Blog Posts

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.

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.

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.

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!“

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.

Tigers of India - Part 1

4/26/2015

After the first few days in Ranthambore NP, we had no tiger sightings. Many other beautiful things came across our path... peacocks, ring-necked parakeets, owlets, spotted deer and more, but no tigers. Right now is the best time of year for seeing these big cats, it is a cooking 45°C / 120°F and heading into the mating season. Potential at watering holes is very good and we hope things turn around.

Then our luck changed, our guide got information that a tigress and cubs was seen heading to a watering hole late in the afternoon. The next morning we headed straight there, but to our surprise we saw a huge male named "Ustad" (meaning Master) resting by the water. At 400 lbs he is one of the larger males in the area. Apparently the female with cubs made a kill overnight and Ustad stole it from her. She wouldn't risk injury to herself, or her cubs, defending it so she quickly moved away. Ustad gave us quite a show for almost 2 hours moving around and posing for this great photo shoot. One of our best tiger experiences.

All images are © by Edward Spera 2015

Humpbacks Part 3,,, Wow!

3/27/2015

Our last day started slow and we were covering a lot of water. Visibility in the water wasn't great. Finally we spotted our first whale breaching on the horizon. The frequency of sightings really started to click. Our best chance of a good encounter was to find a mother with calf. The young ones need to rest on a regular basis, so they move slow. The young ones are also very curious as well. We were getting some good photos, but again the whales were not hanging around.

Our time on the water was coming to an end. One last chance as we headed around the north end of Salt Cay island. Yes... a mother and mature calf. In the water we went and we found the mother resting on the sand below. The calf raised to the surface for air and then returned to mom. And then wow!... check out the youtube video and slide show below. Keep in mind the gopro and photos are wide angle.

Cheeky little 18 foot bugger. His tail fin hit my head and mask as he swam by. Talk about a close encounter... I need to be careful what I ask for. This was soooooooooooo awesome!!!!

Needless to say I have a some nice reference material for a series of Humpback paintings and graphite pieces.

Next stop Tigers in India this April.... but maybe not such a close experience. I've got zoom lenses.

Safe travels, Edward.

Humpbacks Part 2

3/26/2015

We were joined on the boat today by 2 whale researchers. This added to our experience as they shared their expertise. Our day started with a great encounter with 2 bottlenose dolphins. They seemed curious and playful, so we slipped into the water and had a 15 minute swim around with them. What a great experience. We've been on dives before with dolphins, but not this up close and personal.

Today brought more whales... 19 to be exact. We saw more mothers and calves, mature males and females, and an intense chase scenario with a female and 3 males. It is breeding time for the whales around Turks & Caicos, so there is a lot of testosterone in the water. The males are showing off for the females...singing, breaching and fighting... kinda like a night at the pub.

We tried getting into the water with a few, but none of them wanted to hang around.They are just taunting us. Don't get me wrong, it's fantastic to see these amazing creatures above or below, but we still haven't had the close range encounter I am hoping for. Maybe tomorrow.

Humpbacks Part 1

3/25/2015

Over the next few days we'll be patrolling the small islands around Salt Cay, Turks & Caicos, looking for Humpback whales. The past few days our diving off Provo turned up no whales.... bummer... whales singing in the distance, but no whales visually. We did see black tip reef sharks, sting rays, turtles and more , buuttttt........

The next day.... we had our first encounter with Humpbacks... a mother, a first year calf and escort. The calf is 6-8 weeks. The escort is a male, maybe the father, who is showing the mum he is a good protector and defender for her young one. He will stay by her side as long as she accepts him. Mum is about 35 ft long....crazzzyyyy. And that`s approx. a 14-15 ft baby....

Later in the day we had the privilege of seeing a 2 day old newborn being raised to the surface repeatedly, minute after minute, by the mothers nose to instigate the breathing process...amazing. She will stay down here for 6-8 weeks to allow her little one to mature for the journey north to their summer feeding areas.

Tomorrow...more intense searching...

Owls, Owls, Owls...

3/11/2015

Over the past few very cold months in this neck of the woods (Niagara Ontario Canada) record temps have seen a few more feathery visitors than normal. I've been very fortunate to search for and find a few of them. One female snowy and a few different short ear owls have given me a couple new inspirations.

What's amazing is we travel half way across the world to see incredible things. Sometimes we forget there are incredible things in our own backyard. Next stop Humpback Whales Turks and Caicos here we come. Enjoy and safe travels,

Regards. Edward

February 25th, 2015

2/25/2015

I'll be launching my first adventure with Humpback Whales in Turks and Caicos very very soon.

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