Yala safari

So now for a jeep safari through Yala National Park.

Now this is not Africa, so not quite the same degree of big animals, especially not big cats. Yala does have leopards, but they are somewhat elusive. The big animals are elephants and water buffalo. But the area has a huge variety of birds, especially water birds.

A Swamp Heron

Ibis

A mix of spoonbills and ibis

Egret

Cormorant drying its wings in the sun

Some Whistling Ducks. They really do whistle

Swallows

 And now for some crocodiles. There are a lot of them in these parts.

A mongoose

 A painted stork

A Little Green Bee-eater. We saw lots and lots of these beautiful little birds by the roadside.

Sometimes they come in pairs

No antelope in Sri Lanka but their place is taken by Spotted Deer

 

These are jackals lying low in the grass

Pelicans

Wild boar

 A lot of peacocks - below are two peacocks who were displaying to a totally uninterested pea hen. Felt quite sorry for them. 

First a bum shot

Then a full frontal

And profile shot

Afraid I can'r recall what this bird of prey is

But this big and rather shy deer is a Sambar Deer

A pair of Green Pigeons

No shortage of grazing water buffalo

Another croc which one could easily, but possibly fatally, mistake for a dead tree trunk

A Monitor Lizard, a very common reptile in these parts

I think a red-wattled lapwing

Now for a real rarity - a Black-headed Stork, one of only a handful in Sri Lanka

 

Even without the wildlife there is some attractive scenery helped by these big volcanic outcrops

 

 Spoonbills out in force

A Yellow-wattled Lapwing

 And finally up popped a lone bull elephant - on the right of the picture below, suitably close to Elephant Rock, top-left

A Roller - another colourful insect-catcher

And then right at the end of the drive we came upon a really rare sighting - a Sloth Bear. Unfortunately way in the distance, just popping out of the edge of the forest covering. Even with a 20X zoom its not much more than a blob, but trust me below is indeed a sloth bear. Apparently more elusive even than a leopard.

 Inevitably when there is a rare sighting all the jeeps in the park race towards it....