Sri Lanka Part 2 - Yala National Park I

Yala National Park was such an incredible experience with so many photo opportunities, so I'm going to split it into two posts! This is part one - the first afternoon and first full day there.

We left Sinharaja Forest Reserve on the Thursday morning, day four of the tour. We drove for a few hours through the picturesque hill country, through towns and tea plantations, and past the Udawalawe Reservoir, where we saw our first few wild elephants. 

Asian Elephant, Udawalawe Reservoir, Sri Lanka

We arrived at our accommodation, Lalan Yala Villas in Tissamaharama in the early afternoon. We were welcomed with a lovely cool face towel, refreshing drink and delicious lunch. We took in our stunning surroundings where we would stay for the next three nights - beautiful grounds and swimming pool, and villas for two, with a queen bed per person! We were in heaven! But we didn't have long to take it all in before we set off for an afternoon safari in Yala National Park. Straight away we started seeing new birds - Painted Stork, both Red and Yellow Wattled Lapwings, a Crested Hawk-Eagle high on a tree perch - and great views of an elephant. 

Painted Stork

Grey Heron

Yellow-wattled Lapwing

Crested Hawk-eagle

Crested Serpent-Eagle

Asian Elephant, Yala National Park, Sri Lanka

We saw Green Bee-eaters EVERYWHERE! On just about every bush! When we pulled up next to a bird on a branch, we were within two metres of it - almost too close for the telephoto lenses! I could have gone home then and been happy - but there was still plenty more to see, and we were hoping for a different sighting on our first afternoon in Yala.

Green Bee-eater

Green Bee-eater

At one point we stopped by a waterhole where we watched Asian Paradise Flycatchers flitting about.

Asian Paradise-Flycatcher

Some people spend days on safari in Sri Lankan National Parks without seeing a single Sri Lankan leopard... we saw THREE on that first afternoon! The first we got a glimpse of as it crossed the road up ahead and then disappeared into the bush. 

Sri Lankan Leopard

The second leopard sighting started off the same as the first - it crossed the track and disappeared into the bush. Another Jeep full of tourists, happy with their sighting, departed, but we stayed. Our guide directed the driver to back up around the track, where we stopped and waited. A few minutes later, the leopard emerged. It sat on top of a rock and groomed itself, then stood and started walking right towards us. A large male with a mangled ear, he got to within a few metres of the Jeep, before wandering off up the track and eventually disappearing off into the bush on the other side. 

Sri Lankan Leopard

INCREDIBLE! By then it was getting a bit late in the day, so we had to head back towards the exit. The park closes at 6pm, and any drivers leaving the park late are faced with a huge fine or a week long ban. We were cutting it fine, so we weren't stopping to look at any birds at this point... but then we came across our third leopard! It was disappearing into a bush, and unfortunately we couldn't stick around to see if it reappeared as we had to make it out on time. 

What an amazing first day in Yala National Park! We spent the evening having a relaxing swim in the pool, and a beautiful dinner, then had an early night as we knew we had to be up early the next morning. 

Very early in fact. Maggie and I awoke at 3:45am, for a 4:30am departure. The reason we had to be up at this unnatural hour is that the national park opens at 6am. But the park office issuing the entry tokens opens at 5:30am. The number your Jeep is in the queue is critical for ensuring that you get into the park as early as possible. The queue of Jeeps waiting to enter the park is further than the eye, or even telephoto lens, can see when it gets close to 6am, but we were always in the first few Jeeps to enter the park. Now that's dedication!

Line of Jeeps waiting to enter Yala before 6am

Once in the park, we headed out to known leopard territory. At some point our driver must have received a call from a colleague about a leopard sighting, so we went straight to the reported location. We sat and waited for a while before seeing anything. We were parked by a large, dead tree, and watched all sorts of birds come and go. Rose-ringed parakeets, Purple-rumped Sunbird, Bee-eaters of course, and my first and only ever Eurasian Hoopoe! 

Eurasian Hoopoe

We ate our breakfast, kindly packed for us by the staff at our accommodation - egg sandwiches, sausages and fruit (yum!). And eventually we got the call that the leopard had reappeared!  

There he was - a younger male leopard, chilling out under a bush. We watched him groom himself a bit and relax. Some Spotted Deer were unimpressed about the leopard's presence and were yelping away at him. 

He got up and ran a short distance, looking for a minute like he was going to chase something, but like all leopards we had seen so far, he disappeared into the bush! We spent the middle of the day watching birds, elephants and other creatures. 

Ruddy Mongoose

Woolly-necked Stork

Sirkeer Malkoha

Crested Hawk-eagle

Crested Hawk-eagle

We saw a few Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters, including one that was digging around in the sand, possibly looking for a suitable nesting site! Nico got awesome slomo footage of this bee-eater digging, as well as heaps of other fantastic moments from the trip (check out Lerako on youtube/insta etc). 

Chestnut-headed Bee-eater

Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters

Chestnut-headed Bee-eater

On the way to our lunch time rest spot, we were driving past a huge rock, and Maggie said, "Last time I was here, I saw an elephant walking along on top of that rock. Oh look, there's one now!" I thought she was joking, but there it was!

We were also lucky enough to see a family group of elephants hanging out and playing in the water together nearby.  

Asian Elephants

The rules in Yala National Park are that no vehicles are to be on the roads between 12pm and 2pm, which gives the animals a bit of a rest from the constant onslaught of tourist vehicles. Apparently there were previously shorter time restrictions for travelling in the park, during a bad drought. But when conditions improved and the opening hours extended again, this two hour daily road closure remained. During this time all Jeeps have to either leave the park, or stop at one of the park's two rest areas. There is one rest area at the beach, where we stopped both days, and one near a river. I highly recommend the beach site over the other for reasons I will make clear in my next blog post. The rest stops are the only two locations with toilets within the park - roadside bush-wee stops are not permitted, due the to potential danger from the wildlife. Having a rest and a chance to stretch our legs after over 6 hours in the Jeep was most welcome. We had our hot packed lunch of Biryani, also provided by our accommodation, and admired the sparkling Indian Ocean. 

Beach Rest Area, Yala National Park, Sri Lanka

Indian Ocean Beach, Yala National Park, Sri Lanka

Large-billed Crow

Monitor

We had barely left the rest area when another leopard was sighted nearby! We were one of the first Jeeps there, and managed to get into a good spot to view and photograph this leopard. It looked like the same large male we had seen on the rock the day before. He relaxed under a tree for a while, before getting up and strolling along giving us all a great view of his stunning coat. He stopped for a drink, and eventually disappeared. We headed around to a spot where our guide thought he might emerge, where some buffaloes were grazing, hoping we might get to see him in action hunting. He may well have been watching the same buffalo as us, but he didn't let us see him. 

We spent a bit more time that afternoon focusing on seeing some birds, and we got good views of some waders including Painted Stork, Indian Pond Heron and Common Sandpiper, and we also came across a White-browed Fantail sitting on a nest on a branch out over the edge of the track! The birds here sure don't seem to be scared of people! 

Red-wattled Lapwing

Painted Stork

Painted Stork

Indian Pond Heron

White-browed Fantail

Common Sandpiper

Later in the afternoon we stopped at a waterhole for a while, where we got good views of a crocodile coming up out of the water and resting on the bank, and Spotted Deer and Sambar Deer warily approaching the water's edge. Nearby to our Jeep, a male Indian Peafowl (simply known as the peacock to the rest of the world), strutted around.

Sambar Deer

Sambar Deer

Spotted Deer

Indian Peafowl

White-throated Kingfisher

It was time to get on the move again, as the leopards were on the move. A female leopard was heading along the road towards us, other tourist Jeeps close behind her. She was not at all concerned about the Jeeps, and apparently she has learned that they mean her no harm, and she intentionally uses the Jeeps as protection while travelling around the park, as no other leopards will attack her in a territorial dispute while she is surrounded by vehicles! What a clever and very beautiful creature!

It was nearing the end of the day, but we went to check out an area where some Sloth Bears had been sighted recently. We saw no sign of any bears, but we did watch a Pond Heron devour a frog, and a pair of elephants that appeared to be brawling.

Indian Pond Heron

Indian Pond Heron - it took a lot of guzzling water and shaking the frog around to finally get it down! 

After a long and exhausting, but exhilarating day we returned to our accommodation and prepared for another full day safari the following day. The rest of my time in Yala National Park will be documented in my next blog post, thanks for reading!