It was a very early start today and I’d like to say that I bounced out of bed at 4:40AM, but that would be a lie. Nonetheless I did get up to be ready to take the bus for the second half of our Yala National Park safari. We were given a packed breakfast from the hotel which comprised sandwiches, sausages, a boiled egg, bananas, a sweet muffin and some banana bread. There was certainly plenty of variety to cover most tastes and most importantly, plenty of grazing options through a long morning.
We were going to a different part of the park today and were hopeful of sighting the more elusive animals like leopards and sloth bears. Unfortunately, as close as we got was to see some fresh leopard footprints in the sand. We did however, again see a lot of different kinds of birds. There are significant populations of herons, egrets and storks that inhabit these wetlands as well as kingfishers and bee-eaters.
Although we didn’t see the Leopards, we did spend a lot of time waiting to see if they would come out. One thing I did wonder though was if there were just too many vehicles and people. Apparently, on any given day there can be up to 400 safari vehicles operating in the park. I guess that is something for the appropriate authorities to consider. In a slight departure from yesterday, we did see a rabbit and a mongoose.
After exhausting our first 2.5 hours on safari, much of it on the fruitless waiting game it seems one must play with leopards (similarly to my ignorant cats at home), we made our way to a spot on the beach for a break. I thought we would probably head directly back to the bus and back to the hotel after that, but we spent and hour or so hunting more wildlife. Given the early start, both Deb and I got a little sleepy in this part. I guess a leopard sighting would have changed our view on that. Anyway, the bus came and we headed back to the hotel with a couple of photo stops along the way. We’ve seen so much of the country under rice cultivation it would have been remiss of me not to include at least one photo.
We had the afternoon free, so we had some lunch in the outdoor bar, prior to a swim in the hotel pool and a spa treatment. It was a great way to recuperate from the early morning and a recent run of busy days.
I thought I’d also take a moment to reflect on our accommodation here at The Chaarya Resort. The service from the staff has been excellent, the buffet has had an overwhelming choice of options which are always kept fresh and the rooms are modern and clean. My only criticism is that the rooms have a step down across the centre of the rooms which is actually dangerous for those late night visits. I have tripped a number of times just traversing the room. There is a case for me to ‘watch where I’m going’, but it seems an unnecessary design choice.
Another big day coming up as we hit the road again in the morning.
Until tomorrow
Rob's "Beats Working" Blog 