We had a full day at Yala NP which was a 45 minute drive on a Jeep in the cool of the morning, it was a tremendous experience, that time either side of dawn in the Sub continent I find stunning.
We soon entered the park, us and about another 50 Jeeps, we headed off onto the quieter trails and had a great time, its easy birding and species came thick and fast, also birds tend not to be put off as the Jeep passes as a mobile hide.
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| Malabar Pied Hornbill |
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| Leopard |
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| Leopard |
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| Little Cormorant |
During the morning we received a call to say a Leopard had been located, what followed was a rather fast drive, we arrived with around 20 Jeeps in front of us jostling for position, eventually we got unrestricted views for about five minutes and the Leopard showed really well. Soon we left and made our way to the rest area on the beach as traffic is not allowed to use the roads between noon and 2.00pm?
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| Gemma & Andy |
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| Joy and I |
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| The Group |
It was rather hot and if I'm honest it was a little boring, there was not much in the way of facilities apart from a toilet. A stall selling cold drinks could have made a fortune. There was also a memorial to a number of tourists who died during the Boxing Day Tsunami. The rest of the afternoon was a little more leisurely and we parked up to stake out a site for Sloth Bear, after an hour I could tell that the heat was getting too the others, so I suggested to Saman that we should call it a day and have another go in the morning as we were due another visit. Also we had the chance of Eastern Barn Owl close to the hotel. We got back, got showered and went out again about an hour before dark. We waited by one of the large lakes in the area and just as darkness fell we found four Eastern Barn Owl which showed well.
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| Green Bee-eater |
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| Lesser Adjutant and Painted Stork |
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| Greater Thick Knee |
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