There’s more to a wildlife safari than taking photos of birds and beasts and I’m going to fill you in on what goes on behind the photos I post.

First of all, I can’t heap enough praise on Backcountry Journeys and guide Casey Cooper Mannes. I can’t imagine a better run photography tour. Casey also leads bear trips in Alaska. I am keeping my eye open for one of them.

Wilpattu National Park

Wilpattu was our most productive location. It is in the north west part of Sri Lanka. The weather was a little too excellent – more bright sun, less high overcast condtions – making wildlife photography a bit more challenging and less attractive.

The Park certifies naturalists who have to sign in and out every day. Sadly there are no in-and-out privileges, so we left our base – Thimbiri Wewa Resort – each day at 5:45 am for the 6 am park opening since animals are most active in the early morning. With no in-and-out privileges we would stay until the park closed at 6 pm, taking boxed breakfasts and lunches with us. Dinner would be at 7:30 pm with bedtime following shortly thereafter!

The title of the tour says “Kings of the Jungle” but the park is more like a forest, an enchanted forest when we spotted animals therein – most frequently spotted deer and mongooses, but also many eagles and hawks and owls.

Kurulu Eco Park

Located in the north central part of Sri Lanka, this small Park is an elephant preserve. We spent one afternoon and one evening on drives. The best part of the afternoon was the elephants – of course! – who were not in the least worried about our presence.

The second best part was the hotel we stayed at, sadly for only one night – Habarana Village. The pool was welcoming and the food the best we had so far. It provided us with a little recharging time between the two national parks.

Kumana National Park

Kumana National Park, on the south east coast of Sri Lanka, did have in-and-out privileges. It was a 45-minute drive from our digs – Wild Edge – so we left at 5:15 am with boxed breakfasts, returning around 11:30 am for lunch at 12:30 pm. We left again at 2:30 pm and searched largely in vain for leopards until 6:00 pm. The weather continued sunny and very hot. We could have used some rain to tamp down the dust.

Whenever we saw elephants grazing they kick the ground before grabbing whatever vegetation was there to eat. The kicking knocks dirt and insects off the vegetation. I question the knocking the dirt off. It looked to me like they were coating their meal with dust!

The Roads

Roads in the parks were merely tracks and in Wilpattu were often flooded. Our drivers fearlessly tackled them all, though I think due to the rough rides my rib cage is now 2 inches closer to my hips! When we were racing to get to an animal sighting, the bumping and jolting were pretty severe but it was always an exhilarating experience knowing we might see something special. Sometimes there were other obstacles in our way but we were never stopped for long.

Final Unduplicated Species Count

• 47 birds
• 15 animals
• 8 reptiles
• 1 butterfly

I hope you have enjoyed my wildlife safari. I certainly did! I’ve never thought of myself as a wildlife photographer and I gotta admit there’s a real high to capturing an image of a bird or beast in their natural environment.

I have another Backcountry Journeys photography tour lined up for October – Vermont Fall Colors. It promises to be quite different from Sri Lankan wildlife! I hope I will see you then.

පරිස්සමෙන් ඉන්න. මාත් එක්ක ආවට ස්තූතියි. Take care. Thanks for coming along with me!