We went to Sri Lanka at the wrong time, for the right reasons. I wanted to see leopard and the daughter was not interested in the kind of small plane flights required in Africa. Sri Lanka was mentioned as an option where we could basically drive (or be driven) from one safari park to another.

Then of course whales were mentioned. It’s a tropical island that sticks out into the depths of the Indian Ocean and blue whales are commonly spotted offshore. And not long after, super-pods of spinner dolphins joined the discussions.

None of this made travelling in march a good idea. It was fine looking just at the headline temperature of 30C but a lot less fine when joined with 85%+ humidity. We coped.

Full-day safaris reduced down to very early mornings and a single disastrous night safari, starting in Wilpattu which was fairly empty of people though with more dense scrub, also harder to spot the larger mammals.

Thankfully there were plenty of other creatures around to spot, and try to photograph with the new mirrorless camera not least a cobra (spectacle) that scared the living daylights out of both of us.

More than anything, the birdlife is the one reliable photograph just waiting to happen which is ironic given how totally useless my attempts were to practice with my new camera on birds back home.

Macaques can be found everywhere, especially where people and food congregate, but they are certainly photogenic.

But the star of the show is always going to be the leopard.