No Leopard See

Yala National Park in Sri Lanka is renowned for its exceptionally high density of Sri Lankan leopards and its diverse wildlife, including Asian elephants, sloth bears and crocodiles. It also has water buffalo, spotted deer, hornbills, wild peacocks, sambar, wild boar, jackals and monkeys. 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, laughed at all the cheap Indian 4WD vehicles getting bogged in the mud.

Yala National Park Safari

I had a great time on my safari, but unfortunately didn’t get the chance to see any leopards or bears because 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 used hand signals to let everyone know what kinds of animals they’d spotted and where. An index finger curved down meant elephant, and a hand extended like it was holding an egg at its fingertips meant a leopard (outlining a leopard’s spot).