We were just getting set to leave this evening when the sky’s opened and it started to pour with rain. Apparently it’s the dry season here but after a scorching day the thunderclouds built up and the storm started. Our car is now protected with a combination of plastic sheeting and bin liners against the torrential elements.
We’re working double night shifts at the moment in an attempt to outfox the leopards and possibly film one hunting. Very few people have ever seen a leopard make a kill here but no one has really driven in the park at night, let alone observe the leopards. After 5 weeks of filming we think that they may be making their kills in the early hours of the morning.
So for the past 3 days we’ve set our alarm clocks for 3am and headed off into the park. After 6 hours or so we return to refuel with a largely waffle-filled breakfast and plenty of coffee. Then after downloading our footage 3pm rolls around and we head out again for another 6 hours. It’s a rather strange (and painful) time scale to work in but you can’t argue with the results, we’ve found leopards every day but sadly we’re still waiting to catch an elusive hunt. Who knows, if it ever stops raining we might just film one!
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3 comments:
Maybe the leopards are crepuscular, like my cats giving me a wake-up call at 04:30! They don't serve me waffles though.
I am holidaying in the same hotel as you guys were staying (yala village). This afternoon i saw you guys having lunch and saw the ammonite.co.uk logo on your tshirt and checked it out, which is how i came to this page.
Good to know that you are filming in the same vicinity as where we are staying. We went on the safari tour on the 22nd but did not see any leopards. I guess they are hard to spot.
Good luck with your film shoots, i will be following this adventure more closely.
xl - we think that leopards like early morning too - our waffles are served with curry!
Hi Tyrone - despite the numbers of leopards they are hard to spot. We hope you had a good holiday in Sri Lanka
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