broken. This seemed the worst possible news as our run of the park had just started and a broken axle seemed something that would require a tow out of the park. Sumudhu repairing the jeep Casually Sumudhu reached over for his phone and called Sugathe, his father, the wily old veteran jeep driver of Yala. Shortly afterwards, Sugathe came up in his Defender 110. And that�s when things became a bit surreal. Axle for repair; Sugathe, our guardian angel in heavy disguise leaves Casually, as if this was an everyday kind of repair, Sugathe passed Sumudhu a spare axle which was casually slotted in as if the jeep was made out of lego building blocks. The broken axle was placed in the back for repairs in Tissa, a quick wash of hands for Sumudhu and we were off...

The Sri Lankan Big Four. Leopard, bear, elephant, buffalo. Those are generally the animals that are synonymous with Yala. Yet on this trip to Yala I took a few minutes off when we stopped for a rest at the Menik Ganga to take a small break and look out for the small stuff. And the search was surprisingly rewarding, not only in terms of obtaining some pictures of animals you usually don�t associate with Yala but also for getting a couple of more �arty� shots. The Menik Ganga (River) (Photo Courtesy of PP) The first item of interest on the menu was a roiling black mass on the white sands bordering the river. Taking a closer look I was astonished to see hundreds of small beetles engaging in what could be described as an all out orgy. I�m guessing it was a mass breeding of these beetles which happened every now and then and the copulating carabids made for some very interesting macro efforts.   Beetle orgy Wandering over to where the trees overhung some still water, it was apparent tha...

The phone beebed as Sumudu reached over and said he�s customary �Kiyanna!� (translated loosely as What�s up). Looking back at us with a terse �Allagane� we sped up as he drove through the dusty tracks to where a leopard had been sighted taking a snooze in a tree. A breathless ride later we came to a hurried halt in front off not a snoozing leopard, but a traffic jam in the jungle. Traffic jam (photo courtesy PP) Don�t get me wrong, I love Yala from the bottom of my heart, but sometimes the crowds can get on my nerves. The engines revving, the fumes and the loudness of the pissed off drivers all can be a bit much. I don�t really care if the leopard in question is doing a tango, dressed in a pink mini-skirt on a Palu tree, I simply have no patience for this kind of thing. Sumudu trying to get the line moving (photo courtesy PP) We stayed in line for what seemed an eternity, Sumudu trying to jostle a look see at a leopard that remained obstinately blocked by a bush in front of us. I made ...

For many moons the trackers at Yala used to urge us to keep an eye on the Palu trees, for apparently you would often see the tail of a leopard twitching in the tree tops. The higher elevations were favourite places for the elusive Panthera pardus kotiya (yes I�m showing off, I know the scientific name!) especially as the temperature in the park increased. Yet for all the supposed love for heights the leopards had, over a couple of decades of trips I never saw one in a tree. December was when I first saw a leopard in a tree, a beautiful young cub . And on my next visit to Yala in January, it seemed all the leopards had suddenly decided to go aerial as a couple of hours into our round Sugathe our jeep driver got a call about a leopard up a tree near Vepandeniya on the Uraniya Loop. Pelting hell for leather there, what we initially came face to face was a line of vehicles. Unfortunately in Yala on the weekends, this is very much to be expected, so we resignedly took our place at the back...