Today is all about wildlife and we crossed another item on our bucket list. An early 5:30a morning started with a safari tour of Yala National Park. This park is one of the premier parks in Sri Lanka and is teemed with wildlife like spotted deers, wild hogs, wild water buffalos, wild elephants, crocodiles, pythons, and the only park in the country to spot the elusive leopards! There's also a great variety of birds: peacocks, hawks, plus Sri Lanka's national bird, National Fowl, which is similar to common chicken except its colors are far deeper and prettier.
The roads inside the park are so run down that even Jeeps are barely able to function. We picked the Kataragamuwa entrance to avoid the crowds. Still, once inside, Jeeps loaded with tourists roam across the park. The funny thing is once someone spotted rare animals, they would call each other on cell phones and soon everyone would congregate in the same spot with no room to move. We are not allowed to leave the vehicle since all animals are wild and unpredictable so we have to patiently wait for other Jeeps to finish photographing before moving forward. Our Jeep driver actually drove BACKWARDS for over few kms in order to save time to beat the crowds to a spot where a leopard was sighted. While everyone was trying to take photos of a far far away spot where the leopard was supposedly lying under a tree, we could swear it's only wishful thinking!
The highlight is an unexpected face to face meeting of a mother with a baby, and her toddler elephants. It was so close that I was afraid that she may come in the Jeep! The baby is so very cute and obedient to the mom and would follow her every moves.
We checked in to our best hotel near Tangalle right on the beach. Sri Lanka is best known for its endless beach, especially to European tourists. We met another German couples who only stayed at the beach for 8 days without seeing the rest of the wonderful country. What a waste! There are beaches everywhere that the beach in front of our hotel was literally deserted. We have the whole beach to ourselves!
This evening came one of the highlights of our whole trip - trying to watch sea turtles laying eggs! Rekawa Beach is the best spot in Sri Lanka to watch sea turtles coming to shore and dig a deep hole to lay her 150-200 eggs before burying them with sand and hiding her tracks, then leaving back to ocean. We were really lucky to see this amazing event tonight with 3 turtles coming on shore. Our tuk-tuk driver came and mad-dashed to the close by beach once he had confirmed sighting of turtles. We have missed this events time and time again due to weather, tide, season, or too crowded with tourists in other places since 2004 in Costa Rica. And we finally came face to face with a sea turtle up close laying eggs. Such effort and determination from an animal who is used to move around in water! Speechless and standing in awe!
Congratulations on seeing the turtles !
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