Tag: Safari

Day 14- 18th February 2024 – Full Day Safari Yala Block 4 & 5

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We were picked up at 7.00 am by a different driver today, because we were going to an area of Yala about 1 hour 15 minutes away. The area is known as block 4 & 5 ( incidentally Block 2 & 3 are not accessible to tourist jeeps). Our driver was a scruffy barefooted elderly man who spent the whole day chewing beetle ( it makes you high, evidently) and he had no interaction with us at all. Once again he provided the lunch which came from the same place as the lunch the day before. We took a packed breakfast from the hotel, their cheese and tomato sandwiches were very pleasant as was their fruit platter.
During our morning Safari we saw the peacock perform its mating dance, a splendid sight, lots of Bee-eaters, buffalo’s, grey Langer monkeys, a selection of herons, storks and eagles, some very young white spotted deer and elephants to name but a few.


During the Safari we went alongside the Weheragala Reservoir and viewed the massive sluice gates. A picture of these appear on the back of the Sri Lanka 5000 Rupee note….On the non-reservoir side of the sluice is a small river. We were amazed to see 3 jeep loads of local people bathing in this river in the middle of the national park. Apparently this is a normal activity for a Sunday.

We stopped for our curry lunch by the same waters edge where we had had breakfast. Suminda is becoming an expert on serving curry from the back seat of the jeep…because unless we go to another designated picnic area you are not allowed to alight from the jeep. Our guide reiterated this to us when we asked to stop there for lunch….the 3 of us promised not to get down. On arriving at the area our guide told us he had recently seen leopard there and then promptly descended from the vehicle and went to the waters edge to wash his hands, face and feet !!!!


After lunch things went from rather uncomfortable to an endurance test…fortunately John Suminda and I passed the test ..just….
Having had at least one beetle too many the driver set off on some mission to see how many side roads he could take us down…these were not rock and roll, or even tango side roads more like tsunami wow, wow, wow….. let me tell you holding on for grime life is futile and actually only rips muscles as you are tossed and turned in unexpected directions. It’s better to put your arms out sideways to try and balance and ride the storm on your coccyx, hips and buttocks and just pray that your spine is still attached when you make flat land…ready for the next .. We got badly stuck in the mud twice. The first time Suminda shouted at him where to turn the wheel…the second time we sort of hit a brick wall, crashing our knees into the seat infront and jolting every bone in your body ..we were almost on our left side with the mud over the back wheel and almost into the jeep at the front…he kept going back and forwards in the same place spinning the wheels and showering everything with mud…eventually Suminda instructed him where to turn the wheel and when to accelerate…. At this point John and I decided to call it quits and Suminda told him to take us home… at one point I looked over my shoulder at Suminda and he was holding on with both arms up to the roll bars on the roof and swinging…he looked at me and we both burst out laughing… he shouted over the roar of the engine “I bet I look like a monkey” my reply was “ I Thought you were in the gym doing pull-ups” Even on the dryer roads the ruts were atrocious.

One the way out of the National Park we did see some absolutely amazing Malabar Pied Hornbills, a fantastic sight and some Indian Rollers. Needless to say when we got back to Tringa Villas our driver only got a tiny tip.


During supper that evening the 3 of us couldn’t stop laughing..I think it was the relief of being alive and in one piece as we talked over the days activities and adventures. Our supper was once again not good…if you like dry rice and over fried chicken leg it would be fine, but we don’t. Suminda very kindly took pity on us and offered to drive us to a nearby restaurant the following evening. We all had an early night as our bodies were very sore from the bumping, crashing, bouncing around. I have an extra tip for any ladies who may be stupid enough to do a Safari like this …….put a rolled up pair of socks down the middle of your bra to stop your boobs crashing into each other…… we Safari a lot but this one beats the lot 10x over when it comes to rough roads.

Day 13- 17th February 2024 – Full Day Safari Yala Block 1

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We had decided to go in to Yala main entrance, block 1, a little later than the opening at 6.00am because the queues would be twice as bad as they had been the previous afternoon, and we prefer not to be in a long convoy of safari vehicles all eating each others dust. So we left Tringa Villas at 7.00am armed with a packed breakfast of cheese and tomato sandwiches and fresh fruit. This time “Speedy Gonzales” picked us up from our hotel. He had also provided the lunch for the day.
It was much better and quieter entering the park after “rush hour” and we didn’t start racing around for some time. The roads in the park are not good at all, many partially washed away by the recent heavy rains, lots of really waterlogged roads with thick mud requiring 4×4 driving….but Speedy navigated them well even though he sometimes had little regard for his fellow passengers and we rocked and rolled, bumped and bruised ourselves as he occasionally tossed us around. Unfortunately he seemed to think that if we had seen a type of bird or mammal the previous day we wouldn’t want to stop and watch it again…he soon learnt the error of his ways…..Once again we had several near misses of seeing leopard or bear, but lovely sightings of many other creatures both big and small, a jackal took us by surprise on the way into the park…the good start got better and better. The scenery was magnificent with a clear view of the infamous “Elephant Rock”.

The park has some fairly strict rules, in the fact that if you are doing a whole day Safari you must stop between 12 noon and 2pm so the drivers can rest in the heat of the day. They also don’t let visitors in the park between these hours…morning Safari’s must be out by 12 and afternoon safari’s can’t enter before 2 pm. So at 12.00 we arrived at a newly built visitors centre on the coast of The Indian Ocean. It was amazing to know that there was no land in front of us until you reach the Antarctic. The visitors centre is built on the remains of an old guest house. This got destroyed in the 2004 Tsunami. Unfortunately the 12 Japanese who were staying there also lost their lives. We had never really heard of it affecting Sri Lanka because the focus was on Indonesia and Thailand. In Sri Lanka over 30,000 people died, almost a million were displaced and around 150,000 people lost their main source of livelihood. The new centre, where we stopped for our rather scrumpy lunch of chicken curry, dhal, potato curry and beans provides some seating and a washroom block.

We dutifully waited our two hours watching a fair few drivers sleeping, and enjoying conversations with Suminda before we set off on our afternoon “rallying in the jungle”!!!! However, it was a fruitful afternoon. Lots of vehicles were hanging around a certain area because a bear had been seen on previous days in the area. We were very fortunate to suddenly spot a baby bear …before we had managed to take many photos our driver was shouting to the other drivers as to his find…we then had trouble jostling for a decent position to see the mama bear who was deeper in the jungle. The shouting and yelling between drivers was unreal, there were over 30 vehicles all trying to see the bears, who actually seemed to take no notice of the furore they were causing amongst the jeep fraternity. We soon tired of this unethical, unnatural situation, but not before taking a good few shots, and moved on….our next commotion was a huge bull elephant, who had taken to attacking vehicles if he could smell fruit, walking down the road. We very quickly put all our bags in the front cab and shut the windows. The driver was obviously scared of this notoriously angry fruit lover and put his foot down speeding past until he was at a distance of safety.

It had been an eventful day and we returned back to the hotel, hot, sweaty, dusty but contented.
Our evening meal was Kottu a sort of chopped bread with vegetables in spices with chopped chicken and egg…however this one arrived with the fried egg laid across the top rather than chopped into it. I had asked the cook not to make it too dry so he served it with some rather tasteless dhal. We had loved this dish in Kandy but this was one of the most unsavoury meals we had, had during our time in Sri Lanka. Dry and tasteless we ended up leaving more than we had eaten. With such a limiting menu of only 3 fixed meals and Kottu we were a little at a loss for choice….not even a Sri Lankan curry on offer…or in fact any curry…We once again ended up going to bed a bit on the hungry side.

Day 12 – 16th February 2024- Ella to Yala

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I have to admit I was quite pleased to leave The Eminence Shires Hotel. I had kept waking up hearing noises behind the back door of the room and at 3.15 am the light which shone under this door and the front doors patio lights were turned off..it all made me a bit jittery. However, our breakfast was served on the patio and was very pleasant…fried eggs on toast, waffles and fresh fruit and a decent cup of coffee. Then we lugged our overnight bags back up the metal steps squeezed into the tuk-tuk and hurtled down the 1 in 3 track to the main road…where I was eternally grateful to find Suminda waiting for us.
We set off on our journey of around 4 hours, stopping at some magnificent waterfalls just outside Ella.

On arriving at Tringa Villas near Yala at around midday we were met by a rather cross looking man. He took us to reception and booked us in. Before going to our room I asked for the Wi-Fi pass word. He told us that the Wi-Fi was only available in reception….which was a few settees around an open small room. I told him the booking information specifically said every room had Wi-Fi on and that was why we had booked this accommodation. To which his reply was “ go then” which was accompanied by dismissive hand gestures. I replied that was fine we would find somewhere else to stay because we needed Wi-Fi to blog our vacation and I showed him the previous days blog…at this point he became vaguely pleasant…obviously the fear of being badly thought of on the internet allowed him to tolerate this “pushy” English woman. He instantly said he would move the router to our room so we could have internet. I thanked him perfusion and he showed us our room and set the router up for us. As he left he asked if we required anything else my response was. “only a smile” to which he smiled and justified his ill humour by telling us he was very busy as he was the cook ….what too busy to greet your customers with a smile…ummmm!!! he also told us the owner would be back after 4…I said we’d see him after 6 as we were going on Safari.

Suminda had managed to book us a half day Safari which was in addition to the ones we’d already booked as part of the package. National Parks in Sri Lanka are not cheap. By the time you’ve added the entrance fees and the hire of the jeep and driver it’s about £100 for a half day. We met our driver and jeep at the gate and hauled ourselves into the vehicle. We were going into Yala Block 1 which was only 20 minutes from our hotel. Our driver we renamed as “Speedy Gonzales”. He set off at a cracking pace constantly getting information from other drivers and racing to the spot only to find we had “just missed” the sighting…still we saw some fabulous sights…wild boar, jackal, buffalo, elephant, white spotted deer, samba dear, iguanas and a whole array of wonderfully colourful birds including the national bird of Sri Lanka, the Jungle Fowl, storks, herons and a variety of different eagles.

Although the roads were very “shake, rattle and roll”, it was a great Safari. We returned to Tringa Villas to be met by the owner. He tried hard to explain that all rooms did have Wi-Fi but because the incoming signal was weak and the wind blew a lot the Wi-Fi wasn’t always good. I pointed out that even with the router in our room we didn’t have a strong enough signal to upload to our web site or even post pictures on Facebook…. We had to agree to differ in that I don’t think he should be advertising Wi-Fi in each room when it’s not and he believes it is but the incoming signal is too weak and that’s not his fault that’s the fault of the supplier…. Anyway he agreed we could keep the router for our 4 nights, so at least we could access emails and attempt WhatsApp calls even if we couldn’t blog….
Later that evening he came back to ask how we had found the room…it is obvious that he has spent 12 years working in the UK because he does understand what the international traveller wants and he has tried hard to provide it…the bathroom was totally functional in that the shower had reasonable power and there was plenty of hot water, white fluffy towels, space around the sink to put the wash bag. There were loads of UK plug sockets in convenient places in the room, tv (which we didn’t put on), kettle and coffee/tea and a hair dryer as well as a reasonably comfortable bed.
We had a supper of fried chicken and fried rice in their restaurant. We were still a little unsure how the cook had been so busy earlier in the day because there was only us, Suminda and two other people eating all evening.

Day 4 & 5 – February 8th & 9th 2024 – Wilpattu National Park

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We bade Brenda, and Ron at the Ayubowan Guest House a fond farewell. It was definitely a place to recommend, very clean, very convenient to restaurants in Negombo, a nice place to stay with a refreshing pool.

We headed up north for our first experience in a Sri Lankan National Park. It was about a 3 hour drive through interesting villages and countryside. We stopped to have a look at a roadside temple.

We arrived at the Cloud Nine hotel around lunchtime. It had been advertised as a luxury hotel with views of the lagoon. We think someone was using poetic verse when they wrote the description. We entered our super deluxe room to see a giant corner spa bath and a massive bed and very little else. The balcony overlooked the forest/ jungle which evidently went down to the lagoon….we would have needed a machete to actually see the lagoon. The spa bath would have been heavenly for John if the taps actually worked and when we finally got some water out of them we’d have had to wait 2 hours for it to fill up !! The evening light show in the room was unexpected, the lights dipped, flickered or went out completely when the fridge tripped in and out..but hey! It was different.

We had a quick freshen up in our room before heading off to the Wilpattu National Park. The drive to the gate was 25 minutes. On arrival you walk across a bridge not dissimilar to those used to exit the jungle on “I am a Celebrity get me out of here”. Our Safari driver met us in a very beaten up Jeep. Evidently a bull elephant had taken a dislike to him 2 days prior and it had actually lifted the front wheels off the ground with its tusks, causing quite a mess to the front of the vehicle.

Climbing aboard was not for the faint hearted. We’ve boarded hundreds of Safari vehicles before but never one quite like this one where one really needed tiny feet, long legs, and a back able to bend in all directions…phew finally in and ready to go.
Over the following day and a half, we bumped around having Sri Lankan massages, over the very rough roads, through deep water, traversing the jungle and plains. We spotted a superb assortment of wildlife and bird life. One of our first spots was wild boar quickly followed by small herds of elephant. We also saw Spotted deer, Sambar Deer, Barking deer( muntjac), iguanas, buffaloes, mongooses, crocodiles, and the much sort after sighting of a leopard.

The bird life included the most magnificent peacocks, peahens, wooly necked storks, lesser adjutant storks, Indian pond herons, Indian rollers, egrets, herons, serpent eagles, bee eaters, Bitterns, pelicans, sitting ducks, lapwings, jungle fowl (the national bird) and many, many more. A real birders paradise.

On one occasion a frog leapt from the ground and landed on my trouser leg. It was quickly dispatched to whence it had come by Suminda who was sat behind me. Thankfully Suminda was with us and translated brilliantly, as the driver’s English was very limited.

On returning to Cloud Nine each evening we were offered a choice of two set menus…both at a price of LKR 3500 each ( approx £10 each) Our first night was leek and potato soup followed by crab curry and fruit salad or ice cream for dessert. Yummy you probably think and so did we. A plate with two sets of crab crackers, picks and scoops were put on the table. Our expectations were high…even the right equipment for the job…..but alas we really were on “I am a Celebrity”, the crab was the size of an egg cup and the amount of meat we managed to extract was minuscule, not even enough to wet our whistle let alone fill our tummies… The following night we opted for tandoori chicken and the obligatory rice but once again the chicken must have died of starvation or suffered with anorexia because it’s leg had next to no meat on it….so rice and more rice was once again our main meal. We again went to bed hungry and lacking protein.

Our over all opinion of Wilpattu National Park is that it is a total delight, full of surprises, a wonderful place to start our tour of Wildlife Parks. However! It really isn’t for the faint hearted, not just because of the struggle with getting in and out of Safari vehicles but because of the high level of rock and rolling which takes place due to the state of the roads.

Planning for Sri Lanka February 2024

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I started planning our holiday to Sri Lanka in November 2023…… after lots of research I came up with the following…. I then phoned and googled for best flight price … it really is amazing the difference in prices. I must say that the direct flight on Sri Lanka Airways is only a little more expensive than the indirect which tend to go through Qatar or Dubai and have the most anti-social connections for people of our age who really don’t want to be waiting for hours for the next plane or boarding at 2-3 o’clock in the ‘wee’ hours….so direct flight it was….

Rosie Price at DialAFlight – UK tel no. 0161-841-8179 – rosie.price@dialaflight.co.uk gave me the best price by several hundred pounds. She is a wonderfully friendly lady with a very appealing persona. We got chatting and she asked if she could do anything else to help us…. my usual response was ‘its ok we will do it ourselves’ …. after all how difficult can it be, we do DIY Safari in Africa bi-annually so this I felt sure would be no different. BUT … Rosie made me laugh and said ‘go on give me your itinerary and I’ll give you a price’…. so I thought no harm in this and I sent her the below with the prices on. Two days later she got back to me with a price £500 less than I could do it myself.. WOW, WOW… a no brainer …we have booked through Rosie at DialAFlight. Ok! it didn’t include evening meals and when we came to book one or two of the hotels they had no longer got vacancies so I selected alternative ones…but all through Rosie and we have the security of being booked through a company, which is great as we are newbies to Sri Lanka. Thanks Rosie …rosie.price@dialaflight.co.uk. UK tel no. 0161-841-8179

DAYDATEPLACE/ACTIVITY/HOTELCOST £RUNNING COST
14/2/24Heathrow Sri Lanka Airways  1694 
25/2/24Arrive Colombo midday  – driver 25 days. Stay 3 night stay at Ayuowan Guest House B&B with supper although may source cheaper when there. Visit sights of Colombo with driver,10222716
36/2/24123 + 1202959
47/2/24
58/2/24Transfer to Wilpattu 3.5 hrs   Stay at Cloud 9 B&B Full day safari in Wilpattu139.003267
69/2/24169.00
710/2/24Transfer to Anuradhapur 2.5 hrs. Visit Sacred City on the way and old capital. Stay at Hotel 4 U Saliya Garden  B&B27.003294
811/2/24Transfer to Sigiriya 1.5 hrs Visit Sigiriya Rock & Polonnaruwa on way. Stay at The Nature Park Villa deluxe double 2 nights with supper added A full day Safari in Minneriya Natioal Park56.00 + 28.003378
912/2/242133591
1013/2/24Transfer to Kandy 3 hrs via Dambulla cave  Stay at Elegant Hotel Deluxe Double B&B 2 nights Visit Temple of the Tooth & evening cultural show or Night food walk – source when there.1543745
1114/2/24
1215/2/24Kandy to Ella via train train tickets  Stay at Hotel Eminence Shire Ella View the Demodara Nine Arch Bridge by car.  42.00 29.003816
1316/2/24Transfer to Yala 2.5 hrs stay at Grand Tamrind Lake Hotel for 4 nights with supper added Full day safari in Yala block 1 Full Day Safari in Yala block 4&5 Full day safari in Udwalawe244.00 + 1044647
1417/2/24
1518/2/24123
1619/2/24131 229
1720/2/24Transfer to Marissa 2hrs stay at Sea World Boutique Deluxe Double with Sea view B & B optional supper included for 4 nights Whale watching Visit Ahangama to view stilt fishing199 1285138
1821/2/24164
1922/2/24
2023/2/24
2124/2/24Transfer to Hikkaduwa 2.5 hrs via Turtle Hatchery at Kosgoda  Stay at Sapphires Seas Beach Front Hotel for 4 nights Superior double sea view ground B&B Visit and explore Galle3545492
2225/2/24
2326/2/24
2427/2/24
2528/2/24Transfer to airport 2.5 hrs Fly home  
25 Days, flights, driver and car,  Hotels, Safaris, 24 Breakfasts, 13 Suppers +£5492