Travels with V
Sri Lanka
Rare animals and tsunami memories
Tissamaharama and Yala national park
The trainline ends in Ella, but the only thing we do there is change means of transportation. We’re going south now to the town of Tissamaharama, and our guesthouse host there has sent a taxi to Ella to pick us up. It’s a few hours drive and actually the only way to get there within reasonable time.
Tonguetwistingly named Tissamaharama is often called just Tissa. It’s nicely situated by a lake (or dam) and it’s for many tourists the starting point for a visit to Sri Lanka’s largest and most famous national park, Yala. The only place in the country where there are wild leopards. But to see them you have to be very lucky. We meet one guy in Tissa who has spent two whole days in Yala and not seen one.
Our guesthouse is on the town’s outskirts, with a great view of the lake. In the evening we sit on a balcony watching the fishermen in their small boats on the lake. And water buffaloes who have been lying in the cool water all day rise and begin their journey home. And to get there they use the same road as cars, tuk-tuks, motorbikes and humans. Everybody has to stand aside when the heard of big brown bodies passes.
Three o’clock the next morning we are awake, dressing quick and getting an omelet and coffee breakfast. In pitch black darkness we are taken to the gates of Yala. While our driver handles the tickets and permits dawn breaks. We see all colours from deep red via orange to clear blue sky before we finally can continue into the park.
The first animals we see are some water buffaloes and a crocodile. But siddenly the driver’s com radio crackles and a voice says something in rapid Lankese. Instantly the driver makes a u-turn and races down another dirt road. When we stop after a few hundred meters we just can’t believe our eyes. Right before us, maybe 10-15 meters away an on a small cliff two leopards are resting. We are so lucky!
The leopards are two cubs, but almost fully grown. They are a little rowdy, like kittens, they fight and bite gently, seemingly not bothered at all by the handful of jeeps now parked on the road. With people, camera clicking and excitedly whispering.
The leopards are incredibly beautiful. For us it’s a first time and it’s magical.
The remaining hours in the park are maybe not as dramatic, but rewarding. We se mongoose, marabou storks and pelicans, crocodiles, wildebeest, lots of colourful birds and a wild rabbit (!).
We take a break and a snack in a place where Yala meets the ocean. Here lie the foundations for two small guesthouses that once had a terrific location by the beach. But the tsunami in 2004 smashed them both to pieces and 45 people died, including 15 Japanese tourists. The houses were never rebuilt and today they are a memorial commemorating the catastrophe.
Next: We’re learning more about the devastation caused by the tsunami when we visit a true hero.
