Yala National Park, Sri Lanka

We arrived in Sri Lanka on October 31st, and have been staying with a lovely couple in Colombo as our "home base." 

Last week we spent 3 or 4 days south of Colombo in Galle and Tissamaharama. 

We went to "Tissa," as it is called for short, specifically to take a safari to Yala National Park, home to the highest density of leopards in the world.

We stayed at the Elephant Camp Guesthouse in Tissa, where an incredibly nice couple named Jaya and Indu fed us delicious foods and helped us arrange an amazing safari.

I had looked and looked online to try to find a good safari without breaking our small daily budget too far, and was having a hard time. I read on the Tripadvisor reviews that Jaya had helped people in the past arrange things so I emailed him the night before we arrived. 

When we got there everything was already set. He has a driver/guide named Janaka that he has been pairing up with for years, and because we were the only people there at the time, we got basically a private safari in the six seater jeep for around $80 total, which included the ticket fees for the park. 

They knocked on our door at 4:30 am and by 5 we were perched up high in the jeep driving through the dark streets on our way. Janaka kindly stopped for coffee at a small road side stand and handed up cups and saucers of it to us in the jeep, and we sat there sipping our coffee, feeling a little embarrassed at our luxury.

There were other jeeps along the way, and they all raced along as fast as they could, whizzing past us on narrow roads. Janaka kept a reasonable pace only, which he continued for our whole safari. He drove calmly and carefully, eyes peeled to make sure he didn't miss any animals.

In this way, when we were still about 2 miles from the park, we saw the following go past us along the road: scenery scenery scenery big bushes scenery bushes elephant scenery scenery scenery. It was such a strange surreal moment for my brain. This huge thing just standing there, hidden until the moment you actually passed it. Janaka slammed on the breaks and backed up, and after a few hesitant moments it crossed the road right in front of us.

 

   

As so often happens in nature, if we hadn't been there at just the right moment we would have missed it. Just like that it was gone again, well hidden in the brush even just a few feet from us. It was a bit frightening how easily it disappeared. What else were the bushes hiding?

The sun was still coming up as we entered the park. Leopards are the big thing at Yala, but honestly I didn't care what we saw. I have never been on a safari before, and I imagined it was a lot of driving around with occasional water buffalo sightings. Boy was I wrong!

Almost immediately after entering the park, a crowd of other safari vehicles announced something big. Not 20 minutes into our tour there it was, a lone leopard perched up on a rocky outcrop in the morning light, like something out of the Lion King.

It was a strange disconnect between what we were seeing and all the jeeps crowded around us. Because leopards are The Thing, there is a lot of pressure on the guides to get a sighting. They call each other when one is spotted (pun!) and kindly take turns putting their jeep in the best spot so everyone gets a chance to see.

After taking our turn we drove off and separated from the other cars, spending the rest of the time basically alone in the beautiful wilderness.

Janaka spotted all number of creatures great and small, all from the car as he drove along. His ability to find things was incredible, and he told us a little about each one.

Here is a sampling of the many many animals we saw:

Green bee-catcher, a tiny little bird.

Wild boar. The leopards sometimes eat their young.

Spotted deer, also leopard prey.

Water buffalo cooling off in the mud.

Monitor lizard. We also saw a couple of them up in the trees.

Buffalo with basket-weaver bird nests in the tree above it. 

Crocodiles

Many many wild peacocks and peahens.

Near the end of our safari we came upon a gaggle of jeeps pulled off the side of the road at haphazard angles. More leopards! This time a mother and her cub hanging out in the shade.

We watched for a while as they flicked their tails and cleaned their faces, just like every cat. One flopped over heavily on its side and the other got up and walked to another spot in the shade. 

None of the photos I took really captured it, but it was incredible. 

The best I have is this bad photo, where the leopard is in the center in that dark shaded spot. 

We also saw four different mongoose (mongeese?), which was really exciting. They have funny little tails held up in the air. One was digging around near some termite mounds.

There were a number of different birds, including spoon bills, great herons, egrets, and another giant bird I can't remember the name of.

We spent about 3-4 hours in the park, and finally headed back towards our guesthouse (almost an hour drive itself). Within ten minutes of being back at the house our complimentary breakfast was laid before us---tea and coffee, bread, jam, eggs, and fresh fruit.

It was quite a way to spend a morning, and I still can't believe it when I look at the photos. I had such a fun time searching for animals, jumping from one side of the jeep to the other with total freedom, and seeing such a crazy range of species.

We liked it so much we almost decided to stay and take an evening safari as well, but decided to save the fee for another one in the future in one of the other countries we are heading for.

The money is worth it just for the drive through the park alone, even if you didn't see anything else.

After breakfast we headed out back to Colombo, a roughly 5 hour journey by bus, auto, and train. But nothing could shake our smiles.

Thanks, Janaka, for an unforgettable morning!