Sri Lanka - Safari!

Safari doesn't immediately come to mind when one thinks of Sri Lanka but it is famous for it! Particularly for leopards at Yala National Park and for blue whales off the coast of Mirissa. For this alone, I descended the heavenly Ella and plunged back into the soupy humidity to hunt for leopards with my camera. Yala is a huge park but one that is world famous for the highest concentration of leopards in any given area. The Yala leopards are the top predators within the park and every person I had spoken to who had been there had seen one. I started pre-dawn to try to beat the crowds but as the early hours rolled past, we were soon joined by many other jeeps. It was quite disconcerting to have so many jeeps vie for the attention of the elusive leopard. There were sometimes 6 or more jeeps on the red dirt roads jostling for a glimpse of the leopard at one of its favoured spots. It had been 3 hours and no sight of a leopard, I had resigned myself to not seeing one when, 100m in front of our jeep,crossing the road like he owned it, was a young male leopard. We zoomed towards it as it sauntered into the undergrowth and my trembling hands only caught the last swish of its tail, as if to say, 'now you see me, now you don't'.

From elusive leopards to the biggest creature on the earth, the blue whale. Recently discovered off the coast of Lanka, off the tiny fishing village of Mirissa, is a pod of blue whales.

Years of civil war kept researchers and scientists away and so the discovery of the pod was only 2 years old. These giants are several buses long and are notoriously shy. I joined 6 other tourists on a leaky fishing boat as we traveled out to the Indian Ocean. It was the tail end of the whaling season as the seas were getting rough. About 1.5 hours out to sea, we see blue whales! 4 of them and a humpback. We see alot of humps from its back and many many diving t

ails but didn't get a chance to see one poke its head up - there is a scientific name for this but it looks like the whale sticks its head up and has a nosy around at all the boats. We get close to 50m of some of these whales and we see the arch of its back but never get to see or appreciate it's full size and glory. If I had been here a month earlier, I could have possibly dived or snorkeled with the whales.

Mirissa was my last destination before a whistle stop at Colombo and home. I spent lovely days at the beach, in the sun, eating fresh fish and learning to surf. Sri Lanka is an enchanting place and one that I will always remember fondly for its people, its gorgeous natural wonders and fiery curries!