Table of Content:
- Introduction
- 5:30am: Rise and Shine
- 7am: Morning Game Drive
- 10am: Toileting in the Jungle
- 12pm: Mandatory resting period
- 2pm: The leopard spotting of the day
- 5pm: Final sightings
- FAQ’s
Introduction
Abundant in beaches, plentiful in rainforests and rich in wildlife, Sri Lanka is affectionately known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, and rightfully so! Situated just south of India, Sri Lanka is home to rice paddies, surf spots, fabulous curries, spectacular sunsets, and boasts a total of twenty-eight national parks.
A trip to this magnificent country simply would not be complete without venturing onto safari, and we were certainly spoilt for choice when it came to choosing a national park to visit. My partner and I were attracted to Udawalawe National Park due to its resident herd of over two hundred and fifty elephants, however, Yala National Park won us over as it holds the highest population density of leopards worldwide.
5:30am: Rise and Shine
Our day started promptly before dawn at 5:30am, where the sleepy hotel manager was waiting to greet us with a freshly packed breakfast and a smile. He took us to the front gate and introduced us to our driver for the day, before sending us on our way towards the national park for an early morning game drive. We stopped at a local lady’s home en route to the park, whereby our driver explained we would be collecting our homemade lunch, and low and behold, a large cool box emerged from the house and we set off once again.
As we journeyed towards Yala National Park, Sri Lanka slowly began to wake up. Choruses of birds began their morning song and the sun began to rise, and within half an hour we were beginning to approach the park. About ten miles outside of the gates, as we were nearing a lake, the driver paused to point out a sizable crocodile, unapologetically soaking up the morning sun just a mere fifty metres from local homes. After making the most of the photo opportunity, as safaris are seemingly unpredictable, we continued our travels towards the park and began eyeing up the breakfast bundle. We had been gifted honey sandwiches, a bunch of bananas and one small, entirely whole watermelon.
7am: Morning Game Drive
As we approached the gates to Yala National Park, our driver spotted an elephant stood at least nine foot tall, rather apparently strolling out of the park, in all of its glory. We took a sharp right turn down a mud track, and managed to catch a closer look before he sauntered off and we headed into the park, satisfied that we had already seen two of our most highly anticipated animals.
The purchasing of park entry tickets seemed chaotic to say the least, but as only licensed drivers and their vehicles were allowed to drive within the park gates, tourists were kept well out of the ticket purchasing and thus the winding queues of safari drivers. With that, almost two hours after we had left our hotel, by
7:30am we were making our way through the park gates and towards the direction of waterholes, in hopes of catching wildlife going for their morning drink.
The terrain was undeniably rough, and as the jeep made its way along the bumpy, dusty roads, throwing us around on the back of the jeep, if we weren’t already wide awake, we certainly were now! We first stumbled across hundreds of buffalo fully submerged within the waterholes, with just their eyes, nostrils, and horns visible to the naked eye. Despite the park being home to elephants and leopards, our driver advised us that the buffalo is deemed Yala’s most dangerous animal, as they will charge unprovoked and with no remorse. I was pleased to move on quickly!
We came across a monitor lizard digging on the side of the road, supposedly for the purpose of egg laying, alongside green bee-eater birds, with their exotically green coats, which just could not be missed! We had chosen not to opt for a tour guide as well as a driver, as we were on a tighter budget as backpackers and on reflection, I couldn’t be more pleased with this decision! Our driver was brilliant at pointing out wildlife I simply would have missed without his guidance, with him even stopping to point out coloured lizards and sleeping birds.
By 9am, news had travelled fast of a nearby leopardess and cub sighting. We sped to the spot, but naturally we weren’t the only vehicle who had news of the leopards, and so we joined jeep traffic. After ten minutes of crawling towards the site, we finally caught a glimpse of a mother leopardess nestled under a low-hanging tree tending to her cub, and she was certainly worth the wait!
10am: Toileting in the Jungle
Toilet stops were, as expected, few and far between, but as it neared 10am, we took a right turn off course and headed to a rest point. I was pleased for the opportunity to use a toilet as I had prepared myself that I might have waited until lunch, however upon asking to be directed to the toilet, our driver informed us they were under maintenance and consequently closed. Instead, he walked my partner and I into the wilderness and advised us on a particular tree to relieve ourselves behind. As I ventured behind the said tree alone, our driver turned back to us alarmed and exclaimed to my partner “no, no, go with her, we are in the jungle remember!” Undoubtably, one of my wildest, in all senses, toileting experiences!
After our short leg stretch and toilet break amongst a troop of monkeys, we headed back into the heart of the park and set out in search for more wildlife. Nevertheless, as the sun was undeniably out and scorchingly hot, most animals had seemingly retreated to shady spots to escape the heat of the day, and so the latter half of the morning safari was relatively unsuccessful.
12pm: Mandatory resting period
Yala National Park has a strict two-hour rest period between 12pm and 2pm, whereby the morning safaris must conclude their tour and leave the park, and all remaining full day jeep tours must head to the resting point. Here our driver set up our delicious, homemade spread of traditional Sri Lankan curries, complete with papadums, a mountain of rice and, to our relief, the watermelon was sliced up for us. As the reserve borders the Indian Ocean, after lunch we had just enough time spare to stroll along the beach, admire the coastline and take a quick snooze in the sun, before climbing back onto the jeep and adventuring back into the park at exactly 2pm.
2pm: The leopard spotting of the day
Just fifteen minutes after re-entering the park, my partner was sure he had spotted a flash of yellow with black spots, so the jeep pulled to a halt and we decided to play the long game and wait, in hopes of a leopard emerging from the wilderness. To our luck, after a short ten minutes, there was an audible stir from the thicket, and two leopards sauntered through the shrubbery just twenty feet from our vehicle. Naturally, news had spread of our two leopards, and parades of jeeps came hurtling along the dirt tracks, clustering around us and blocking us in from all directions. We waited longer still, amidst at least fifteen jeeps in hope of a leopard encore, but with no success. Slowly but surely, the surrounding safari drivers grew inpatient and dropped off one by one, but we waited, and waited, and to our delight, the pair of leopards rewarded us with one final look and strolled out in front of our jeep and off into the jungle.
5pm: Final sightings
The remainder of the afternoon was relatively fruitless, catching the occasional buffalo basking in the shade, awaiting the sun to set. Yala National Park houses deer aplenty, the Axis Spotted Deer and the Sambur Deer, but as the afternoon stretched out before us, even the deer were few and far between. By 4:30pm, our driver took a final expedition down the dusty side tracks of the park and pointed out the backside of a Cobra inching into a tree trunk and, as anticipated, she entertained the crowd by poking her head out of a tree hollow.
As we travelled towards the exit gates, exhilarated from our day in the park, we were greeted by the perfect finale to the perfect day. A family of elephants, calves aplenty. We kept our distance, not wanting to cause a stir, and simply enjoyed our front row seats to these magnificent mammals gently parenting their infants.
The sun began to sink and we journeyed towards the gates, exhausted from our full day in the park but truly euphoric from our wild encounters. Yala National Park you were a dream.
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