Just before we stretched ourselves and closed our eyes we were told that frequently wild elephants come and eat the left over fruits and food we have heaped near the kitchen. We were advised not to get up or make any movement even if we see an elephant near the hut. As long as we do not disturb or excite them and have our lantern burning the elephants are not going to cause any harm. I could hardly sleep that night. Every few minutes I would imagine seeing the long trunk of an elephant coming over the half wall of our mud hut trying to grab one of us. Eventually I dozed off through sheer exhaustion.

We started on our field work early morning before it got too hot in these near arid conditions at Yala. Dr. Domboise dropped their lady visitor and me near a spot where there were monkeys and proceeded to demarcate their field plots. While we were walking towards the bunch of monkeys she explained that monkeys have methods of exchanging information comparable to languages among people. In fact different species use different types of chatter and she could recognize several such ‘languages’ among the African species. When we were within sight of the monkeys suddenly the entire bunch became agitated and started shouting and shrieking. My colleague stopped in her tracks and said “There is some danger lurking close by”. My immediate response was “Could it be wild elephants?” She said “No, monkeys do not get excited by elephants, but there is a carnivore in the vicinity and let’s be alert”. Within seconds we noticed some disturbance among the bushes and within 50 yards in front of us we spotted a leopard darting across at high speed. Within the next few seconds we spotted it on to our left and then behind and it was obvious that the fellow was circling the two of us. I was shivering with fright. What the hell could we do completely unarmed walking on foot against a huge leopard? Several thoughts flashed through me. I thought of my mum, my girl friend, my brothers and friends and colleagues in the university. How will they react when they receive the tragic news of our being mauled by a leopard? Will one of us live to relate the final moments of our struggle against the beast? How painful would it be before you lose consciousness? Many such dreadful thoughts passed through me as we ran towards the jeep and the few minutes felt like hours. To our great relief we heard the roar of the jeep engines and we ran and climbed into the vehicle gasping for breath. Perhaps this is the closest I came to possible death by a beast after my narrow escape from a poisonous viper when I was an infant (see the story ‘A miraculous escape’).

That night our guide who has now become quite friendly suggested that we should go out with him and track elephants. Perhaps due to the Dutch courage from the few drinks we’ve had we agreed. After dinner he gave us strict instructions that it is absolutely essential that we obey him to the letter if we are to successfully track and spot elephants. Each one of us was given a powerful flash light and was asked to switch them only occasionally and direct the light only towards the ground unless a command is given otherwise.  Once we got out of the hut and took the bend it became pitch dark and we followed our guide in single file, lighting the flash lights only momentarily. There was an eerie silence broken only by the ear piercing chirps of locusts. The only beautiful sight was the continuous glow of thousands of fireflies glittering among the dark bushes. We may have moved about 100 yards away from our huts and our guide said there were six elephants in the vicinity and he’ll show them to us one by one. He reminded that as long as we are silent and cautious and follow his instructions there is no danger. Then he gave a signal to flash one light to our left and lo and behold, it flashed on the posterior of a big elephant perhaps not more than 10 yards away. The animal had its head buried in the bushes from which he was eating some foliage. Once the light was switched off my legs were wobbling with fear. After all there is a wild elephant so close and its pitch dark I may even go and knock myself on it. All the Dutch courage had vanished and I was thinking to myself what a foolish decision it was to come out like this. Now there was no going back but to face the consequences come what may. Having proceeded another distance we spotted another smaller elephant again from behind. By the time we saw the 4^th animal it had become less scary and I became confident of our guide and his expertise. It was becoming evident that he is taking us down stream of the wind direction and always behind the elephants. This way the danger of the animals scenting or seeing us is minimal. As promised he showed us all the six animals in the herd before returning to the camp. We had to gulp another round of spirits before we could go to sleep.

The following morning our guide proved another point. That is, the bunkum behind all the talk of special chantings (‘Manthrams’) that certain trackers claim to use to stop attacking elephants. His theory was, although the elephant is huge he is not quite aware of its size and could be scared by strong sound or command. He claimed that is how elephants are scared by the roar of a lion which is a much smaller animal. He took a challenge to prove his theory.

A lone elephant with a broken tail used to come regularly to drink sea water at a point close to our camp. Our guide said he’ll provoke the fellow to attack him and then scare the beast by shouting at it with confidence. While this demonstration will take place on the beach we were asked to hide behind the bushes and watch. Early morning we saw the elephant called ‘Waliga Kota’ (short tail) having his usual drink of sea water. Our guide went in his bathing trunks and stood about 30 yards behind and clapped his hands. The animal turned around, raised its trunk and starting running towards him in a crouched attacking pose. Our guide stood his ground and shouted some utter filth in Sinhala in a strong commanding voice. It was not a scared shriek or scream but a voice with confidence. The elephant came up some distance, then turned away and ran crashing into the bushes. Our friend certainly proved his point. He jovially said that the elephant did not shy away because of his filth, but the only strong Sinhala commands he is familiar with are those. Nevertheless, he cautioned us never to try it ourselves, because unless you are a real jungle expert your voice will give away and elephants can sense the hormonal changes in your body. Furthermore no one should do these gimmicks when there are baby elephants around and also against rogue elephants. He compared a rogue elephant to a madman rejected from society and therefore they behave completely irrationally.

By the time I completed my stay at Yala I have learnt more on elephant behavior from our guide than the information on the flora we were supposed to study. After a 10-day stay Dr. Domboise and I left for Peradeniya while the lady scientist went back to Colombo.