Sri Lanka: Part II: Yala National Park and Beaches

Diyaluma Falls

The drive through the heart of tea plantations to the southern tip of Sri Lanka to Yala National Park was long but gorgeous. Our driver took a hilly and slow route through valley after valley of every shade of green.

Stopping for a drink of King coconut juice

Everywhere you go are stands to buy fresh fruit or juices. The King coconuts are orange and the juice is less sweet than brown coconuts. Very refreshing.

Delivering coconuts to a restaurant.

Wetlands of southern Sri Lanka

As we approached Tissamaharama, on the southeast coast, the land became an agricultural wonder of rice paddies, peanut crops, banana plantations and more.

Visiting along the lake

Sri Lanka is predominantly Sinhalese Buddhist, from the Theravada Buddhist branch. There are also large populations of Tamil Hindus, Sri Lankan Moors (Muslim), and Christians. The Veddahs (hunters) are Sri Lanka's original inhabitants. There are only 2,000 Veddahs left today.

Buddhas along the highways

The statues of Buddha are almost always white with less adornment than seen in India or Thailand. When worshippers go to a Buddhist temple on a Sunday, they usually dress in all white.

Sri Lanka is home to several amazing national parks, sanctuaries, and refuges. Over 8% of Sri Lanka's land is home to these parks and sanctuaries. The biodiversity of Sri Lanka includes 92 species of mammals and over 400 species of birds. It is quickly becoming one of the planet's wildlife excursion hotspots.

Yala National Park is home to one of the largest leopard populations in the world. But even if you never saw a leopard here, the park is beautiful and teeming with birds, reptiles and occasional elephants.

Our driver/guide for our safari

We hired a driver/guide for just the two of us. The cost was spendy, $80 each, but worth every penny. The park was crowded with many jeep safaris, but the drivers took care to go in different directions so we felt as if we were quite alone for much of the safari until...

Leopard spotting!

Look closely behind the tree! This leopard was quite camouflaged, but an incredible sight. The drivers of the jeeps began calling each other and before we knew it dozens of other jeeps arrived. Two drivers even argued about who got there first. Arrgh!

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Land monitor: keeping the snake population down

Kingfisher

Water buffalo everywhere

Wild boar and egrets

Sign at our hotel

We stayed at the Yala Cinnamon Wild Resort while in Yala. It is a beautiful setting on the edge of the National Forest and bordering the Indian Ocean. The villas and "jungle cottages on stilts" were lovely. However, the resort seems to cater to tour groups. This was not the quiet jungle experience I had hoped for. But, with that said, there were animals traipsing through the resort each evening. Elephants were seen our first night, but we did not see them. However, wild boars wandered outside our cottages and crocodiles lazed in the lake next to our swimming pool!

Crocodiles , pelicans and cranes

Fishing huts at the beach at the edge of the resort

Beach at edge of resort

The next day we headed east along the southern coast in search of our friends, Kris and Rick.