What a whirlwind of a week. After spending a fantastic time at Hiriketiya beach in Sri Lanka, the rainy season began to roll in, and the show was stolen. What I anticipated to be simple bursts of island-style rain turned out to be days of pouring rain, damp hair, and grey skies. My biggest tip would be to listen closely to the murmurs of the weather pattern when visiting Sri Lanka.
To escape the rain of the southwest monsoon season, I decided to head further east and visit Yala National Park. Yala is the most well-known park in their national park system, but quite a few are around the country. Yala seemed the simplest to get to from Hiriketiya, and of course, I wanted to visit the most well-known one!
GETTING TO YALA: I took the public bus! It was a very seamless ride. I took just one bus going straight and ended up at Tissamaharama, which is known to be one of the main cities where you can gain access to the national park because it’s a vast mass of jungle and must be entered at proper entrances. The bus cost maybe $7 USD in total.
WHERE TO STAY: I stayed at Leopard Safaris in Katargama, Sri Lanka. It’s about 30 minutes from Tissamaharama. It is billed as a luxury resort. The sleeping quarters are incredibly well-kept and comfortable. I stayed in a room with a queen bed and a bunk bed, so four people could comfortably sleep. The safari was included in my stay. The accommodations were great, but they run between $600-$800 a night. My biggest issue with the stay was that Wi-Fi did not reach the tents/cabins and I vehemently believe that if you’re going to be charging as much as they are people should have Wi-Fi.
YALA NATIONAL PARK: To be honest, my experience was pretty anticlimactic. I saw many spotted deer, buffalo, a few monkeys, and the back of an elephant. The guide said that because we saw many deer, there was definitely no leopard around because they would’ve been startled. Apparently, you can see many types of animals, such as sloth bears, various kinds of monkeys, and entire elephant families.
After Yala National Park, I journeyed three hours back to Hiriketiya to pick up a friend and continued on for another three hours in a taxi to Colombo – Bandaranaike International Airport (NOT to be confused with Colombo Airport, which is a totally different airport that comes up on GoogleMaps) so that I could make my journey to Bali to meet my mom and good friend. But let me tell you, that was a chaotic ride in and of itself. Stay tapped in to hear about the next part of my journey!
Traveling Tee x
One Cup of Tee 