Leopards of Wilpattu

29th October 2017 at 4.46pm one Leopard at Percy Bendi Wewa. N 08.33402, E 080.12881

 As we approached Percy Bendi Wewa spotted a big male leopard on the road to Makalanmaduwa. I drove past the leopard, rested the camera on the beanbag and reversed gradually. As the leopard came in to sight it turned at looked in the direction of the vehicle for about a minute before walking away, permitting me to take a few photos. Thereafter he walked a short distance “marked” and moved in to the forest in the direction of the water body. I drove on to the bund and had a glimpse of it moving across at the end of the bund and disappeared in to the forest. Having examined the spot patterns I realized that this is a new leopard for me and that I had not even received any images of this male even from any of the guests that contribute to my study. I estimated its age to be around 8 years and named it Percy Bendi Wewa Male 1 (PBWM 1). (with guide Sampath Jayawardena)