At first glance , you might mistake it for a normal house cat, but looking closer you will notice, its taller and long legged, as well as having a uniform sandy, reddish brown fur. and noticeable ear tufts which are not seen in regular house cats.
Very keen to see this rare cat during daytime, I was advised to head to Udawalawe to try my luck. With this in mind I made plans to visit with my friends Sapumal and Madhawa.
I managed to get the services of a very experienced tracker in Lionel and a superb jeep driver in Sanath to help us in our search. They were not full optimistic, but said we will try nevertheless.
Heading to the Maw Ara area we were on the lookout for any signs of the cats. Lionel taught me to look out for the chirping of birds in alarm, which is usually the signal the cat is around. Similar to the alarm calls we usually hear from the Spotted Deer and Grey Langur for the presence of a Leopard, in this case we had to wait and listen to the small birds.
As advised, we noticed the sudden flock alarm calls, and we waited. It took an eternity but our driver and tracker both advised us to be patient. And as predicted about an hour later, out came an adult Jungle Cat and her kitten. They were so fast and going in an out of the reeds and bushes, I could not get a clear shot. Before I knew it, they were gone.
Sad about missing the photograph, but happy at the same time in finally catching a glimpse of these beautiful cats, I was determined to try and find one the next morning.
Setting back into the park the next day we scoured the area and could not get any luck in spotting a cat, until mid day, when we were about to head back out, we came across a cat walking along the road in front of us. It was quite a distance away and we did not want to alarm it so we kept our distance and followed. The cat kept walking along the jeep trail and kept looking back at us, before slipping into the tall reeds and dissapearing out of sight. Sadly this time around as well I missed getting a photograph.
Few months later, I was determined to return back to the park and try again. This time I was alone, and went with my chauffer Sampath. On the first day into the park, we saw no cats, but rather many elephants. The next day morning, we headed back in early as possible, and came across a cat which slipped into the bush, but managed to look back at me for a few seconds before dissapearing.
We stopped on the road side for breakfast, and waited. The sun was blazing by this time and we decided to head back out. While driving along, Sampath told me he saw something sleeping underneath a bush. Skeptical I asked Sanath the jeep driver to reverse back. To my surprise it was a jungle cat, fast asleep in the shade. We waited and enjoyed our private time with this feline in slumber. Suddenly an approaching jeep's racing engine work the startled cat, who gave as a look for a few seconds before slipping back in to the bush, but gave me enough time for some photographs.
Elated, I left the park knowing how special and rare a daytime sighting of this predominantly nocturnal cat is'.
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