Early morning on Friday we started from Colombo and headed straight to Back of Beyond – Gurugoda. We were greeted by Ajith and Anverdeen (a veteran trekker with excellent knowledge about Yala) along with Priyanjan who were waiting there to join the four day excursion to explore, particularly the block two of Yala national park. Yohan’s Nissan Patrol and Ajith’s Land Rover were quickly loaded with supplies and we left straight away to Palatupana Entrance.

At Back of Beyond - Gurugoda

Formalities at the park office did not take long. Wildlife department guide assigned to us was Premarathne. Premarathne is one of the most expreinced guides in service at the department today and he claimed that he is a descendant of Henry Engelbrecht, the first park warden of Yala. Well, he knew Yala well but largely his attitude and certain behaviors did not make us very comfortable with him.

Leaving park office we drove along the Yala main road to paranaganthota (a.k.a Parana Thotupola) where we crossed Menik River and entered Block 2. Our camp site was “Nuga Sevana”, one of the newer camp sites established on the bank of the river. It was only a couple hundred meters away from Paranaganthota (පරන ගං තොට).

Location of the camp site was good, particularly because of its proximity to the river. The river was so inviting with shallow flowing water and clean sandy bottom so that we couldn’t resist a long bath under the shade of giant Kumbuk trees every day! One of the negatives of the camp site’s location was its proximity to the Paranaganthota which is the designated resting place for day visotrs to Yala Block I. On Saturday and Sunday we got disturbed by their noise occasionally. Also there are couple other camp sites on the either banks of the river in some what close proximity. If a party at any one of the camp sites does not behave well, that tend to disturb the rest of the sites. On one of the nights we could hear people singing at one of the other camp sites (most likely Kosgasmankada). Wonder why the wildlife guide who should have been with them did not stop them.

It took some time for us to setup our tents. We had quite a number of them.

Crossing Over to Block 2 at Parana Gan Thota	At Nuga Sewana Camp Site
Menik River bordering the camp site	So obviously this is what we did for hours EVERY day 🙂

After setting up tents we had lunch we brought form BOB-Gurugoda. After lunch we relaxed a bit, and set out for the first drive in block 2. Passing Yala wela (යාල වෙල), we drove up to Katupila Ara (කටුපිල ආර).

Yala Wela with Maliththan Trees scattered

Water level in Katupila ara was too high for a vehicle to cross it safely at the usual crossing point. This is a usual occurance, particulalry in the dry season, when river mouth gets blocked with sad, forcing water to build up upstream.

Katupila Ara - Water Level was high due to closed river mouth

Mangrove Roots, Katupila Ara

We had to drive couple of kms  upstream to find a suitable crossing point with less water and we did a hassle free cross over to the other side.

Having crossed Katupila Ara, we drove back along the opposite bank of it and got back on the main road. Passing vast, dry, open, sandy sections of Pilinnawa Eliya (පිළින්නාව එලිය) we drove along the main road towards Kumbukkan Oya. On our list to see were fresh water wells at Pahala Poththana (also known as the Navaladi wells in Paada Yatra) and Uda Poththana Modara (උඩ පොත්තන මෝදර) (View Google Earth Trail Map (KMZ))

As soon as we entered Block 2, we immediately noticed two remarkable differences in the animals we saw, compared to block 1. The first was the size of herds of Deer, Buffalow and Boar. Every herd we saw had many dozens of animals which was a great sight to see. The second was their unfamiliarity with vehicles. Every creature we saw would start running like mad as soon as it saw our vehicles!

We came across large groups of Deer, Buffaloes and Boar but all of them were on the run!

A Large group of Wild Boar, again running like crazy for the dear life!

Occasionally there were "Brave Hearts" as well

We drove mostly  along the main road through scrub forest typical in the area. Passing open areas at Uda Poththana (උඩ පොත්තන), we drove further down towards Pahala Poththana (පහළ පොත්තන). To reach fresh water wells, one should deviate from the main road towards right, just before entering open areas at Pahala Poththana.

We first reached the place where there are three fresh water wells together. It immediately brought back memories of Pada Yatra we did couple of months back. While on Paada Yatra we spent couple of hours resting at this very same place. The only difference this time was that the huge Dun trees in the vicinity were full of fruits!

The three Wells

Dun Trees were full of Fruits

Signs of Pada Yatra

Signs of Pada Yatra

We left the three wells and drove few hundred meters further to reach another freshwater well. We were pelasantly surprised to find another hudge Dun tree full of fruits there as well. The Dun we found were much more tastier than what we had before .