This small island has so much to offer that even after four years of living here there are so many more things to discover in terms of wildlife and beautiful scenes. This month I thought it time to pack up the search for the large creatures and head in search of the small. Previous trips to national parks and nature reserves have been for the more obvious wildlife – capturing big cats on camera, watching for whales, enjoying close proximity to elephants at play, smiling at awkward-antlered dancing deer, clicking away at crocs, bears, birds and boars, and returning home with thousands of shots to edit, upload and share. So the small creatures for me were a new experience and it took a little time and patience to get attuned, or, rather, focussed.
I was lucky to manage two trips - to Talangama and Bodhinagala with the folk from Jetwings Eco Holidays, which for me were a way to both grab more wildlife photography opportunities in Sri Lanka and to understand and learn more about the indigenous species, the rain forest and wetland life, the migration patterns, and the breeding plumages, amidst two very different yet beautiful areas of the island.
On the first trip (to Talangama) we stopped the car to much excitement and I was wondering what it was we were looking at, until our guide Wicky pointed out a red dot perched on a twig beside the track. It was the aptly named Variable Flutterer dragonfly, such a vibrant red - a marvel of nature and its incredible ability to continually surprise. It stayed close for quite some time, this scarlet spec darting from twig to leaf. I took a while to work out what camera setting, what lens and what patience was needed to photograph this tiny compact creature with its glorious colouring. Whilst attempting to focus I was also wondering just how did Wicky spot it? I realised it would have been a futile attempt at photography on my behalf without someone there to point out where to look, how to look, and to explain what things were.
After the encounter with the VF I had now become hooked on the small. It was easy to appreciate these tiny, delicate net-winged creatures which became fun to seek out and photograph. So much so that I almost forgot about the plentiful birdlife, alongside my favourite buffalo herds, as they went about their business pecking, munching and wading through the Talangama wetlands or gathering in groups enjoying evening baths of mud - scenes illuminated by the golden light of dusk.
Talangama and Bodhinagala have different scenes to offer - wetlands and rainforest, both worthy of photography in their own right but for me the dragonfly had become my new interest. This could be found in both, so I was pleased to find more of these miniscule flights of colour whilst strolling beneath the forest canopy.
Bodhinagala was as impressive as Talangama in what we saw despite the odds being against us with the weather - we spent an afternoon seeking out dragonflies, butterflies, moths and birds. This time the guide was Sam whose excellent mimic of birdcalls alerted us to the huge variety of birdlife in the rainforest area. However, it was not the birds I was there for.
On arriving, after donning our fashionable leech socks (!), we set off up the hill to see what we could find having been warned that the light was not quite right for dragonflies or butterflies. Almost immediately our luck proved good as a Common Birdwing butterfly flew in front of us and perched for a few minutes on a branch just above our heads. It seemed to glow through its feathered markings of black, grey, white and yellow. The name is a great description of an incredibly impressive feat of nature - a butterfly’s wings mimicking those of a bird. We were privileged as the Birdwing, not normally known to stay around too long, settled on the branch for a few minutes giving us photographers the chance to happily click away.
The next impressive sighting for me was the Dark Forestdamsel dragonfly, which also proved a great challenge due to the patience needed to photograph this minute, compact and colourful insect. It had a long thin black abdomen, which kinked at the end with a small strip of electric blue, topped with fine net wings with a delicate patch of brown at their tip. Another dragonfly we managed to photograph, equally impressive and almost an insect caricature to an amateur such as me, was one yet to be identified but the experts amongst us thought it could be of the Drepanosticta species. This had a rustic red body dotted with six small blobs of turquoise along the back, the biggest being on the tip on the tail, and its tiny head was topped with two huge white eyes and mouth. Magnificent! For those of us that are not experts in the field and simply appreciate learning more about nature, these delicate and vibrant creatures were like cartoon characters – A Bugs Life coming to life. You don’t need TV when you have it here for real - natural, incredible and true. These three sightings were the highlights for me but we also encountered moths, lizards, geckos, caterpillars, millipedes, frogs, beetles, and Sri Lanka’s ever present monkeys which threw things down at us from the tops of the trees!
So, another successful couple of trips and yet more knowledge gained from the helpful and informative Jetwings team about this wonderful land and its incredible diversity of life. For me, it is time to get out the photography books and learn for next time how better to capture of the beauty of the miniscule, in focus and in glory, to share with those not fortunate enough to travel here to see for themselves.
All creatures - great and small
Spotting Leopards
What do we commonly wish for from a safari trip? Wildlife, birds, scenery, sounds, smells, open spaces, remoteness, and often something unique to the particular park that we are visiting? On a safari trip to Yala surely everyone’s ultimate goal is to spot a leopard? Ours certainly was. Unfair though this is on the rest of the wildlife and the spectacular scenery in the park, it is the possible sighting of the legendary leopard that gets the binoculars out, the lenses at the ready, and the adrenaline pumping.
My last trip to Yala, and my first, in January 2007 involved two highly satisfactory safaris. We saw bears with cubs, elephants (including tuskers), jackals, crocodiles, hoopoes, black storks, eagles, bee eaters, owls, wild boar, buffalo galore, and a whole lot more plus some amazing photo opportunities. But we didn’t come across the elusive leopard.
This time around the Yala trip was with my mother (on a short visit from the UK), Jetwing Eco Holidays guide Sam, and our ever so patient and excellent driver Thiranga. We had already agreed that Yala had enough to offer for our safari trip to be excited about and that seeing the star of the park would simply be an added bonus (this so as not to get our hopes up too high). And we got more bonus that we bargained for! In our two safaris we sighted not one, not two, but three leopards. Up close and personal.
First sighting was of a male, excellently spotted by a tracker in another vehicle. He was well camouflaged sleeping under a bush just off the road, getting shade and cool after feeding on his buffalo kill. Several jeeps were crammed onto the road with many heads poking out to watch this magnificent creature. He was oblivious to the clicking of the cameras as we focussed in on his ribs heaving up and down in the heat, eyes closed with the occasional lifting of his head, and not a care in the world. We left him to it and decided to return at the end of our safari at dusk.
On our return he had vanished from his den, but instead of driving off on another round of the park we decided to patiently sit and wait. Patience is often rewarded. After ten or so minutes he strolled back through the scrub to his bed in the shade where we watched him playfully swipe at the flies with his massive paws and snap at them with his huge head. He was a big cat. He soon got bored with this game and to our delight decided to come out into the open. So we had the privilege to watch this magnificent male cat meander into the grassland; he was muscular, with clear markings, bright eyes, and all-in-all looking incredibly healthy. He walked around, lay down, rolled in the grass, watched us, watched the distant deer, yawned, rose up again and moved off as something made him decide to leave the area and his kill. He walked towards us, stopped in front of the jeep, took one long look and disappeared into the scrub with our eyes following in wonder at the time we had just spent with him.
As we headed off, thrilled with our close cat sighting, another male leopard walked into the road in front of us. Quite a contrast to the first. This cat was skinny, almost scrawny, and nervous – not the confident creature we had just been with, but none-the-less impressive. Our guide Sam thought this may be the brother of the first leopard going to feast on the buffalo kill. We quietly sat as he squeezed past the jeep, darting a look up at us before he trotted along the road behind. If I had stretched my arm out even slightly I would have touched him, he was so close. We quietly drove off all hoping he would get his clearly much needed feed.
As if this wasn’t enough, our third leopard sighting was two days later, although not so exclusive this time as others on safari shared the spectacular view. Again it was patience that got our rewards. The first sight of the cat was in the distance on some rocks – even far away has was an impressive animal, as large and healthy as the first we saw, confidently slinking his way over the top of the rock, standing and looking over the land before disappearing from our binoculared eyes. Most of the other vehicles hung around for about five minutes and then gave up, only a few of us played the patience game, heads anxiously turning 360 degrees for him to emerge from one of the bushes close by. Again we were rewarded as he came out onto the shallow rocks close to the jeep. He slowly sauntered through the open area towards us, then onto the road and into the scrub passing the rear of our vehicle and taking a look at us all staring back at him before he continued on his way.
A thrilling and exciting three sightings.
Not to do discredit to the other wildlife in Yala that day, as we also spent a wonderful 45 minutes watching an elephant family munching on trees before having the time of their lives in a shallow mud bath. Three mums with varying ages of babies – one about a month old, the other two were toddlers, one a young tusker. It felt very special to watch these huge and gentle creatures enjoying their bath time with smiles on their faces and snorts of satisfaction. The baby was well protected by long and bossy trunks pushing it this way and that. The toddlers were a little more exposed delighting in the mud and needing a bit of assistance in getting up. They were clearly being trained to face their fears as one was forced to cross the road in front of us without the protection of mum who had already gone on ahead and was waiting on the other side for him to reach her. He skipped, grunted and darted across the road. Two minutes later he was slotted in next to mum, sleeping in the shade waiting for the rest of the family to catch up.
We happily left them to their peaceful morning and headed back to our own for a much needed cup of tea and downloading of some memorable shots.
Check Mum's trip report on Bundala Birds.
