When Wellness turns into a Hunt for a Crocodile in the City

It was 12:00 in the afternoon, the sun was high  and no one crazy enough to be out on foot in the streets of Colombo. At least, that is  except for us . Today my dad and I wanted to try and find saltwater crocodiles which had been spotted in a walking park  which we often went to for bird photography. This all started when our school decided dedicate Friday as a “wellness day. We had been going through a lot of work and stress thanks to endless online learning. This wellness day  would mean we had to stay screen-free as much as possible thus I decided as a way to show I was being “well”, I would photograph a wild crocodile in the middle of the city!

However, the only problem was that Colombo’s crocodiles come out only when the sun is high  and most people are taking a rest. Although I was reluctant at first, I grabbed my equipment and grumbled as we left the house for the city.  Yes, you heard me right, the crocodiles were actually being found in the city and not in some marshes somewhere far away from Colombo. The place we went to was called Weli Park and was a well-known place for its good sightings of rare species of birds. The sun was blazing hot and not even any animals were crazy enough to walk out in this weather. Everywhere I looked, birds, squirrels, lizards, all of them resting in the shade away from the light. As my dad and I walked, we slowly could feel ourselves being melted as the sun hit us with its full might. I could feel myself getting more and more tired by the minute, what’s worse was I was hungry.

We walked for half an hour and still, we saw nothing, so we searched again for another 30 minutes and still nothing. But then just when we were going to give up, I noticed that there was something leaving the marshy trees and entering the water. Something large and with a leathery skin texture. There it was, the saltwater crocodile just soaking itself in the water minding its own business. The crocodile would stay there for almost nearly 40 minutes before eventually leaving the water and heading into a sewer pipe. By that time my dad and I got enough photos to fill an entire album. We realized the sun was getting too bright and as such we eventually left the part, content with what we photographed.