yala | mat

Knock knock. 5:00 am reminder for wake up. So we did. And started a fantastic safari into Yala national park. The old Landrover jeep belongs to us, no other couples on this trip. After passing the office a guide (so-called tracker boy) jumped in and now the bumpy roads are ours. Both of them, driver and guide, were realy take on and brought us to best places to watch animals. So we ‘re lucky to see a lot of elephants, specially a female with two baby elephants. Very exciting. We saw crocodiles and little warans as well. Yala National park was affected by the tsunami in 2004, 47 people died but no one animal. I guess animals must have a special sensor….. After 5 hours we went back to guesthouse and had a rest. It was a great experience on our first safari. Never done that before. Nice dinner (for me they served devilled chicken and french fries as pre-ordered… means very spicy *g*) when Paul and Nataly came back, they booked whole day safari. And we got Arrak from our guide which is like a cognac made from coconuts. Well, not too bad but one is enough. Next day breakfast was great too, fresh fruits and srilankan-style omelett with toast and butter. After that we started again to Mirissa, dropped Paul and Nataly in Tangalle and arrived 1 pm. We booked the Ocean Moon guesthouse in advance but as soon as we were in we went. The rooms much too expensive, dark and no interieur than a bett. No power at this time (nobody could tell me when they will have power again…) and costs 25 $ for a cabana. No thanks. Paradise beach club next door offers a double room, clean and nice with fan and power for 40 $ each night. Halfboard is included and wireless internet access as well. And they do laundry (and also underwear..). Well it’s more than a hotel than a backpacker guesthouse but price is ok and I pay for having comfort. At least the have a …. coffee machine! Amazing. Real coffee. We ordered as soon as we could a double shoot espresso and it is really good stuff. So we’ll stay here for 3 or 4 nights.

Morning wash for elephants….

We became a reseller. Another couple asked our driver if they can share the care and we said ok for 25 $. Yeah, it’s “our” car for next days. So we met Paul and Natalie. A britsh-belgium couple located in Brunei where they’re teachers for mathematics and science. Very polite and for sure very britisch speaking. Sounds like “it’really nice , isn’t it ?”. The guesthouse is owned by our driver. Comfortble and clean rooms with A/C and bathroom. We agreed to have dinner together and ordered in advance the food. We took a walk to the bird fields at the early afternoon for 2 hours. After that take a little rest and went to Kataragama which is a religiuous place for muslim, hindu and buddhist people. Means at this area temples and mosques located and people celebrate religious events (like fullmoon..) together. So in case it was fullmoon a huge ceremony was ongoing. People give a lot of fruits to their godnesses and before they do so standing an a queue and wait. We had the chance to take part in a hindu ceremony means we could go inside the small temple where all where marked with a white point between eyebrows. Loud and noise because of drums and a kind of trumpets. And hot. And over and over the smell of patchouli. Fascinating. To fullfil their wishes people smash coconuts down to the ground. If the coconuts is broken after wishes came true. If not… hm, shit happens. But they may have a 2nd or 3rd try. back at the GH our dinner was waiting. A lot of food. And for sure Lion beer :) We had a nice conversation and went to bed early because next day is safari day. Means getting up at 5:00 am

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Tag Archives: yala

Yala national park safari – Mirissa

Tissa – starting point for Safari to Yala National Park