Why Yala is the best place to see leopards?

Yala national park is located in the southeast part of Sri Lanka boarding the Indian ocean. It’s an area of nearly 1000 square kilometers and primarily composed of forests, grasslands, lakes, and lagoons. Yala homes to many varieties of mammals, birds, reptiles and other wildlife. Sri Lankan leopard, Sri Lankan elephant, Sri Lankan Sloth bear, many endemic bird species, snakes and pythons are among them.

Yala is the best place in the world to spot leopards in natural habitats because of the high density. According to statistics, it is said that there are 18 leopards per 100 square kilometers in Yala, which is the highest in the world. And it’s not just the density that makes Yala the best place to see leopards.

Leopards are known as nocturnal and they seldom come out during the day time. One main reason for this is, there are other predators like lions and tigers that hunt leopards and scavengers like hyenas who steal food and night time give just enough safety and privacy for leopards to survive. But as the Sri Lankan leopard, which is a subspecies of leopards native to Sri Lanka, is the apex predator, they wonder their territory during the day time and because there are no aggressive scavengers they can be seen hunting freely during the day time as well. That doesn’t mean that Sri Lankan leopards only active during the day time, night crawling is in their genes.

Yala has lots of rocky terrains and trees that are known for leopards to climb and relax. Those are well-known habitats for leopards to hang around when they feel lazy. On days where the dewfall was high during the previous night, morning leopard sightings can be plentiful on rocky areas. Leopards don’t usually like to get their feet wet and to escape the dew and dry off the moist, they climb on rocks to absorb the morning sun rays. When the morning time goes by and the surroundings start to heat unforgivingly, leopards climb on to trees and relax in shades until the dusk. When leopards are on trees they tend to ignore everything around and just lay there sometimes for hours. This creates more opportunities for photographers to take their time and capture some mesmerizing shots of the Sri Lankan leopard.

Another reason to have frequent leopard sightings at Yala is the abundance of food sources for them. In Yala, you can see thousands of deer and hundreds of buffalo and wild boar herds roaming freely in open grasslands. Whenever leopards feel hungry they come out to open areas trying to prey on one of their favorite foods. Again this doesn’t mean that you can see leopards hunting all the time on every grassland at Yala as you switch on the National Geographic channel, but when they do, it creates magical moments and a thrilling atmosphere that every wildlife enthusiast should experience at least once in their life.

Next time when you visit Sri Lanka, plan a trip to Yala national park and during the safari, make sure to be watchful when you passing above mentioned areas. Good luck with your next leopard sighting!

Note: All photographs are taken by the author. Please refrain from copying or publishing without the author’s proper consent.