Full Day at Yala National Park

You may be wondering, “Stacey, isn’t a full day safari a little too much safari?” The answer to that question is yes. I love animals. Andre claims he has never met anyone who loves animals as much as I do, but by the end of the full day at Yala I had lost my enthusiasm entirely. I’ll start by saying that the safari was awesome. The park was teeming with an amazing amount of different animals. I would 100% recommend going on a safari there… But, driving through the park for well over eight hours on very rough roads that are full of jeep-sized pot holes makes for a very long day. You may enjoy riding the Tilt-a-Whirl and driving the bumper cars at amusement parks, but I doubt you’d enjoy doing it non-stop for hours on end.

But let’s start from the beginning. The morning was fabulous. We were picked up and taken to a local place closer to to the park entrance to have some breakfast, which was delicious. Egg hoppers, coconut sambol, some sort of spicy vegetarian rolls, and tea and coffee.

We entered the park as the sun was rising. The landscape was stunning and right away we saw a water buffalo sauntering down the road, some peacocks, a painted stork, and some gray langurs. We had read a lot of reviews talking about how crowded the park can be but I don’t recall seeing any other vehicles for a good hour and a half, and after that we only passed the same six to eight vehicles now and then throughout the morning. The park has a large leopard population and we read that the chances of seeing one were pretty good. We expected to see a good number of elephants and birds and some monkeys and figured a leopard would be a bonus, but we really didn’t think we would spot one.

But after just a few hours, right there in a clearing, was a leopard casually lounging in the tall grass. We all quietly freaked out.

He was far enough away that the binoculars were nice to have in order to see more detail of his face but you didn’t need them to see him decently. I would say he was a good 75 yards away. We were the only ones around and we got to watch him for about twenty minutes as he yawned and preened, all the while with a lookout monkey in a nearby tree calling out a warning of his presence. Or maybe our presence.

Eventually he tired of us staring at him and ambled away into the brush. It was super exciting.

When I was reading about people’s experiences at Yala many sightings were from so far away that they’d needed binoculars to see them in some far off tree, or they got a closer look but only for a fleeting moment. We were all pretty pumped and Muzo looked though his photos as we drove off. Oh, I forgot to mention that he’s a professional photographer with a sweet camera, and he was willing to share his photos with me! I bought a really good quality camera for our trip but I only wanted a point and shoot. I didn’t want to be lugging around some huge unit with me 24/7. It’s a great camera for day to day use but the zoom is just okay, and it’s definitely not for made for safaris. So thank you Muzo for sharing your images that far surpass mine! If you’d like to check out his stuff you can find him on Instagram under photobymuzo.

https://www.instagram.com/photobymuzo/?hl=en

 

After the excitement of the leopard sighting things quickly tapered off. From about 10am until we stopped for lunch we didn’t see much other than birds. At one point we had been driving for about an hour without spotting a thing. But, it’s a safari, not a zoo, so that was to be expected. In the heat of the day the animals are not out.

I was pumped to stop for lunch. First off, I really had to pee. There are no places to go in the park aside from the area you go to have lunch. The boys had all had to go earlier on in the morning and had been told to quickly hop out and immediately get back in if they heard another vehicle coming. I took on the role of the lookout monkey. Secondly, I was hungry. We had been driving for nearly 6 hours by that point and I had only eaten a small amount of breakfast because I knew there were no bathroom breaks… And third, I needed out of the whiplash machine.

The following is a fairly accurate depiction of the jeep ride, with the exception that none of our pants came off.

 

So with that video in mind you can understand why were happy to have a two hour break. We had a traditional Sri Lankan meal with curries and rice and some fresh fruit for dessert. During our lunch Andre got some lesson from our guide Nimal on how to eat like a Sri Lankan. With my long nails I didn’t even attempt it.

 

The park shuts down between noon and 2pm and the jeeps are not allowed to drive through during these times. This meant we had some time to relax after our meal, which was a relief because I’m sure many people wouldn’t have kept their food down for long if they’d had to get back in the jeeps straight away. Muzo and Hosni wasted no time after eating and promptly got their naps on. Andre and I wandered down to the beach to look around. I discovered that the area where we sat and ate was the foundation of the former Patangala Rest House house that was destroyed during the 2004 tsunami. Yala was in the direct path and three large tsunami waves hit the remote beach destroying the rest house and killing 47 visitors (15 Japanese and German tourists and 29 local visitors) The sculpture represents the three tsunami waves that struck the area, and the level of water after the tsunami.

Interestingly there was minimal damage done to the fauna and flora in the park. There were no reports of any deceased animals from those searching the area for survivors in the days that followed. Many newspapers claimed that some survivors saw elephants or animals running from the area prior to the waves hitting, like they had a sixth sense, however the only scientific information I read (which involved examining the location of elephants who had GPS satellite collars) found that there was no evidence that the animals sensed or attempted to flee the area. Although elephants have the potential to sense seismic cues from great distances, they found that their movement were not unusual leading up to the tsunami and that they just happened to be in an area that had sizable sand dunes which protected them.

Everyone must leave the park by 6pm so we roughly had four more hours to explore. At that point four more hours was starting to feel like a bit much. The morning had been wonderful and I had felt very satisfied with all the animals we had seen already, except perhaps for elephants. We had only seen one lone elephant in the morning so we were all hoping to see some more in the afternoon, but other than that I felt we couldn’t have asked for a better day. I even thought that if we saw a big group of elephants then we may ask Nimal to wrap it up early. Nobody else had said anything but I could feel that the rest of our group was burning out too. Kinda like this guy.

We ended up staying until the very end. Nimal was an excellent guide and he really wanted to show us everything he could. No creature was too small and he somehow spotted things we would never notice in a million years with his sharp eyes, like a tiny Chameleon perched atop a tree stump 20 meters away. The afternoon was not as eventful though. We saw many of the same animals but there were definitely fewer around.

We did encounter one more lone elephant as well which was nice, but I was surprised we didn’t see more. I had really thought that we’d see more elephants than anything else. As we drove around we passed more vehicles than we had in the morning. Not a crazy number but enough that you didn’t really feel so alone anymore. The drivers do call each other and chat as they pass, so later in the afternoon Nimal got a call about a leopard sighting and we headed over to check it out. By the time we arrived there were at least six other jeeps and the leopards (there were two) were so far off and high up in a tree that even with binoculars it was hard to really get much more than a blurry outline or a  bit of movement. For me that’s not really “seeing” an animal. We didn’t stay very long and we once again considered ourselves lucky to have had our quiet moment at a much closer range that morning.

Just before the end of the day Nimal got one more call. Another leopard. So off we went to investigate. Again, there were already a ton of vehicles there with all passengers craning out the sides with binoculars and cameras. This one was a bit closer than ours had been but all you could really see was its ears and maybe a bit of the top of his head because he was lying behind a bunch of brush and trees. We stayed a few minutes but didn’t feel the need to sick around. We had had our experience in the morning and it was getting closer to closing time. I suppose we could have stuck around and waited to see if he got up to move elsewhere but I think we were all entirely spent. It was a long and quiet drive back to Tissa. By the time we arrived back at our guest house, having dropped the boys off first, it was just after 7pm.

I was absolutely shattered after the fourteen hour day, with over ten of those hours being in the jeep. The next day I didn’t get out of bed until the late afternoon. I felt utterly exhausted and actually thought I had come down with something. Every muscle and bone in my body hurt. It felt like I had the flu. We did nothing the entire day and finally that evening I started to come around. So much so in fact that by dinner that night we had decided to do another safari at Udawalawe. Both Andre and I had expected to see more elephants at Yala, and to be perfectly honest I think it was cool that we got to see a leopard but I love watching the elephants much more. Our server hooked us up with a guy for the next day. This time we decided to do an afternoon safari because neither one of us were prepared to do another 5am start.

 

Half Day at Udawalawe

After a leisurely morning we had a late lunch and then set off for Udawalawe. It was just the two of us, which I was really surprised about. We were hoping our favorite guy at La Safari Inn would be able to join us but unfortunately there were too many people checking in that day and he was needed on site. He was kind enough to pack us a snack bag with some bananas, water, and Milo. They seem to love Milo in Sri Lanka. Once we arrived at the park a guide jumped in the back with us. We weren’t expecting a guide, as we got such a good deal on the tour and normally guides are extra. We were happy to have him though and soon enough we would be even more thankful to having him.

We came to Udawalawe because we really wanted to see some good sized groups of elephants and  be able to watch them for a bit longer. At Yala the brush is so dense that they are hard to spot and usually don’t stay in clear sight at length, although we had been very close to the two that did appear for a short time.

This leads to that saying about being careful what you wish for. Within twenty minutes of driving through the park we had seen one big group in some brush and a few lone elephants. We then rounded a bend along a large body of water and discovered one very sweet elephant enjoying himself. Soon two more appeared from out of the brush… then another. It was super exciting and a beautiful scene.

Initially, from where we were parked there was a very good amount of space between us and the elephants. But then they started to move. Initially only one set off in our general direction, but then stopped and sort of ducked in behind some bushes. I thought perhaps she would disappear into them but she just waited patiently as another lady began to slowly trod over. The remaining two stayed put across the water. As the second lady finally made it over to where the first had stopped I was surprised that she didn’t even pause. She just kept right on trucking and her gal pal immediately followed. This is when I thought I’d hear the jeep fire up and we’d start to back up (the only option we had to avoid them) along the track. But the jeep remained still and everyone was silent. When the ladies began crossing the last bit of water that separated us I felt very strongly that we should be moving. I looked to our guide but he seemed completely unphased. I assumed that we were not moving because it was safer not to startle them with the vehicle engine or movement. As the leading lady stared straight at us I channeled my energy of love and kindness at her sending out the “I love you and we come in peace so please don’t murder us” vibe.

As they stood in front of the vehicle we could hear their low vibrating rumbling. I don’t know what they were saying to each other but I feel like they were debating what they should do with us. As they made their way over to the side of the jeep where Andre was seated my heart started to race. I had given the GoPro to him so I could use my camera. He turned his back toward them as they neared and turned the GoPro around over his shoulder before handing it back to me. I assumed he wanted both hands free for when they rammed the jeep over. I was scared, slash excited. Like 85% scared and 15% excited. Then the trumpeting started and I was 100% scared. Andre looked like he may soil himself and kept asking our guide in a barely audible whisper if he could move seats. The response he received was the infamous head wobble. He followed up by asking if that meant yes or no. Another head wobble. The endearing relaxed head wobble of the Sri Lankans was not helpful here. It felt like the ladies stood there for an extraordinarily long time. While Andre continued to use submissive body language I locked eyes with the leader and continued to hope she could read my thoughts. Although they were already way too close for comfort a teeny tiny part of me had this thought. If they aren’t going to kill us it would be amazing if they just touched us with their trunks.

I know! I know. To help you understand my thinking process/insanity, just know that as a child I wanted to be Snow White. Not because of the handsome prince or the fact that she had seven men looking after her, but simply because I wanted all the woodland creatures to love me.

This didn’t happen though. Probably for the best as I didn’t bring extra pants for Andre. They eventually continued past us as our guide smiled and waved goodbye to them. I was starting to question his mental stability. After a few moments another smaller elephant passed by and joined the other two. I’m not sure where the fourth one went. While I had been focusing my mental energy on telepathy I think it had slipped into the bushes.

After the small posse got far enough away we began backing up and out of the area. Only a few moments later we came upon them again in another clearing along with some jackals, which apparently the elephants really hate. One of them actually charged. The leader of the pack did not look impressed with the jackals or us and I couldn’t blame her. I mentally told her with my eyes that I wasn’t sure what the hell was wrong with this guy and I was very sorry we were once again so close. Andre actually told our driver that he thought we were annoying her and that we should move on. But before we did the boss had already started to move past us. After that I told our guide that we were just happy to see the nature of the park. The birds, trees, flowers… whatever we happened upon but we didn’t need to see elephants all afternoon. I wasn’t keen on harassing more wildlife and the situation somehow made me think about Tig Notaro’s stand up routine “No Moleste”. She’s a fantastic comedian and you should definitely watch her specials (Boyish Girl Interrupted is my favorite).

 

I feel bad for the guides and drivers because I know they feel a lot of pressure to see as many animals as possible and as close as possible. There are tracks at both Yala and Udawalawe and drivers do not go off them but I still feel like they don’t give the animals enough space. You kind of feel like dirty paparazzi getting that close. If I were to stalk a celebrity for photos I’d have the decency to buy an excellent telephoto lens and hide in the bushes.

So for the remainder of the afternoon we cruised along pleasantly. Compared to Yala the roads in Udawalawe were like floating down a river. We spotted some tiny random critters like mongooses and water monitors, a few crocodiles, and more elephants but from a much better distance.

You can’t hear their rumbling in the video. It didn’t get picked up by the mic. But you can certainly hear the trumpeting!

 

No Regrets

Both of the parks were fantastic and they were quite different so I am very glad that we visited both. Yala was a great experience. We saw so many animals and the park itself was breathtaking. We saw water buffaloes, monkeys, elephants, jackals, a mongoose, water monitors, a giant squirrel, storks, peacocks, crocodiles, spotted deer, wild boars (wild dirty pigs as Muzo called them), iguanas, a chameleon, frogs, leopards, egrets, kingfishers, herons, and numerous other birds. My very favorite ones being the green bee-eater and painted stork. I would go visit Yala again in a heartbeat but I would only do a half day and I would choose the morning. Although Udawalawe doesn’t have the abundance of animals that you find in Yala, the park is also really lovely and if you want to see elephants that’s where you should go.

It’s worth mentioning that although our experience at Yala was positive, we spoke to others at our guest house who were not so lucky. They saw plenty of wildlife but reported that the park was so overrun with jeeps that they didn’t enjoy it. So perhaps we just got lucky. I will admit that if either of the parks had been flooded with vehicles when we were there I would not have enjoyed myself nearly as much. It’s all well and good that the animals are out in the wild but when there are dozens of vehicles all parked up as close as they can get you know it’s disrupting them and affecting their natural behaviours.

It’s been an action packed few days so now it’s time get back to lounging.

 

198 days in…

I could not love Sri Lanka more. Or could I? Heading for the beaches.