Great day at Yala National Park seeing lots of elephants in the wild with a couple leopard sightings and lots of birds as well. Great day on my first safari and glad to share it with Nate and Mom. Finished the day with a nice overnight at a hotel and spa combo.
- Morning and Getting Off Ship
- Random Stop
- Lunch
- Yala National Park
- Transit to Hotel
- Hotel
- Vibe Check
- Feedback
Photo Gallery: https://pics.mattichan.com/-uwc141/gallery
Morning and Getting Off Ship
Started the day by heading to the top deck to catch some of the views before trying to get to immigration and clearance for our overnight. We were flying the Sri Lanka flag but also the Wishes at Sea flag which I thought was a little interesting (haven’t done that in any other port).
Crazy amount of vehicles lined up at port (couldn’t even describe but took a few photos).
To get off the ship, we had to go get our passports and also get escorted off the ship to do immigration. Or so we were told. There were quite a lot of people doing an overnight like we were so we were all waiting for our passports at 11am like they had told us to, but people weren’t lining up, they were just kind of forming an amorphous blob with people cutting in front of others and getting all angsty.
We got our passports and were waiting to be escorted when they just changed directions and told us to join the rest of the people and the line to get cleared instead (which created another free for all).
Eventually we made it off the ship, and connected with our driver for the day.
As I was getting off, got a notification from Google Fi that my international data roaming is coming to an end (I had already reset the counter once when I went to Hawaii for 10 days, but will lose data access in a couple weeks). Sigh, guess I’ll just have to be more present, or just buy an esim plan :D.
Random Stop
We were driving along when our driver randomly stopped on the side of the road, and as we looked up, we found a ton of flying foxes in the tree. We got out and took a few photos, but it was SO hot and humid.
Views
Got to watch some of the locals going about their day for a bit as well in the lake / mangrove area.
Wildlife
Some dogs and other birds were around across the way as well.
Flying Foxes
Lots of flying foxes in the trees and also flying around us as well. Really rather cute and a sight to see in the daytime as they jockey for position and space.
Lunch
Next, we stopped for lunch before heading into the park for the safari. The food was SO good, but also, they gave us SO much food. I couldn’t finish my tuna sandwhich and had to take half of it to go. The mango smoothie was just what I needed to cool down a bit. When I say it was hot, it was like…uncomfortable to even move a little bit, but the fruit and cool drinks helped a bit.
Yala National Park
We then headed into Yala and changed into the Safari car. To get in, we had to actually climb up a ladder to get into the back of the truck (which was a little bit of a challenge with all the camera gear and oofos). Mom also was a trooper and made it up and down the ladder. It WAS pretty nice to have a slightly higher view than everyone else though.
As we zig zagged around the park, we got to see all the different animals in their natural habitat and freedom to roam around which was really nice to see.
Elephants
Almost immediately we came across an elephant.
A little further on, we came across a couple elephants in the shade and also just munching on the foliage. One in particular kept going into and under the trees, and internally I dubbed him my introverted elephant and my spirit elephant.
As we were leaving the park we saw another one that was wandering in the soft sunset light.
An elephant crossing and rejoining the herd. The whole family was there, and the momma elephant was kicking up a storm while the baby elephant was staying close to it. Very much like the scene in Soarin at Epcot, which almost brought me to tears.
The baby elephant is so cute!!
Gray Langur
We saw a couple troops of grey langurs as well across the park. Really more white than grey and very pretty, especially in the sunlight.
Peacocks and Peahens
So many peacocks and peahens, they really are quite beautiful and majestic. Kinda sad to see so many people grabbing and selling the feathers right outside the park.
Other Birds
Definitely a lot of bird life all around the park. We caught some glimpses of a lot near the water just doing their thing or flying around.
Kingfisher
As we were driving, I noticed a flash of blue off in the distance and got the driver to stop. Turned out to be a lovely kingfisher and we watched for a bit as it went fishing. Long lens for the win!
Bee-Eater
We also saw a lovely green, blue and yellow bird and we were told by the drive / guide that they’re called bee-eaters. They’re so pretty.
Leopards? Leopards!
As we were cruising along, all of a sudden our guide told us to hold on, and started to zoom along. We were zooming around other trucks and made our way pretty far as we came up to a long line of cars. He told us that there was a leopard sighting and after a while of trying to figure out where to look, the guide borrowed my camera and showed us where to look. Way out in the distance, maybe 30-40 meters away, there was a leopard lying down in the brush (no clue how the first person would’ve spotted it — pun intended). Another victory for the long lens.
Eventually we moved on, and he started zooming again, and told us they had found a second leopard. It was kind of wild, cause our guide must know everyone, all these other trucks were letting him go in front of them. This second leopard was actually really close to us, right down the bank, and maybe 10 meters away from us, we saw it actually flip over (its legs rolled over), really neat and cool to see one in the wild!
There was also this idiot who was hanging out of his truck and blocking the other trucks from moving forward, cause you know, he’s more important than everyone else with his stupid selfie stick as well. The rangers were even giving him instructions to get back in his car and he wouldn’t listen. Humans….
Other Wildlife
There were a ton of other wildlife as well, deer, water buffalo, wild boar, mongoose and more. Just a real paradise to be able to drive around for a bit. We only really were there for the afternoon to sunset too, incredible place, and would love more time here!
Reptiles
A lot of reptiles as well, with some big lizards (maybe monitors?) and some crocs as well.
Transit to Hotel
We left Yala around sunset and headed to our hotel for the evening. Was basically passed out because of the heat from the day, but opened my eyes for a sec to see a lovely blue hour over the mountains and lake. Truly a lovely country.
Hotel
We got to the hotel and checked in, and Mom made a reservation to get a full body massage. We settled into the room for a bit as well before showering and then heading to dinner. Lots of great food and selection of lots of delicacies.
After dinner, we went back and retreated to the AC, and then sat down to offload pictures and do some flash editing of some highlights to post. Will edit the rest later on when we get back to the ship — already behind again cause I took another 1900+ photos from just the quick half day safari.
Vibe Check
5 parts joy – incredible wildlife
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
Leave a comment