Edward Spera - Wildlife Artist
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Leopards of Sri Lanka

5/9/2015

 
   After networking with a few photographers and a little research we now found ourselves heading to Sri Lanka in search of Leopards. We've had some good success in Africa with these beautiful cats, but always hit and miss as to when and where you might see them. Now we had information about a park in Sri Lanka on its south east coast called Yala NP, that virtually guaranteed us of seeing leopards. This park claims to have the highest concentration of these apex predators anywhere in the world and sightings are said to be regular. We'll put this claim to the test.

   Our first hour into the park on day one and our first leopard, a big male stalking spotted deer in the early morning light.
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   For those who don't want to think of the final outcome, he was unsuccessful this time around, but the setup of the hunt was incredible to watch.

   Over the next few days we had a few quick sightings, but no photo ops. However, Yala is also known for its wild asian elephants. One small family in particular, which included a one month old baby, gave us a few incredible memories over a period of days. At one point they walked up to our jeep and began touching the hood and front bumper with their trunks. It seemed like these intelligent creatures were introducing the baby to this strange machine we were in. You could see the curiousity and amazement  of the little one as it peered through the legs of the mother and aunt.

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   Now back to the leopards... back to back days of good sightings. Two great scenarios of a leopard on a rock formation and the following day a beautiful male perched on the branch of a majestic tree. How the trackers spot these animals sometimes still baffles us.
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   In the end Yala National Park lived up to its reputation, ten leopards in 5 days was the final count. Additionally, Sri Lanka is a clean lush beautiful country with friendly people. It goes without saying we will be back. 


   Hope you enjoyed this adventure update. Safe travels.

All images are @ by Edward Spera 2015

Tigers of India -Part 3

5/5/2015

 
       Our last day started very very hot. We drove the early morning light tracking the mating couple from the other day. Yesterday was very quiet and we were hoping for a grand finale moment today. We came across some monster sized pugmarks and this meant only one tiger... "Fateh" (meaning victory). He is over 600 lbs and is the male from the mating couple. No signs of the female tracks so the exotic fling was over. We waited for some time to hear any alarm calls... nothing. He was now hungry and eager to mark his territory.

   We headed to a nearby riverbed and before long received a message from another ranger that Fateh was on the move behind us. U-turn and back we bolted. Within a few minutes there he was confidently walking along. With an almost arrogant attitude about him, he ignored our vehicle slowly driving alongside him at a 20 foot range. For 45 min. we followed him along the winding dirt road positioning ourselves for some great camera angles as he intersected the trail repeatedly. What's amazing is Fateh is only 8 years old and a few years away from being in his prime. He is going to be huge and we can't wait to come back and see him down the line.

   This was an incredible way to end our tiger adventure and was easily our best encounters to date. These are a couple of photos of this big boy. Enjoy. Next stop Leopards of Sri Lanka!“


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Tigers of India - Part 2

5/1/2015

 
   After our last great sighting of the big male, "Ustad", we had a few slow outings, some alarm calls and fresh tracks, but only one glimpse of a young male sleeping in some dense brush... no photo ops.

   We started our visit a few days back tracking a mating male and female with no success. I had a gut feeling about returning to this area of the park again a few days later. At our request we headed back to track this couple a second time. Tigers will mate for 5 to 7 days and these two had been together 4 days already. Another hot day on the brink of 50°C had us searching the watering holes nonstop and drinking alot of water.

   As we stopped a few feet away from a small natural pool, Lisa commented on how beautiful the surrounding grasses were blowing in the hot afternoon breeze, to which I agreed. Immediately our guide jumped out of his seat and yelled, "There! The tiger is behind the grasses." Not just one, but two tigers, the male and female we were searching for. At a proximity of 50 feet away they laid there for a few minutes when the female started to stir. They will copulate every 15-20 minutes throughout the day and night for the mating period. The male will not allow the female to leave his sight, she moves... he moves. They stayed around this small watering hole for over 3 hours giving us some great shots and an insane experience. By the way 5-6 seconds, if you were wondering, is time the male's stamina was during the x-rated parts. We'll be returning tomorrow if all goes well.
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    Author

    My Name is Edward Spera.
    I am a Wildlife artist and would love to share my wildlife adventures with you.
    As I travel the world, looking for inspiration I will be sharing what I can along the way.

    Visit my website at  www.speraart.ca

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