Cost: 5,500R (includes jeep and driver hire, entrance fee, 7 hour tour, breakfast and bottled water)
When we started researching Sri Lanka, Yala National Park stood out to me as being one of the things that I’d most like to see whilst travelling around the island. However, the more I looked into the safari’s, the more I grew unsure of whether to go or not. There are incredibly mixed reviews about the tours which makes it difficult to make a decision as to whether to go or not - especially for a budget traveller who doesn’t want to blow a lot of money on a trip that’s going to be disappointing.
'watch the animals behave how they normally would in the wild'
My main concern was that wherever I read up about Yala, there were consistently negative comments on the park being overcrowded, to the extent that there have been traffic jams inside the park. This put me off for two main reasons; Firstly, the welfare of the animals and the damage that these hoards of vehicles could have on their natural environment. Secondly, we wanted to watch the animals behave how they normally would in the wild, untouched by human interaction. Despite our reservations, we came to the conclusion that we were only going to have the opportunity to visit Yala once, so we should make the most of it; and we were very glad that we did! We booked a trip to commence at 05:00 for 7 hours, which also included breakfast, water, jeep and driver hire and cost us 5500 rupees each.
We got picked up in the jeep at 04:30am, outside our hotel, and the sun came up as we drove to the park. There was a short wait whilst our driver collected the tickets. As we waited, the number of jeeps multiplied (to well over 30) and it looked as though my concerns of overcrowding were going to be well founded. But, as soon as we entered the park it wasn’t busy at all, at times there were one or two jeeps within sight, but for the majority of the trip it was just us and nature in the park!
'deer, water buffalo, hornbills, warthogs and elephants'
What really made this safari great was the wildlife, as soon as we drove through the gates we saw an alligator and a herd of water buffalo, which was a pretty good start. We were lucky enough to see plenty of deer, water buffalo, exotic looking birds such as hornbills and birds of prey, warthogs, monitor lizards, and even a couple of elephants, in our pursuit of the elusive leopard which unfortunately eluded us.
'our driver frantically reversed as it charged towards us'
As the trip began to come to an end we were fortunate enough to watch an elephant crossing the road. There were a couple of other jeeps which must have startled the elephant as it began to charge towards us. Our driver had to frantically reverse a few hundred metres as it came towards us - it was really quite scary! Overall, we enjoyed the safari and although it is quite an expensive trip we were glad that we did it. There are other national parks in Sri Lanka that offer Safari tours, though the locals highly suggest that Yala is the main one for leopard spotting. Seeing the big cat shouldn’t be the deciding factor as to whether the trip was enjoyable or successful though. With all things in nature it can never be relied upon, so focusing on the leopard alone may mean you don’t appreciate all of the other wonderful animals you might see along the way.
The only thing I thought that would have improved the trip is if there was a guide with us in the jeep that could explain what the animals were, their relationship to the park and other relevant information about the wildlife. Our driver did make efforts to point things out to us - especially well hidden crocodiles, but a guide would have been much more interactive and educational.
