global travel shot: seeing eye-to-eye with the sri lankan leopard at wilpattu

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It was a bit hard for me to decide which to be more in awe of. The surreal deep red earth covered in lush jungle and sparkling pools [villu as they are locally called]. Or the Sri Lankan Leopard that sauntered past me, a mere hour into the game drive. Both, the leopard and I stared at each other. At some level, I guess, we saw eye-to-eye. He was the actual star of the show.

Wilpattu National Park on Sri Lanka’s north-west coast is not the country’s most popular game reserve. But, hands down, it provides the most authentic experience.

At 2 percent of the country’s land mass, it is Sri Lanka’s largest reserve. It is also one of the oldest—established in 1938 with around 40 Sri Lankan Leopards prowling through the heart of the national park. There are also Sri Lankan elephants, sloth bears, and a prolific bird-life, who I, however, think, fall a little short in comparison to the graceful feline. None of them stare back as piercingly as the latter.

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[Note: This blog post is part of a series from my solo independent travels to Sri Lanka. To read more posts in my Sri Lanka series, click here.]

22 thoughts on “global travel shot: seeing eye-to-eye with the sri lankan leopard at wilpattu”

    • Yeah, one normally sees them at some distance, lazing on some distant rocks or dangling from branches high up in a tree. This one just sauntered right past my jeep, slowly, turning around to look back straight at me. Needless to say, both my camera and me were very happy. 🙂

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        • Hehe. Yeah, I have generally been lucky with my wildlife viewing, including in Ranthambore. Maybe it is because I go with zero expectations. The universe, I think, then decides to take me by surprise. A happy surprise. 🙂

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    • Wildlife sighting is an unbeatable experience. Priceless. 🙂 I only had booked one game drive at Wilpattu, and to be honest, had no major expectations. Seeing the leopard within the very first hour was incredible, to say the least.

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    • I was lucky with this shot. The Sri Lankan Leopard is endemic to the country and can be found in all its game reserves. But it is also hard to come face-to-face with it. Wilpattu, because of its location, was sidelined during the civil war. Perhaps, because of this, it is not so commercialized or touristy, despite being the island’s biggest park. I guess it all adds up to the animals feeling safer and increased chances of sighting. 🙂

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