What can you photograph on a three hour game drive?
A 5am start to get to Wilpattu National Park in Sri Lanka to get into the park when it opens at 6am wouldn’t be my ideal start to any day, but for wildlife and photography I’ll be there in a heartbeat.
Wilpattu National Park in Sri Lanka
Wilpattu is in the central western part of the island and it’s particularly renowned for leopards and, if you’re lucky, sloth bears. Excitement builds but, as tourists so often forget, the safari is to see WILDlife and wild means there are no guarantees. So often I’ve heard tourists complaining that they didn’t see what they’d come for, like it’s a tick-list, but if you want an authentic natural experience then anticipate the best outcome but be prepared to be disappointed. It you want certainty, go to the zoo.
Wilpattu National Park – morning safari game drive
So in three hours, what can you expect to see and how much will you be able to photograph? The answer starts with you. Are you prepared? Do you have the right photographic gear? Do you have the right attitude and an awareness that you are on the wildlife’s territory, not yours?
Wilpattu is quite heavily wooded, although there are some more open areas, smaller clearings and lakes. The safari vehicles are required to stay on the park tracks, as you would hope and expect, so what you see will be from there, not necessarily close up. Unless the wildlife is feeling unusually cooperative – and let’s face it, why would you be if a bunch of noisy visitors turned up at your home – you could be viewing from a distance.
Maximising your chances
If you’ve turned up with a smart phone expecting to get a killer shot then you’re living in an alternative reality. Your chances are close to zero, but you can still enjoy seeing what nature has to offer. Any smartphone photo is likely to feature little more than distant dots or be magnified so much that the image starts to break down. To stand any chance of getting a good shot, you’re going to need a decent camera with a telephoto lens. With a standard 50mm lens, or similar, you’ll get the wildlife in its environment. These are still important shots, but maybe not the closer up shots you may have hoped for. To capture shots of leopards and sloth bears, should they put in an appearance, you’ll need at least a 200mm lens. Ideally you would have something between 300 and 600mm, depending on the type of image you want to get. I took an 16-55mm zoom lens and a longer 400mm lens.
On the game drive, what you do also affects what you see. Most safari guides have eagle-eyes, or at least know where to look, so will usually spot wildlife before you. Remember, though, they are often also driving, sat in a lower position. Sometimes you will have a better view higher up in the back, so keep your eyes peeled. You may spot things they can’t see. Spotting something yourself is also half the fun!
Don’t leave the spotting just to the vehicle driver. His low position and the fact that he’s driving, may mean he misses things
Whilst it’s a good idea to dress more in keeping with your surroundings – avoid brightly coloured and white clothes – the biggest mistake, and a source of enormous frustration for people who are there to genuinely observe and enjoy the wildlife or to photograph it, is noise. National parks like Wilpattu are beautiful places, full of natural sounds and birdsong. The wildlife is used to the sound of vehicle engines, but a tourist with a voice like a megaphone is never going to improve the experience for anyone. If you are quiet, you’ll see more and get closer to it.
Taking the right photographic equipment
When I go on a safari, I always try to go on my own or with only one other photographer. Why? I’m not being anti-social. Apart from the noise, it’s primarily because I’m using a long lens at its limits. In a wooded area, light levels are lower which means I’m limited on how fast a shutter speed I can use, so any movement in the vehicle is critical. From experience, I know that when someone who isn’t a photographer gets a shot or sees something special, they move, even jump with excitement. For me, I’m watching the behaviour, the light on the subject, the catchlight in the eyes, so I have to be patient. This movement, with any noise they also make, means no one else gets a shot for about five seconds while the vehicle settles down again, and by then the opportunity may have gone.
So we’re ready to go! Ready for our safari. What awaits us? The guide is immediately switched on to an environment which he’s familiar with. It takes me a little longer to get my eye in and used to unfamiliar vegetation. What I can do, though, is get my camera ready. The longer telephoto lens is more cumbersome and slower to change, so I start with this on my camera and the wider lens easily accessible and ready to swap. As soon as we start the drive, I also set it for the conditions – how much light is there and what ISO I’ll need to achieve a shutter speed which allows me to hold the camera steady. Aperture, I initially set to f5.6, or f8 if light levels permit. These are ball park figures but they allow me to react quickly when we do see something, rather than have to fiddle about with settings and risk missing the shot.
The first spot is unsurprisingly a bird, perched in the shadows. Nice to see but very tricky to photograph. Then movement below. A mongoose, nearly indistinguishable from its environment, scuttles off into the cover of the trees. Nobody said it was going to be easy!
Bee Eaters add a wonderful splash of colour to any safari
A splash of colour
As we reach the first clearing, the sunlight transforms the photographic canvas. Perched on a branch, close to the dirt road, are two colourful Bee Eaters. One is immediately startled and flies to the next tree, but the other remains and for long enough to get this safari’s first shot. This is where being prepared makes all the difference. Having set up for lower light levels, I can confidently raise the camera to my eye and just click, knowing that I’ve got a shot,. Then I can optimise these setting for a second one in this brighter light.
Bee Eaters are so beautiful. Splashes of almost iridescent green, turquoise and gold plumage, delineated with black. They light up even more in the sunshine. As long as you stay quiet and don’t move much, they’ll stay long enough for you to enjoy observing them.
Look for the less obvious too. Reptiles often blend into the background and stay completely still, effectively hiding in plain sight, so look carefully
In the sunnier spots, keep an eye on the rocks. It was there that we found several land monitor lizards, basking only three meters away. These pre-historic reptiles blend in well with the rocks and the background and, despite their size, are easy to miss.
Woodland and wetland
Back in denser vegetation a troop of Langer monkeys observe us from the trees, spotted deer graze quietly in the shade and a white-necked stork searches a small pond for its breakfast. As we drive deeper into Wilpattu, we pass lakes and waterholes, open areas and dense woodland. The lakes are home to herons and egrets, painted storks and a Brahminy Kite, with Malabar Pied Hornbills squabbling in the tree tops. A Red-Wattled Lapwing strutted through the grass nearby, a sparrowhawk shot by above us. We were also treated to the briefest glimpse of a Pied Kingfisher and brilliant flashes of a Common Kingfisher and an Indian Roller.
Lakes and waterhole are a magnet for birdlife
More colour was provide by the national bird, the Ceylon Junglefowl, but the prize for the biggest and most arrogant display has to go to a couple of very noisy Indian Peacocks, observed by their more muted Peahens. These are spectacular birds, all the more so for seeing them in the wild.
The Ceylon Junglefowl and Peacocks add colour and showmanship
So what about the big ones – leopard and sloth bear. Sloth bears spend a lot of their time rooting around in the brush and around trees for insects and grubs. They’re most likely to be in the shadows and partly obscured by twigs, branches and tree trunks. This is where we found one, but it was an almost indistinguishable dark blob. With patience you can photograph one with the head visible so that you can at least identify the blob as a sloth bear.
The elusive leopard and a sloth bear, partially hidden in the vegetation
In search of the apex predator
The leopards, the apex predator in Sri Lanka, are equally illusive but we caught a glimpse of one walking up the track towards us, although in shadow, before turning and heading into the woodland to the right. Our quick thinking driver turned the vehicle around and watched where it was heading, then went on to an adjacent track to see if it would come through. I was sceptical but soon we glimpsed movement amongst the trees.
Waiting for the moment – the leopard appears from the bushes
It is in these moment where a clear head gets the shot. It’s important not to let the excitement cloud your judgement and wave the camera in the general direction of it where it might be in the heavy cover. All you’ll get then is bits of animal amongst the tree trunks, if you’re lucky. It was moving from left to right, so I looked ahead of it towards a partial clearing, focused the camera and waited. The leopard duly appeared walking slowly into the sunshine. It’s not a perfect shot but, despite having to shoot between two other vehicles, it shows this leopard – the dominant male in the park – in detail in its natural environment, From talking to other people afterwards, I was one of the few who photographed it fairly close.
Birdlife and reptiles
Returning through the woodland we saw lots more birds, plus a tortoise and a terrapin (turtle). Two Crested Serpent Eagles – an adult and a juvenile – posed for me nearby. Two Red Vented Bul Bul – a male and female – perched on a roadside branch, and Sri Lanka Shama also had it’s photograph taken. Just for good measure a Green Garden Lizard clung to a branch almost close enough to touch, never mind photograph.
Keep an eye open for the less obvious wildlife
Time almost up, we headed back along the dirt track, mostly through woodland, towards the park entrance. It had been an amazing few hours which far exceeded my expectations, if not my hopes. For a photographer, on a tourist game drive, I was delighted with what I’d seen and photographed. More than I thought would be possible in such a short time which was geared more to the tourist wildlife viewing experience than photography. Maybe I was lucky, but you have to make your own luck sometimes – experience and preparation playing key roles in this. But Wilpattu wasn’t finished with us yet….
A sloth bear decides to break cover
One last surprise!
As we left a wooded area, with two vehicles ahead of us, an elusive sloth bear emerged from the shadows and wandered into the sunlight. It sniffed around then walked onto the dirt road. Again shooting between two other vehicles – but none-the-less grateful for the opportunity – I was ready as it walked onto the road then sat down and posed in the sunshine! Another shot where predicting it’s movement and waiting paid off. It was an unbelievable moment and 30 seconds later it wandered on, crossed the road and adjacent scrub, before disappearing into the trees.
An unexpected moment – time to pose in the sunshine!
Just before we left the park a couple more Bee Eaters waited for me to get just one last photograph. Finishing as I’d started. They were a suitably colourful ‘goodbye’ to a marvellous experience. Sri Lanka may not be your first thought for a safari but it should be high up the list. As a result, though, the parks are less crowded. Add into my brief Wilpattu experience, visits to other parks – some with big Asian elephant populations – and marine experiences including whale and dolphin watching, and you are in for a real treat. Would I go back and spend longer? You bet I would!
A beautiful Bee Eater in all its colourful glory
Read more about On Location experiences and Techniques on Eye for the Light
Find our more about the wildlife in Wilpattu National Park from the park website and Wikipedia
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