A Book That Traces a Nostalgic Journey across Old Ceylon
The story of The Man Eater of Punanai is as fascinating as the storyteller.
Sir Christopher Ondaatje pens a story that grips a reader. We have savoured words, pages, sentences that reminds us of days gone by on our island that was then famously known as Ceylon. To the days when his father took him on a trip in 1946 across a very different Sri Lanka. Its a book that makes us nostalgic, like sepia pictures do, in fact.
The sepia banner image of the two leopards is part of a collection of 50 images we captured one eventful day in the wilderness of Wilpattu National Park in North Central Sri Lanka, watching a family of four leopards - a mum and her three cubs all grown up but shy. The Naturalist who guided us that day was a boy from a village nearby. He had lived all his life near Wilpattu and had never seen four leopards together in his life. His guiding skills were beyond incredible! After the leopards moved away, a thought crossed our minds. What if we started curating incredible journeys across Sri Lanka that will leave visitors spellbound. A year later, Ayu in the Wild was born.
Sir Christopher Ondaatje’s story is about a different leopard. One, that was not so shy.
The Man Eater of Punanai is not just a book about Sri Lanka and its wildlife
It’s about a father-son relationship, about childhood spent on a tea estate, visiting childhood haunts like the beautiful Galle Face Hotel and about tracing the heritage of the erudite Ondaatje family in Sri Lanka from the time when the first Ondaatje came to Ceylon in 1659 as a doctor from India. The story is about winning an Olympic Gold Medal for Canada, about basking in the warmth of true Sri Lankan hospitality and about a boat trip from Ceylon to England that took three weeks.
The narrative swerves between the twists and turns of an island that found its feet after gaining Independence from Britain in 1948 and the author’s journey into rebel held territory ravaged by the terrible Civil War that bruised the island and islanders. A journey from a life of business success in Canada, to the jungles of old Ceylon to weave a story of a leopard that terrorized a simple north eastern village in Sri Lanka.
“When I was a boy in Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was known until 1972, my father took me on a trip around the island. It was probably the highlight of my life up until then, and it was certainly the last thing we did alone together. The year was 1946, I was twelve, our lives were about to change dramatically, and we would be separated forever….Our final journey together took us by car and driver from my father’s tea estate in the Kandyan foothills first down to the Yala Game Reserve on the southeast coast and then north to the ancient cities of Sigiriya, Anuradhapura, and Polonnaruwa.
Of the fortnight or so we enjoyed together on our drive around the island in 1946, I particularly loved our days and nights at the Ruhuna National Park, more commonly called Yala. It was there at that time that I saw my first leopard….
I was full of questions for the trackers…I never forgot the guides’ story of the man-eater of Punani.”
- Sir Christopher Ondaatje, The Man Eater of Punani
The story is brilliant and compelling.
But the true story has an ending that was never published by the editors.
Sir Christopher subsequently wrote a series of articles about it to the Sri Lankan Newspapers in 2007 which were as enthralling as they are unbelievable. The press clippings are carefully folded within our copy of the book.
- Chamintha and Rajindra -
Founders, Ayu in the Wild
Ayu in the Wild Holidays are specialists in curating sustainable slow luxury holidays to Sri Lanka, since 2012. A 100% Sri Lankan owner-run bespoke luxury travel agency. Founders @sustainabletravelsrilanka
Whatsapp Us on +94 77 248 1100
or email info@ayuinthewild.com
