Anniversary trip to Yala

By Nilu Rajapakse

Four years ago, on a beautiful sunny morning, the unexpected, the unthinkable happened. We waited helplessly as we watched tragedy fall on many. It was the 26th December,  a Poya-day and also Boxing day after Christmas. A day like any other when it dawned, within just a few hours everything that was improbable and unthinkable happened. Some like us were lucky. We were given another chance to rethink about our existence, to question our morals and to live out our dreams.

I will not go back to that day except to recall the terror that we felt and the tears that flowed for the fallen and the affected. I want mention that we spent a glorious day at Yala National Park just the day before. We rode out of Yala late in the evening with the setting sun, and I remember thinking how good life was. If we only knew it was just another day in Paradise..

Traveling Back in Time

Marking the 4th Lunar Anniversary, on the 11th of December, the same group of friends made our way to Yala. The gang, Buddhi, Preveen, Hiranya, Gamindu, Ruwan and I started off at daybreak in two groups with all our camera gear and essentials. We took the Ratnapura – Timboketiya – Udawalawe – Thanamalwila – Tissamaharama route. This was because we wanted to absorb as much of the montane landscape as possible and return via the coastline to admire the ocean view.

Passing Udawalawe Dam

We found the trip to Tissa (-maharama) rather uneventful, except for spotting a solitary Elephant resting from the hot mid-day sun when passing the Udawalawe park border. I couldn’t resist a capture of the moment, and although the attraction for a quick visit to Udawalawe was great, we moved on with greater ambitions towards Yala – our ultimate wildlife destination of the trip.

We arrived at Priyankara Hotel, Tissamaharama at 12 noon just in time for lunch. Sadly, we had brought with us a rain cloud. Our itinerary for the day was was not ambitious as we planned to, metaphorically speaking, devourer Yala during the entire next day. Having arrived on a working day, we found the Hotel pleasantly deserted, and we dined immediately.

Lunch was average but we were ravenous, as six hours on the road gave us healthy appetites. A sudden decision to visit a nearby archeological site in Yatala, Debarawewa became a interesting prospect for some of us. So we hastened to the small museum, which stands next to the serene Yatala Chaitya, just 3 km from Tissamaharama.

On our rerun back to the small hotel, the pool was alluring in the dusk hours. Some of us tested our swimming (and floating) prowess. The wet weather prevailed, we enjoyed watching the drizzly raindrops hit the pool surface which glittered in the artificial light. The water was warm, the air was very cold. It was magic.

Priyankara Hotel pool view

Early next morning by 5.30 a.m. we sat for breakfast. By 6.00 a.m. we were off to intriguing Yala National Park, which haunted us ever since our last visit. Traveling in the back-opened jeep in the early the morning breeze was utterly refreshing as we went in anticipation and apprehension. Many flashbacks were reminisced aswe tried to recall our last visit. Our driver took a short-cut to the Park from Tissa, and we first arrived at the park, met our guide, and entered the Yala wilderness.

From the moment we set off we could observe that Yala was thriving. It was thriving with greenness and life. The rain the day before had settled the dust and the clean air revived us as we drove through the familiar terrain. Four years had brought back normalcy to Yala, nature having forgiven the signs of destruction as the animals continued their struggle to live and let live.

Our jeep driver proved to be a smart navigator, a patient chauffeur and a sharp observer of wildlife. He was quick and very obliging with the devout group of local tourists. We traced old routes, met many occupants of the wilderness, clicking one moment and lost in deep meditation the other. Patanangala, the lunch spot four years ago was silent and bare. A memorial stood facing the ocean. I had lost a friend to the Tsunami here at Patanangala. The very atmosphere there was sad, and I uttered a silent prayer for her, her family, and the others who didn’t survive that day. We are only a part of Nature after all. We are in fact merely a link in a complex living structure. I meditated on these facts as we moved on.

Our first greeter was non other than the majestic Asian Elephant – Elephas Maximus. Calmly walking on a side of the road, the elephant paid no attention to its ardent fans.

A little further ahead we spotted a Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) sniffing out food in a green pasture. It was a decent view and the best one we have had upto date. The Wild Boar are herbivores and the male has upper and lower tusks while the female has none. When in a group, they are called a ‘sounder of boar’.

A Spotted Deer – Axis axis ceylonensis – hid from us behind a bush. Also called Sri Lankan axis deer it is a subspecies of axis deer (Axis axis) that inhabits only Sri Lanka. They are considered vulnerable as they are hunted by humans and their territory in decreasing. Wild boar in large numbers or herds are only found in the protected wildlife sanctuaries. Its natural predator is mainly the Leopard, but it also falls pray for the sloth bear and the Jackal. The Sri Lankan Spotted deer is not called the Chital. They usually graze close to langur, peacock and sambur. We deduced that this is a safety tactic. When a predator closes in the peacock would give out its usual loud alarm call, ample signal to the deer to beat the hoofs.

Crocodile