The Tusker - Yala, Sri Lanka
On one of our morning rounds in Yala we sighted a massive Tusker striding across one of the plains. He seemed to be in a bit of a hurry as he crossed the plain pretty quickly and disappeared into the jungle. I was a bit disappointed as the sighting had been relatively brief.
I'm pretty sure that this Tusker is named "Thilak". Can someone please confirm?
More photographs inside.
The Tusker - Yala, Sri Lanka
He seemed to be heading in the direction of a nearby waterhole so a decision was made to drive towards it and wait for him to make an appearance. Fortunately there were no other vehicles near the waterhole and we were able to position ourselves directly opposite where we thought the Elephant would approach form.
The Tusker - Yala, Sri Lanka
It turned out to be a short wait of about ten minutes before the Tusker was spotted across the water. I spent the time photographing a flock of Green Pigeons, a pair of Bee-Eaters and a Grey Heron who had also come for a drink and a bath.
The Tusker - Yala, Sri Lanka
The Elephant hesitated when he saw the vehicle but then climbed down the embankment and approached the waterline. He settled down for a lengthy drink in the shade of one of the overhanging trees and provided me with a number of opportunities to photograph him.
The Tusker - Yala, Sri Lanka
After spending around ten-fifteen minutes having a drink, he walked up the embankment and disappeared into the jungle. By this time two other vehicles had also arrived at the waterhole and we decided to move on. It was a really good sighting of the Tusker at close range and I was able to come away with a number of photographs of the animal.
The Tusker - Yala, Sri Lanka
The photographs on this post were captured with a Canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens. I would have liked to get down to ground level to take these photographs but getting out of vehicles is banned in Sri Lankan National Parks.
No comments:
Post a Comment