From my March 2022 trip to Sri Lanka. I love wildlife photography, and Sri Lanka offers an abundance of fantastic wildlife in every corner and every garden. These photos represent some of the big and small wild cats that I was lucky enough to see.

The rarest of the cats are the photos of the Fishing Cat, a small wild cat found in South Asian countries. Basically, India and Sri Lanka. They are rare; a sighting is by extreme dedication or dumb luck. I fall under the second variety regarding how I saw the cat and got hi-rez photos.

I was only on my second day in paradise and walking in my brother in laws back garden. Past the garden is a paddy field. I was in his garden, contemplating that I was actually here in SL; for me, that's paradise. Camera in hand because amazing stuff happens here all the time. I was set up for rapid fire. As I approached the fence looking out at the paddy field, I saw something jump in a cat-like motion. Then I saw two more. Quickly and without thinking much, I raised my camera and started firing. After a second, I realized what I was seeing was, indeed, a cat, a wild fishing cat mom with two kits! Sadly I only got the mom on camera. Her kits were quickly deep into the tall plants.

Sightings of these cats are rare, and for the rest of the month I was in Sri Lanka, locals were asking to see the photos on my camera. But interestingly enough, they are said to be in growing numbers around Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. 

Leopards are easier to find and photograph but still have no guarantee. A safari trip to Yala will offer the best chance, and it is easy enough to higher a jeep and tracker. Many hotels and camps around Yala will have in-house services for that. I'm lucky enough that I have family in Sri Lanka, and even more fortunate that one of them happens to be one of the best naturalists in the country.