Yala National Park
Yala is a National Park along the south eastern coast of Sri Lanka. There is a lot of talk about Yala, many people say it is good but plenty say it is not.. we were not sure whether to visit but our guide was adamant that we should give it a try..
We took a jeep with Upali and our jeep driver into the national park for an afternoon tour. Witihin the first 30min we saw two elephants very close to the jeep. We were packing our dacks when one of them, a male, was only about 1m from us, however he was happy just to pass us by and keep strolling. Looked like we were in for a good day. We went onto see a whole range of animals including the elusive leopard. Apparently it is very rare to see a leopard, however we saw a couple sitting together just lazing about in the afternoon sun.
Yala being located on the park was badly devestated by the Tsunami. The park is very flat and has a very long coastline. There is a monument to the many people who died in the park that morning doing exactly the same thing as we were doing that day.
The we stayed the night in, Tissa, was also the place where we had the best rice and curry of the trip.. at one of Upali's friends restaurants - Refresh. Delicious! They gave us soo much food we were no chance of getting it down. This was also the night India lost to Bangladesh in the World Cup, big talk over in Sri Lanka.
On the way to Yala we also stopped at a few km's over the main road to see some Buddha stone carvings. These carvings are a little different as they represent a buddha from a different Buddhist sect than most Sri Lankans follow. More reading for us to do.
