Tuesday 28th January - Yala National Park

Tissamaharama is famous mainly for being a place to stay while visiting the region's National Parks. That is why we are here. The alarm wakes us at 4 am and we grab a cup of tea as we dress. The instruction is to be at the hotel gate at 04.30 ready to be picked up for our Yala NP Safari. Only a few minutes late a small truck with tiered seating on the back pulls up. In India these are known as gypsies. Two ladies are already on board and Srimat, the driver/guide says there are two more to collect. Once this is done we set off on a hair raising ride through the darkness. Our man is Fangio with four wheel drive and is determined to be the fastest thing on the road. His approach to speed bumps is to take a run at them, while the white lines are for the guidance of mere mortals. The reason for the haste is that only a certain number of trucks are allowed into each sector. We fly past dozens of other gypsies and are only challenged in the last couple of miles when an even crazier guy tries to overtake. Our man swerves like Schumacher to fend him off.

When we arrive at the outer gate there is a long queue of vehicles. Our driver explains that we need to wait for the ticket office to open. This pause lasts twenty minutes or so then the line of vehicles moves forward a kilometre or so to the inner gate. Somehow we have got much nearer the front of the line. Here there is another wait of twenty minutes until the gate is opened and we can enter the park. Our chap gives us a pep talk about how difficult it is to spot leopards and sloth bears, Yala's star attractions. He also tells us that if we want him to slow down we only have to ask. Once the gate opens vehicles move off at intervals. The track is not too bumpy but a bit dusty. After about ten minutes we catch up with a gaggle of gypsies, with people pointing at a tree to the side of the track. Without too much difficulty we identify a large leopard lying on a main branch, with its legs and tail dangling down. The crowd grows but the leopard seems totally unphased and continues to snooze. We spend 20 minutes or so watching and taking photos as the sun rises and the light gets all wrong for photos. 

Moving on, it takes only a few minutes to spot the next leopard which is much closer and lying on a branch glaring malevolently at those with the temerity to intrude on its repose. After a few minutes it rises, stretches and glides down the trunk of the tree before disappearing into the undergrowth. We get going again stopping for items of interest along the tracks. 

There are lots of birds to see including two types of bee eater, green pigeons, waders, a sunbird and a couple of solitary painted storks. Our driver has a knack of getting up very close without seeming to disturb the birds. After a couple of hours he pulls up alongside a small lake where he says there is a good chance of seeing elephants. The ladies with us are absolutely thrilled by this idea and we have no objection. While we watch and wait breakfast is served and there are various things to amuse us including a mongoose and a common kingfisher having breakfast.

Eventually there is a crashing around in the undergrowth on the other side of the lake. A large female elephant appears followed by a baby one. They feed themselves by stripping foliage off the trees with their trunks. After a while junior moves to the water's edge to take a drink. The ladies in the gypsy are beside themselves with glee. Then an even larger female appears and joins the other two. To start with there were only a couple of gypsies on the scene but mobile phones mean that every driver in the park is in the know and it starts to get very crowded.

Srimat proposes that we move on and he takes us to another lake. On the far side we can see male and female spotted deer, and on a branch close to us a small monitor lizard poses. We see something disturb the surface of the water and Srimat tells us that it is a crocodile. Soon we get some much clearer sightings.

The witching hour of 11 am approaches, by which time we have to leave the park. We stop to watch a bee eater catching butterflies and get some good close up shots of a painted stork on the way back to the park entrance. The fun doesn't stop there as we see spoonbills, jackals and a much bigger monitor lizard just outside the park.

The ride back is rather sedate compared with this morning and we are dropped back at the Blue Turtle almost exactly seven hours after we were picked up. Our legs would barely work as we descended from the gypsy but we would do it again tomorrow. It's heading for hot time so we retire to our pits to catch up on some sleep for a couple of hours. When we wake it has cooled down a little so we opt for the near deserted swimming pool and get a decent swim in. Lazing on our balcony in the late afternoon we get some great bird spots just in the hotel garden, including our first barbets of this trip, the brown faced variety.

Just in time D remembers the laundry and we go to collect it, buying some essentials on the way. At the laundry we meet the driver/guide who is going to drive the gypsy for tomorrow's safari. He offers us a lift home with our bundle of neatly folded clothes which we gratefully accept. As we descend outside the hotel he points out a large star shelled tortoise grazing placidly on the roadside verge.

Once the clothes are in our room we set out again, taking the alternative route. We can hear, then see, a coppersmith barbet near the top of a dead tree. These small but brightly coloured birds are heard more often than seen as they go about their business impersonating wheezy oil pumps. A few steps along the track there is a tank and our eyes are caught by a flash of coppery red. It is a male Asian Paradise Flycatcher with an exceptionally long tail. This one will not sit for a photo but there is also a female, with the same colouring, but lacking the serious tail.

A look around the tank reveals pied kingfishers and a black crowned night heron. What a place! We drag ourselves away and make for the New Cabana, recommended by LP and open early which suits us. Monsieur le Patron is at the front door and he ushers us in. When we ask if beer is served he does not flinch but asks how many? Then he jumps in an auto, returning a few minutes later with cold cans of Lion. A tray appears displaying the catch of the day and we cannot resist the red mullet. We have giant spring rolls to start, then share a grilled mullet and veg fried rice. It is all delicious.

Early night again tonight as our alarm call is for 04.30.