We decided to drive into the park in Hamid's pickup rather than hiring a jeep. We set into the park early morning with some packed breakfast. We reached the rocky outcrop where the leopards were said to be sighted. It was a very tough place to spot anything as besides the rock, the surroundings were covered in 6-7 foot tall elephant grass. Hence we had to focus solely on the rock.
Waiting hours, we had no sighting whatsoever. We decided to head back out as the sun was getting quite hot, and have some lunch before returning back.
Back in the evening, we waited for a very long time circling the rock, and looking at all possible directions for a sighting. While doing the circle, suddenly one vehicle up front said the leopard just crossed the road from the side of the rock to the other side , into the tall grass.
We drove past where the alleged crossing had occurred and waited. Suddenly Hamid spotted the leopard peering from the edge of the grass from his rear view mirror. As we had no time to turn around I opened the door slightly and put my lens out. I caught a glimpse of the leopard hiding in the grass. The angle which I was turning aroound and holding the heavy lens gave me a massive cramp on my torse, but I gritted my teeth and waited , expecting it to cross the road.
But before I could even click my camera the young leopard dashed across like Grease Lighting !
Back in the car, I was wincing in pain from the cramp, and checked my camera thereafter. I had managed to catch only one shot of the cat peering through the bush, the crossing was too fast. But I was not upset as I was very happy in seeing a leopard finally in Udawalawe which is one of the rarest sightings one could get.
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