![]() |
Copyright Notice: Please obtain permission from the author before duplicating, re-publishing or adapting content of a trip report |
![]() |
Be a responsible traveler! Watch this video before you hit the road! Download Video: MP4|3gp |
![]() |
Do you like to contribute a Trip Report? learn how to or download template and start straight away! |
Year and Month | February, 2011 |
Number of Days | 3 days (two nights) |
Crew | Six adults (age 25 to 35), Ruhansa (2 yrs) & Thihela (1 yr) |
Accommodation | Thalgasmankada Wildlife Dept Bungalow – Yala National Park |
Transport | Two Cars and a Double Cab up to Yala EntranceHired Safari Vehicle(Bindu’s truck) inside the park |
Activities | Wildlife, Photography |
Weather | First two days waere Mostly Overcast with slight showers in the first night. The third day was clear and bright |
Route | Moratuwa -> Kottawa -> Awissawella -> Ratnapura -> Pelmadulla -> Udawalawe -> Thanamalwila -> Tissamaharamaya -> Palatupana -> Thalgasmankada |
Tips, Notes and Special remark |
|
Author | mithila |
Comments | Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread |
This was my first visit to Yala after a break of more than two years. Even this time, it was only possible thanks to Pradeep & Erandi who organised everything from booking the Thalgasmankada Bungalow, arranging Bindu to drive us around and all rations for cooking!
We left at around 6.00 a.m in three Vehicles. Gone are the days where we would leave Colombo early enough to be at Yala by 6.00 a.m and straight away start an early morning drive around the park. Now the little ones decide the schedule and by the time we reached Yala it was around 1.00 p.m
We took Udawalawe route and roads were in great shape throughout except for about 4km between Pannegamuwa and Debarawewa which is still under construction. Particularly newly paved Udawalawe – Thanamalwila stretch was superb!
Beggar elephants of Udawalawe (See discussions Begging Elephants at Udawalawa and Elephant Beggars….?). Its a sad sight to see people engadging in this practice of feeding wild elephants which is bad for beasts as well as a dangerous thing to do when the electric fence is switched off during the day time.
By the time we reached Palatupana entrance of Yala it was around 1.00 p.m. We met Bindu at the park entrance. We parked the two cars at the park office and headed towards the bungalow.
As soon as we entered the park, I noticed that it was quite wet, lush and greener than what it usually is in February. All water bodies were full to the capacity. Flowers were blooming all over the place and it was very different from the dusty and dry Yala you see for the most part of the year.
We reached Thalgasmankada Bungalow at around 2.30 p.m. We learnt that we were the first party to stay there after it was closed following an LTTE attack on the army camp which used to be there in front of the bungalow, about two years back. Until lunch was ready, we walked around the bungalow and spent some time at the river which was almost overflowing.
After Lunch we relaxed a bit and started our first drive in the park. It was the first time some one else was driving me around in a park. Bindu’s specially modified vehicle provided a good, unobstructed view of the surrounding and since I was not driving, I had all the flexibility required for taking pictures. But I quickly realized that having the full control of the vehicle is far more important for me than anything else, specially with a driver like Bindu who’s one and only objective was to spot a leopard. Bindu had very little interest in the rest of the wildlife and the beauty of the park and was prepared to do anything, including breaking rules and some of the wildlife viewing ethics, to take us closer to a leopard.
As a result of this we did not see much during this first drive and ended up spending a long time in a queue of Jeeps to get a glimpse of a sleeping leopard!
If you go to Yala and tell your jeep driver and the trekker; “Show us a leopard some how”, this is what you will most likely to to end up with
Most part of the afternoon was spent in “traffic” with little reward. If you really want to avoid this sort of a situation; the best would be to set the right expectations with your trekker and the jeep driver. Tell them that you are here to enjoy the beauty of the park; if you come across a leopard in the process, that will be great! but don’t spend your valuable time in the park just looking for leopards, you are missing much more if you do that.
On our way back to the bungalow; a painted stroke and a jungle fowl were spotted at close range.
On the following day we left early for the first drive of the day. Again to our dissapointment the mad chase behind leopards restarted and rendered the whole morning drive useless! One of the biggest problems was lack of an instant communication mechanism between the driver/trekker who were in the front cabin of the truck and us who were in the back.
It was an overcast day at Yala (unusual in FEB!) and therefore we decided to do a mid-day drive as well. This time we told Bindu and the trekker that we would like to do a more relaxed drive and asked them to look for other wildlife other than the leopards. The situation improved dramatically! ..and the below images proves that it is us who should set the right expectations with the jeep operators and trekkers, because they seems to assume that everyone comes to Yala only to see leopards.
We returned to the bungalow for Lunch after the most successful drive so far.
At around 3.30 p.m. we started our third drive of the day. It was a Friday but the park was full of jeeps carrying foreign visitors. The leopard rush was out all over the park again. Luckily we spotted a leopard quickly! It was in a deep sleep on a rock and was barely visible. We managed to park our truck at a bend of the road, leaving enough space for the others to pass us and have a good look at the creature without us having to move. To take the advantage of this unique position we were in, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon there and wait until the leopard wakes up.
As expected the drama started again! The news of the leopard spread in the park at the speed of light (with the help of mobile phones!) and in a matter of minutes there was a long queue of jeeps going past us, stopping for couple of minutes to take a look at the little bit of the creature that was visible, and wondering what the hell were we doing parked at the corner, staring mostly at the large rock where only the tail of a leopard is seen 🙂 .
The number of jeeps passing us slowly died down. We still did’t want to move and be part of the mad leopard hunt. So we continued to wait there. Finally it was getting close to 6.00 p.m. and we prepared to leave. Fortunately the leopard decided to wake up at last! It woke up and sat on the rock posing beautifully to the camera. Unfortunately light was not enough for a good shot .
After two days of overcast weather, the third day was bright and sunny. It brought back the ideal conditions for photography but we had little time to spend in the park as it was the last day. The morning drive again brought good results as we did not focus too much on Leopards.
That was it mostly. After the morning drive we packed our stuff and left the bungalow. On our way back we were lucky to see a leopard again. Unfortunately no photo opportunity again.
We were back at the park entrance well before noon and reached home in the evening.