Tissamaharama

The journey to our next destination was one of the most terrifying of my life.

It started off okay as we headed towards Ella up climbing, winding roads with beautiful hills valleys and waterfalls to distract us.The terror started when we headed for straighter, flatter roads and our lovely, gentle host, a sensible father of two, turned into an aggressive and scary Lewis Hamilton. Without warning he would speed up to any vehicle ahead, break sharply, loiter inches from their tail before choosing the most inappropriate time to pull out and overtake. I clung to whatever I could, trying to avoid any eye contact with Rob, feeling sure he would just remind me what a ‘Panic pants.’ I was. Closing my eyes and wondering what to do after a particularly harrowing move I sensed movement beside me as Rob leaned forward saying, ‘You’ll have to slow down, your driving is dangerous.’ I sighed with relief as his words took immediate effect and I was able to release my white knuckles and gradually relax. The rest of the journey passed in relative calm but I was still immensely relieved to arrive at Diya Dahara resort and escape the car.

Our main purpose for this stop was to visit Yala national Park to experience an Asian Safari. We arranged this on arrival before exploring our room and lovely balcony overlooking a lake where local people swam and washed their clothes.After our most recent accommodations this was relative luxury and although the WiFi was shocking and there was still no hot water in the sink we revelled in the lovely pool and pretty grounds.As we lay by the pool that afternoon I was thoroughly entertained by a wedding party taking their official and unofficial photos.This was great until torrential rain came and had us all running for shelter.

Sunday morning was an extremely early start with the safari jeep picking us up at 4.45am. Obviously, given Rob’s feelings towards early mornings, he was delighted with this and bounded out of bed raring to go.😴 We were the last to be collected so on departing our hotel we headed straight for Yala and by 5.30am were sat in a long line of jeeps waiting for the gates to open at 6.

With us in our jeep were a mother and daughter from France and a father and daughter from Poland. They were all very friendly and during our wait we got to know a little about them and their travel plans.

As soon as 6am arrived all of the jeeps raced into the park ignoring the 25km per hour speed limit in their haste to please their passengers. It was markedly different to our experience of African Safari as the main priority here appeared to be to satisfy the tourist rather than protect the animals. Our driver and guide was definitely of this ilk, his singular quest appeared to be finding leopards and he drove, ignoring all other animals, with that one aim in mind.

By 7am we appeared to have found what we were looking for as we pulled up alongside several other jeeps jostling for the best view. We were informed that the leopard was in a specific tree and so for the next twenty minutes all eyes, cameras and binoculars were trained in that direction. My attention wandered as I watched the water buffalo trying to get rid of the pesky egrets and eventually giving up to allow it a free ride.I was soon drawn back to the leopard when muffled shouts went between the jeeps as the leopard jumped from the tree and started to stalk a small buffalo grazing slightly away from its mother. We watched in silence as the leopard crept closer through the long grass before suddenly giving chase. My feelings were torn between knowing the leopard needed to eat and not wanting to see the calf die. As the leopard drew closer however the calf turned back towards its elders and we observed how strong a family’s instincts to protect can be. All of the older buffalo turned to face the leopard and as it slowed down they started to move towards it. The hunter became the hunted as it, seemingly casually, retreated up a nearby tree. For the next five minutes several large buffalos circled the tree as the mother led her calf across the river to a small island where other youngsters were grazing with their mothers. Once it was clear the young buffalo was out of danger those circling the tree wandered away confident their work was done.

Despite having felt initially unhappy in our drivers single minded pursuit of the elusive leopard this was undoubtedly one of the best wildlife encounters we had experienced. Although there were other animal sightings throughout the day the leopard chase was the definite highlight.We arrived back from safari at 6pm to another wedding at our hotel. It was great to be able to openly people watch while enjoying our evening meal. It wasn’t long however until our early morning caught up with us and after making a big fuss about the lack of WiFi and finally getting a limited signal we retired to bed ready for more travel the next day.

The following morning at breakfast we observed our third wedding in three days. This was definitely the most elaborate affair with interesting outfits, particularly for the men. The hotel is obviously a very popular wedding venue, it was lovely to see families sharing these celebrations and definitely enhanced our mealtimes.

Despite very poor WiFi, lots of stray dogs barking and fighting late into the night and insufficient bedding, we enjoyed our short stay but not enough to prolong it. Time for coming home is fast approaching and I can’t believe that our adventure is nearly over.😩

Rob assures me there will be more adventures to come but he might just be saying that to appease me and get me on the plane?😊✈️ I hate to admit it but now it is inevitable there is quite a lot I’m looking forward to…… don’t tell Rob.🤣