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6th October 2023 at 8.42am arrived at the Spotted Deer kill at Kombansanchaipooval.
The kill had been partly consumed and had been dragged from where it was the previous day. I was not able to spot the leopard in the thicket in its usual hiding place. I decided to park the vehicle about 50 meters from the kill so that I would be able to observe any animal approaching the kill even though the kill was not visible. Observing the behaviour of other animals is an effective way to find out whether a leopard is in the vicinity.
8.58am a Ruddy Mongoose approached the kill suggesting that the leopard was not hiding in the thicket.
10.00am a sounder of 6 Wild Boar with one individual that had a limp arrived and started to feed on the kill. I decided to leave and come back in the evening. It is likely that the leopard had eaten its fill and would visit the kill in the evening.
6th October 2023 at 4.28pm one leopard at Kombansanchaipooval. N 08.38572, E 079.95053
I was parked a short distance away from the Spotted Deer kill from 3.45pm expecting the leopard to arrive along the road. Around 4.28pm heard growling and knew that the leopard had arrived at the kill from the side of the glade. I allowed the leopard to start feeding for a few minutes and reversed the vehicle to the spot where the kill could be seen. The leopard looked in my direction, permitting me to get a few much clearer images of its face and head than yesterday, and continued to feed. It was Walas Wala Male 3 (WWMC 3), the same leopard photographed yesterday at this kill. As it takes about an hour and half to reach the park entrance from Kombansanchaipooval I had no option by to leave the feeding leopard and leave. However, after two days of effort I finally managed to get a few images of the leopard at its kill.
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5th October 2023 at 9.46am I arrived at the Spotted Deer kill at Kombansnchaipooval. Other than for the stomach area the carcass was intact which meant that the leopard had made the kill in the early hours of the morning. I’m thankful to safari jeep driver Dinesh for informing me of this kill. The carcass was lying about 25 feet from the road but was covered with foliage and could only be seen through a small opening. The leopard was lying under a “Madu” tree about 10 feet from the kill and was completely concealed from view. It was quite shy and would move into the thicket the moment a vehicle comes close to the kill. Since it was a weekday there were only a handful of vehicles in the park. Dinesh told me that the leopard was on the road when he arrived and moved in upon the vehicle coming into view. Since there were no signs of the leopard visiting the kill, he had parked about 50 meters from the kill and waited for about 15 minutes before driving to the location where his guests were able to see a glimpse of the leopard before he moved back into the thicket. I waited until 12.00noon with no luck and was determined to photograph the leopard. Thus, decided to leave enabling the leopard to feed in peace. A leopard would always leave its kill and walk towards water after feeding. Since the only water source nearby was Tala Wila, there was a very good probability of the leopard would rest after feeding and move out of his hiding towards evening to visit Tala Wila.
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5th October 2023 at 4.05pm one leopard at Kombansanchaipooval. N 08.38572, E 079.95053
Since there was no sign of the leopard and as I had to leave by 4.30pm to reach the park entrance by 6.00pm I drove up the point where the kill can be seen and started to scan the location with my binoculars and detected the movement of a white spot and knew it had to be the tip of the tail of the leopard as it flicks the tail to chase off insects. After much effort spotted the leopard in its place of hiding. It was an adult male and was looking in my direction with its head raised. I managed to a get a few images of its partly covered face before he lowered his head again. I was quite pleased and relieved that I managed to get some images to identify the cat. Just then Amith, who is a safari jeep driver from Eluwankulama arrived. I showed him from where the leopard can be seen and moved my vehicle allowing him and his visitors to have a view. Within less than a minute he signaled that the leopard moved. I quickly reversed expecting the leopard to move to the open glade. Amith also followed and after a few very anxious moments we spotted the leopard moving out of the thicket. He walked along the edge of the forest towards Tala Wila. I managed to photograph the cat as he walked but there was no opportunity get any images of its face since he never looked in our direction. There after we saw the leopard moving on to the road that leads to Tala Wila but moved back into the forest again. Since it was 4.30pm I did not have the time to follow the leopard and decided to leave. I was happy as I finally got some images enabling me to identify this elusive leopard. Later upon examining its spot pattern I noted that this is Walas Wala Male 3 (WWMC 3), a leopard that I photographed at Walas Wala on the 27th of July 2018. This leopard was born in October 2016 in a litter of two, close to Walas Wala but its sibling did not survive. He was seen around Walas Wala with its mother up to about mid 2018. Even after leaving its mother, I received images of him from around walas Wala until mid 2019. There after by 2020 he moved towards Nelum Wila. It appears that he has now established his territory around Kombansanchaipooval.
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27th July 2018 at 7.55am one Leopard at Walas Wala. N 08.41428, E 080.03085
It is a sub adult male and was lying on the bund across the “wala”. I was instantly able to identify the leopard from the spot pattern on its forehead as the Walas Wala Leopard 2 on my site. Even though this is my first sighting of this leopard I had received images of it from many who contribute images to my study of leopards in the park. This is one of the first litter cubs of the Walas Wala Female 1 (WWFC 1). I was quite pleased as this leopard that had eluded me for some time. He was quite relaxed despite the many vehicles on the road. I estimated the age of this leopard to be 1 year and 5 months. I observed the leopard for about half an hour and left as I expected the leopard to move in to cover with the sun becoming stronger. I named it Walas Wala Male 3 (WWMC 3). ( with guide Tissa Ratnayake)
