The Tusker - Yala, Sri Lanka

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.

The Herd - Yala, Sri Lanka

Huddling around the calves

One of the highlights of my trip to Yala was the encounter we had with a herd of 8-10 Elephants. We had already been on a couple of rounds inside the park and were yet to see a herd of Elephants when we came across them. It was about 6.15 AM and we had just entered the park and were driving along the main road when we saw the Elephants feeding. I think we had actually driven past them before we realised!

More photographs after the jump.

 Smallest member of the herd

There were two calves in the herd and the adults seemed to be quite protective of them. As soon as we pulled up alongside them the adults gathered around the two calves. They also kicked up a bit of dust which was presumably a warning (first photograph).

Sub-adults of the herd

The Elephants did eventually come a lot closer to the vehicle to feed on the shrubs by the road but didn't stay too long. Again they were watchful of the calves but I did manage to get a few shots of the young ones.

The Approach

The matriarch was massive but we didn't get a good look at her as she didn't venture out towards the road. She can be seen in the background of the third photograph. I was hoping they would cross the road so that we would be able to get a look at the whole herd but that didn't happen. The sighting lasted about fifteen minutes before the elephants decided to head off. By this time there were a couple of other jeeps as well and we moved on.

One of the Calves heading off

Surprisingly (to me anyway) this was the only herd of Elephant we saw on our 5 rounds in the park. I'm not sure whether this was because the park was dry and the elephants had moved on to better feeding grounds or if the Elephant population in the area has decreased.

A dust bath

All the photographs on this post were taken with a Canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens. The Elephants were in such close proximity of the vehicle that the 100mm focal length was too long.

Western Monasteries - Anuradhapura

In the quieter parts of the sacred city of Anuradhapura lie the Western Monasteries or the Tapovana Monastery. The Monastery was inhabited by meditating forest dwelling monks who came into prominence in the seventh century. More info and images inside.

The main component of the hermitages of these monks was the padhanagaras or the meditation houses, which were beautifully built of well proportioned and meticulously-dressed plain stone. A curious feature of these monasteries is the ornamented urinal stones. These are the only elaborately decorated features found in the Monastery which is otherwise characteristically devoid of ornamentation except of the simplest kind.

Architecturally the habitations of these monks of the tapovana sect also called Pamsukulin are generic, and are duplicated in many other monasteries of the fraternity as at Ritigala and Arankele. However according to scholars the monasteries at Anuradhapura represent the padhanagara pirivena in its most developed form.
Source - http://www.angelfire.com/in4/anuradhapura/tapovana.htm

All the images shown above were shot with a Canon 400D with an EF 50mm f1.8 lens. The image of the cave comprises 6 images stitched together using Hugin.