Spent the night in the mountains near Sri Lanka’s highest peak. A very nice old town where the British used to send their people during the hottest months of the year so they could cool off a bit. The town is still full of big luxurious British government homes, a big golf course, and a horse racing track. Today many of the big homes are either hotels or occupied by the very wealthy. It is downright cold at night and I had to bundle up in thermals to sleep – which always seems a bit weird in the tropics. The area is surrounded by market gardens and tea plantations and spectacular views.
From here my driver and I made our descent back to hot, humid, sea level, dropping off at a few more temples along the way, to eventually visit the world famous Yala National Park. Yala National Park has elephants, bears, water buffalo, crocodiles, wild peacocks, wild boars, deer, monkeys, hornbills, and most importantly, leopards. You can not visit the park without a guide and roads in the park require a 4wd truck, preferably a Land Rover. My guide, a long time local and somewhat of a cowboy among the guides, was laughing at all the cheap Indian 4wd vehicles getting bogged in the mud.
I had a great time on my safari, but unfortunately did not get the chance to see any leopards or bears due to the fact that it was raining. Leopards and many other animals like to take cover to get out of the rain. I did manage to see everything else, however, which was really pretty amazing. Half the fun was just banging around the rough roads in the old beat up land rover. The guides all seemed to know each other and would give hand signals to each other to let everyone know what kinds of animals had been spotted and where. An index finger curved down meant elephant and a hand extended like it was holding an egg at its finger tips meant a leopard (outlining a leopard’s spot).
