One of our favorite parts about living in Singapore has been sitting on our balcony and watching nature drift by. The different birds we have seen, parakeets, cockatoos, even a hornbill, the occasional monitor lizard and the squirrels that seem to have a death wish as they leap from branch to branch, have provided endless hours of entertainment. This past week we traded in the comforts of our porch for some 'relative comforts' at Yala National Park in southern Sri Lanka to get up close and personal with a few larger creatures in the wild.
Our red-eye flight from Singapore to Colombo was thankfully uneventful. The fact that we had traded in miles to fly on Singapore Airlines resulted in us being able to pass the time beforehand in the lounge and then even be treated like an actual human being on the plane. The budget airlines are great people movers, but sometimes, its just nice to get a hot towel after being seated. We crossed another item off the bucket list next, stay at an airport Ramada, sadly the lounge singer was done for the night. Pretty close to the airport at least, all we needed as a quick nap, shower and then we were out the door in the van for the 4 1/2 journey to the southern part of the island.
The drive down was a cross between two worlds. When driving in Sri Lanka on the highways, especially at night, you could easily assume you were in the U.S. Once you are off of them on more local roads and start weaving your way between tuk-tuks, multicoloured buses and seeing coconut vendors everywhere, you quickly realise you are still in Asia. We tried our first king coconut mid way through the ride, smaller and yellow in color, quite good. Eventually we were at the drop off point and a huge off-road vehicle with 6 open air seats in the back was waiting for us. 10 minutes later, we were turning down a rutted dirt road and into the Mahoora camp for the next 3 days.
In the drive from Colombo we had gone from a tropical island to a dusty, scrubby savanna. Hard to believe we were even on the same island. Still with trees, but not tropical in feel at all. They dryness would ultimately work to our advantage as the watering holes in the park were shrinking so it would provide better animal congregating and viewing opportunities. After 'checking in' to the Palu tent (dangerously close to the Pulau), our glamping (glamorous camping) experience officially began. Our tent had two comfortable cots, toilet, shower and most importantly, what became known as the net of safety around the bed. In theory, it should keep intrusive species at bay, mostly bugs but hopefully anything else that was interested in the new guests. We then had a variety of Sri Lanka curries for lunch, our first experience with the local Lion beer and it was off for our first of four safaris.
Camera in tow, we climbed into the jeep and 10 minutes later we were going through the gates of Yala. Once we had picked up a local spotter our naturalist turned back towards us and gave us my favourite line of the trip "the game is on." The prize was leopards and this was the best place in the world to spot them. Unfortunately, there was no guarantee we were going to see anything other than water buffalo and peacocks. Tour groups had come and gone and never seen the tawny, spotted felines that blend so well into the bush. Our first hit after driving around for half an hour was a sloth bear. Our naturalist got more excited than we did right away, apparently they were nocturnal and the rarest animal to see in the park. In this case, his favourite berries were in season so he was out for a mid-day snack, kind of like me waking up early on a Saturday to procure lychees and rambutans from the market.
Further down the trail, after sighting multiple water buffaloes, crocodiles, spotted deer and few mongooses (mongeese?) we rounded a corner and came to a screeching halt. Across a small pond a crocodile was sitting with its mouth open..... and 20 meters to the left our first leopard was sprawled out in the sun. Success! After about 15 minutes she wandered off, bored with her daily photo shoot, and we continued on our way as well.
All we needed to see was an elephant and our checklist would practically be complete. It was starting to get dark though and time to head back to camp. As we began to make the break for home we rounded corner #2 and she was back! We had just gotten done asking how close we might get and now, not more than 3 meters away, the dominant predator in the park was lying on the ground posing for us. again Wow! Thoroughly impressed, thoroughly exhausted and thoroughly dirty, we headed for home, ready for some food, drinks and relaxation.
Sleep was good - we were briefly awakened by some small creature that made a meal out of our soap of all items, but it was time to get dressed and on our way. Today would be a morning and evening ride. After again declaring the game was on we immediately spotted a leopard cub in the bush. He wasn't as confident as his mother though, and 30 seconds later he slipped away. We thought this was a good sign, but would ultimately prove to be the highlight of the day. We drove over 80 kilometres in the morning and although the views were incredible, for awhile we were down by the pounding ocean where the Boxing Day Tsunami washed ashore, the scenery and some colourful birds were all we had to show for our efforts. The afternoon trip out was the same, with a very brief spotting of elephants this time, but not much else. 
We had considered sleeping in and skipping our last ride, but after the somewhat fruitless second day, our minds were made up to give it a go. Almost immediately, we were rewarded for our persistence. Leopard tracks were spotted on the road, they like walking on the soft dirt as it is easier on their paws. They must have been fresh as the jeep roared into high gear..... and then came to a screeching, skidding halt. Ahead on the path, sprawled in the dust as if none of us mattered, was another leopard. We would have been happy to have been done at that point, 5 minutes in and we had reached the top rung again. 
