Leopard Trails was a wonderful place to stay for visiting Wilpattu NP. We were very lucky to see leopards, elephants, sambar deer, water buffalo and a sloth bear as well as many smaller creatures and beautiful birds.
It was a three hour drive from Horathapola Estate, where we'd spent our first night, to Wilpattu National Park. On the way our driver, Ruwan, stopped at a lake shore and bought King coconuts for us all.
The coconut water is lovely, very refreshing, and the flesh quite different from ordinary coconuts, very creamy. We scraped it off with a spoon made from the coconut shell by the seller.
Then on to Leopard Trails Tented Safari Camp where we were met by the staff with cold, damp flannels and more King coconut water.
Our tent was great, with air con and an outdoor shower - I do love an outdoor shower!
At our tent entrance there were chairs and small tables so we could sit there and spot birds and wildlife in the surrounding forest. As we were shown to our tent we spotted a water monitor basking in the sun by the stream just outside.
We then went straight to lunch in the outdoor tented dining area. A selection of curries including a beetroot dish, followed by water buffalo curd, jaggery and syrup - very good.
Then we were off on our first game drive into Wilpattu National Park.
Our guide was Captain Raj who said we would be concentrating on smaller game and birds, leaving the larger animals until tomorrow.
We saw many different birds, most with beautifully coloured plumage. Small game included land monitors, terrapin, tortoise with a star shell, striped and grey mongoose - the latter are trained to detect landmines by smell, lots of spotted deer.
Back to the camp for a very welcome cold beer then to freshen up before returning to the outside bar for G&Ts before an excellent barbecue dinner: chicken, sausage, pork, coleslaw, baked potato and several sauces including barbecue,, a spicy chilli, and a yellow pepper sauce. Followed by an excellent squidgy chocolate brownie and vanilla ice cream. Very acceptable Italian red wine with dinner.
The staff make huge efforts to create a magical atmosphere at the widely separated outdoor tables with candles and lights in the trees.
The following morning we had a 5a.m start for a full day safari. We'd been woken in the night by explosions which we were told were elephant deterrents. We were provided with a picnic breakfast and lunch - cheese sandwiches, fresh fruit, yogurt and fruit juice. Lunch was a bun filled with a large variety of stuff including sausage, omelette and some kind of breaded meat.
We were incredibly lucky seeing countless wonderful birds, small mammals and a snake, but most wonderfully Sambar deer, water buffalo, elephants, a sloth bear and male and female leopards, just incredible. These are the "Big Five" for Sri Lanka and Captain Raj said seeing all in one day is very rare.
Much as I love elephants, the most thrilling were the leopards. We were driving along a dusty track, everyone on the lookout - Captain Raj, the driver Prabath - both extremely good at spotting wildlife, two fellow travellers and us. Suddenly we saw a jackal, paused on the track, he'd spotted us. We stopped, then proceeded very cautiously. And a female leopard appeared out of the forest.
Captain Raj said she had two cubs and was hunting for their breakfast.
She criss-crossed the track entering the forest on both sides. She spotted the jackal and gave chase but it escaped.
It was a totally magical experience.
She came quite close to the jeep but we continually backed away very slowly and eventually left her in peace as she disappeared once more into the jungle. We'd been exceedingly lucky to have her to ourselves for much of the time but eventually a few other jeeps turned up. They were all very respectful of the leopard though.
We headed down to a lake area spotting birds, a Mugger crocodile and a beautiful Golden Jackal.
Then heading back into the bush we spotted another leopard, this time an adult male. He was sunning himself on a sandbank. After a while he sauntered off into the forest, though later we saw him again in the same spot.
Back to water for more bird-spotting and an elephant methodically working its way around the lake edge, feeding.
Apart from my own notes I used Birds of Sri Lanka to identify many of the birds.
We saw the elephant in the lake a number of times as we went back and forth, each time he'd worked his way further around the shore. He was pulling up bundles of weed or grass from the lake floor. He would then wash the vegetation by swishing it back and forth in the water, then shake it dry before eating it.
Later we saw another elephant coming through the bush to the lake then wading into the water to cross. We backed off quite a long way because he was very wary of us and reluctant to come out when we were closer.
A Mugger Crocodile was making its way across the track in front of us. These are very prehistoric-looking creatures, with a toothed ridge along the tail and fearsome teeth. They are found in freshwater habitats.
Right at the end of the day, when we didn't think we were going to see one, a Sloth Bear was spotted in the undergrowth near the track. He ambled out and wandered across a clearer space before disappearing into the bush. So lucky!
We saw many more birds including hornbills, terns, stilts, lapwing, ibis and a Brown Fish Owl. It's quite hard to photograph many of the birds when they sit surrounded by tree foliage.
While travelling on the roads we had passed long stretches of drying grain or seeds - this is how the farmers dry their produce before selling it.
When we returned in the late afternoon the farmers were gathering the dried produce into heaps and bagging it up.
Back to the camp for a very welcome shower and change of clothes and an hour sitting outside by the stream surrounded by the forest writing my journal and bird-spotting before joining fellow travellers at the very congenial outside bar for drinks.
Dinner this evening was a more traditional spice-based selection with excellent prawn curry, spicy coconut sambal, fried chicken, parathas, an unusual noodle made from rice flour, and a greenish liquid coconut curry (I think!).
