A Dawn Safari in Sri Lanka's Yala National Park
A Jungle Jeep Tour Reveals an Abundance of Exotic Wildlife
Jan 27, 2009
Yala is best entered at day break as the animals venture out to watering holes during the cool morning hours and again at dusk. In the early morning gloom, battered safari jeeps can be seen roaring along the dusty winding road to the park. Sometimes, as the convoy halts outside the entrance, they may be lucky enough to glimpse the shadowy silhouette of a bull elephant who has ventured to the park’s edge. The broad expanse of the elephant’s back often looks like a rock in the dawn light.
Palapatuna, the gateway to Yala
At Palatupana, the gateway to Yala, a bleached elephant skull hangs against a large rock by the road with the words, “Welcome to Yala”, painted underneath. The skull’s gaping sockets stare ominously at the passing safari jeeps. This national park is also home to 300 species of birdlife. Malabar Pied Hornbills, Fish Eagles, Peacocks, and Painted Storks are among the numerous birds that crowd the treetops.
Close to day break the air fills with the twitter of birdsong. A rosy dawn, tinted with golden rays of sunlight spreads on the horizon. On either side of the track lies thick, thorn forest. The trees are twisted and shrunken forms against the clear tropical sky and dust from the dry, red earth envelopes the whole landscape.
The Yala Animals
All the park animals are shy but some more than others. The Sri Lankan sloth bear is one of the most coveted sights here. Few in number, they are reputed to be extremely bad tempered and possess razor sharp claws that can maul an opponent. Porcupines, wild boar, mongoose, jungle fowl – Yala’s list of fauna is impressive but it is the two big game that draw the crowds. They are the regal Sri Lankan elephant and the elusive Sri Lankan leopard. Both are endemic to the island and also endangered species. At dawn and dusk, elephants can be spotted in large numbers at Yala. Mainly nocturnal, they come out to forage and drink water.
The Sri Lankan elephant
Yala elephants are dusty giants, their black skin coated with fine red dust. Lucky visitors may come across an elephant grazing beside the jeep track. Sometimes the elephant is so close that it’s possible to smell the pungent odour of its skin. With the tip of its trunk a mother elephant can delicately break off succulent leaves and pass them down to the young offspring at its side. Eyewitnesses claim that watching a wild elephant with her calf is to view nature at one of its gentlest moments, an experience never forgotten.
Animal instinct
Yala is a place where the world feels old. The jungle and its inhabitants live largely unaffected by modern life and seem to possess a timeless wisdom unknown to us. Even at the time of the catastrophic tsunami of December 2004, eyewitnesses said that the animals were the first to seek higher ground. They instinctively heeded Mother Nature’s warning while men did not. This jungle keeps its secrets and the tangled thorns claim everything in the end.
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