Yala National Park

Sunday, 27 April 2014

April 24 Of leopards and lizards: Yala National Park: Sri Lanka

Up at 5:30 a.m. to prepare to connect with our driver (this arranged by our guide and now friend, Maneka). Had to stop to buy lunches for the mid-point of our safari. By 6:00 a.m. we are on our way as dawn breaks.


A confusing system for entering the park. I am surprised to see how many other guided tours are happening at the same time (and place as ours). We immediately begin seeing a wide assortment of animals. The system is for the client to rap on the roof of the rented land rover for stops and starts. Those who know us will smile because they know that every creature that moves must be photographed. I am pleased that I can now be referred to as "Rob the rap-tor".


We busily photographed the water-buffalo-cattle that pervade the park. These beasts reveal evidence of how things change. Some Sri Lankan cattle are permitted to roam and must not be bothered by humans. As a result some cattle have immigrated into the park and have subsequently done "the wild thing" with the formerly fearsome water buffalo creating a very prevalent hybrid.


Dispensing with the cattle we begin to focus (pun intended) upon Wild Boars, Spotted Deer, Crocodiles, Larks and Bee Birds.


Suddenly the driver is excitedly talking on his cell phone. Prior to writing more I need to explain that the park has a myriad of roads. Picture a large rectangle with vertical lines across its width forming a grid. This is the road system. The vertical roads are a kilometer or so apart. There are dozens of guides and drivers in individual Land Rovers, in constant communication by cell phone. Everyone is on the lookout for, in particular, Leopards and Sloth Bears. When one of these is spotted at one of the many grid corners, EVERYONE is notified and a mad frenzy begins with most of the drivers frantically trying to get to the indicated spot to provide a photographic opportunity for clients who are expected to tip at the end of the day.


The frenzy is truly mind-boggling and must be experienced to be understood. We roar down the road (driving on right-hand side) bumping, dodging, weaving among and seemingly racing against other drivers. We arrive at a marsh (along with a dozen or more other vehicles (we counted 20 at one spot) with more arriving each minute. We park for a while with no results and eventually we break off from the madding crowd and resume a more solitary drive. We are informed that we missed, by minutes, a sloth bear.


Now we are busily photographing Storks, Elephants - missed the Mongoose and the jackal- too quick for me. They didn't want to stop and pose for photos unlike the lovely painted storks.


Another frenzy irrupts and we are madly off with our competitor vehicles making u-turns to follow and at each intersection more vehicles join this "land-rush" type race. We screech to a halt with Land Rovers packed together and facing every which-way and more arriving by the minute. We sit for approximately 15 minutes with no communication from the driver while these many drivers excitedly talk to each other in the Sri Lankan language. I am thinking that there has been a report of an earthquake and a Tsunami is approaching the park. No, it turns out that we have "just missed" a leopard.


We resume our more solitary driving-photographing. We spot the carcass of a baby water buffalo in the crotch of a tree. This has apparently been dragged into the heights by a leopard that is nowhere to be seen but interestingly we see an eagle "duking-it-out" or should I state "taloning-it-out" and "wing-beating" a Mongoose. In the end the eagle won and the mongoose climbed down the tree to run off into the bush.


More driving and then again - THE FRENZY. We roar off and seem to be in some kind of lead. We drive and suddenly stop to listen. Our driver excitedly reverses course and BINGO - there is leopard coming out of the brush toward a small pond. Shevon and I are on the cameras. Amazingly the leopard stops to lap water in full view as other Land Rovers are converging. The leopard leisurely walks back into the brush just in time to be missed by the madly converging mob. We are told that we have been incredibly lucky and we believe it. Can only post photos to blog taken on Shevon's I-pad so you will have to visit to see my leopard photos - me not wanting to be a Face-booker.


Later in the day we park near a small water hole where we know from a snout and two eyes that a large crocodile is patiently waiting - have I mentioned that it is illegal for ANYONE (including guides and drivers) to get out of a vehicle? We spend approximately an hour. The crocodile is far more patient than I (Shevon took the opportunity to have a nap). I am rewarded by a Monitor Lizard which slowly walks alongside the vehicle.


I don't know how I feel about the day. I will have to think about that.


Certainly photographed many animals and certainly was interesting. Driver expected and received a substantive tip. We were very fortunate and would not have seen the leopard if he had not quickly reversed direction. He did that because when he was listening, he heard a distinctive alarm call made by Spotted Deer when they feel threaten. The main threat to these deer are leopards. The driver indicated that they estimate that only 35 leopards remain in this park. They expect that they will be extirpated within twenty years. The leopards are already suffering from lack of genetic diversity resulting from massive loss of habitat making it nearly impossible to successfully make it from from one undisturbed area to the next.