Category: Sri Lanka

Female Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) Photo available for sale on my site

It’s March 2022, and I am finally back in Sri Lanka. The last time I was here was April of 2017, and I can still recall every moment (when I wasn’t drunk) of being in this paradise of an island where my husband is from and where one of his brothers still lives.

It was never supposed to take so long to get back here. We had plans to return by 2019 however plans changed. Then in 2020, tickets were purchased and ready to go. COVID lockdowns happened, and the trip was cancelled again. By the time March of 2022 rolled around, I was not going to cancel even if I had to swim there.

One of the things I was looking forward to most was getting back to Yala National Park to photograph leopards and maybe even get to explore blocks of the park that were closed when we were here in 2017. At that time, we could only go to blocks 1 and 5 but not 2-4. So it was high on the list because I wanted to photograph leopards with my new kit of toys: Sony A7R III and Sony 200-600G lens.

Our last (and first) visit to Yala was spectacular and gave us many excellent photographic opportunities. Unfortunately, leopards were not among those. We hired a jeep and tracker for six days and went out twice daily. Sadly by the time, it was becoming clear that leopards were in a bit of trouble in Sri Lanka. We did not get a sighting of a leopard until the evening of the last night in Yala block 5. It was a fantastic moment, such a release of pent-up energy. I can barely remember the moment. What I remember most is tracking the leopard from the jeep, then a flurry of shutter clicks as the big cat crossed right in front of us, about 10 feet in front of our jeep. Exhilarating!

03/2022 Back in Yala. We are staying at Cylon Wild Safari and I have access to two of the best wildlife guides and trackers Sri Lanka offers. One is Avi, my husband’s nephew, and the other is Indika, the lead tracker from Cylon Wild. Indika is well organized, highly professional and widely respected. He has our permits organized, and we are in the jeep before first light. Yala opens at 6 am, and Indika plans to have us be the first ones in. This turns out to be very important.

Indikas plans work flawlessly, and combined with his expert jeep driving; we were the first ones in Yala when it opened and the first to make it deep enough into the park that you are finally where you have the best chance to see the big cats that run this park. And there she was, sitting and surveying her territory. The leopard we found was in the open and unbothered by us. She sat for 10 minutes and let us photograph her unrushed. I had so much time with her that I got hundreds of photos, all the same. I, unfortunately, wasted the opportunity to get some video. I was just so thrilled that within 10 minutes of entering Yala on the first trip, we had this incredible luck with such a stunning queen of a leopard.

Cloud Iridescence

This spectacular site was another reward for a day spent walking the challenging but breathtaking Horton Plains, Sri Lanka.

We were leaving Horton Plains National Park in Sri Lanka tired but exhilarated from our 8 km trek through the park. 8 km isn’t much for me to walk; I can run 21k. Nevertheless, this is at altitude, and the terrain is challenging at junctures. It changes from rocky hill sections to flat grass plains and streams. Horton Plains is nestled at the TOP of Sri Lanka and has some stunning scenery to enjoy. On our walk, I saw whole mixed families enjoying the park, so it is open to people of diverse abilities. There are two different walking paths, one long and one short. 

In Sri Lanka, the sun is always a concern. The temperature and humidity are high. It is not uncommon to be 30c and have 80% humidity. However, up in Horton Plains, I found it even harder. It’s not that it’s hotter, but you are on the top of a mountain, so you feel the sun’s power more and the UV. Sun protection is a must, as is top quality walk shoes. 

Cloud iridescence or irisation is a colourful optical phenomenon that happens when the sun or moon is nearby, and the cloud has very uniform water or ice droplets. Of course, there also needs to be some other interesting magic at play, but it all boils down to we were fortunate to see it. 

As you can see from the photograph, the effect is what looks like a cloud rainbow. The colours can be pastel or vivid and are easier to see when viewing the result from the moon because a bright sun can obscure it. So we got to view the cloud iridescence with vivid colours and a bright sun. Just more magic, thanks to Horton Plains.

This photograph of the Cloud Iridescence over Horton Plains Sri Lanka is available to purchase from my site: Kian Charles Gray Photography https://www.kian.photograph