We spent two days in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, but it was closed. The streets were empty, the sidewalks were deserted and the shops were shuttered. It was apparently a huge religious festival and no one on Oceania knew, or if they did they certainly didn’t tell anyone. They listed the usual sightseeing excursions and took bookings and our money as if all was going to be as usual.

It was an extraordinary experience to go into this vibrant bustling city and find it deserted, but not one that makes for an interesting blog, so lets move on to our next port, Hambantota, on the south coast of Sri Lanka.

We had booked a private tour to the Yala National Park, a game reserve that sits right on the Indian Ocean an hours drive from Hambantota. The park is famous world wide for its dense population of leopards, about the only animal that we didn’t get to see on our African Safari. The best time to see wild life is early morning or at dusk, but neither was possible because of the ship’s timing. Bantota Travel who arranged the Safari for us explained that it would make spotting a leopard (excuse the pun) even more difficult. But they promised to send their best guide. The park is full of other wildlife and is also renowned for its birds (There are over 200 species of birds in the park including 6 species that are endemic to Sri Lanka) so it should be a great day with or without leopards.

The ship docked at 7 a.m. and our guide was waiting dockside for us. He was deeply tanned, small, wiry, and very thin. He must have been in his late forties or maybe fifty. His jeans were old and grungy, his black shirt had never met an iron, and his feet were in an old pair of sandals. Whatever I had in mind, when Bantota Travel said they would send their best guide, this was not it. But he did look as if he grew up in the bush and would know how to track animals. He had a huge engaging grin that showed off his bad teeth, and he spoke English with heavy accent that made him hard to understand at times. He said his name was Sam, at least I think that’s what he said.

He lead us over to a very tired looking Toyota truck that, like its owner, needed a clean. But it was decked out with raised viewing seats for the safari. Yet another vehicle that required a certain amount of athletic ability to get into.

Gordon of course lead the way with his usual easy style

I followed with a style that was not so easy, and if you think I am going to share a photo of that you are sadly mistaken.

Sam got into the driver side seat, which was a little surprising. Usually on safari you have a driver and a guide who acts as a spotter. Sam assured us that he was quite capable of doing both and had been doing so since he was 16.

The roads to the park were good but they were just small roads with one lane going each way. Sam used neither of the lanes. He preferred to drive in the middle of the road, at an alarming speed. The raised seats that we were on were higher than the side walls of the truck and we saw ourselves sliding right off them. We searched for the seat belts until Sam told us there weren’t any. They are not required in Sri Lanka he said. “True or false?” I thought. We were going faster than anything else on the road and Sam overtook everything regardless of whether we were on a corner or not. He told us that for the first ten years of his job he drove without a license because licenses were not required in Sri Lanka when he was younger, but now much to Sam’s annoyance they are. He carefully avoided telling us whether he actually had one or not.

Once we entered Yala park the roads were just muddy tracks

Sam was now in his element, driving slowly and very carefully but the roads were so bad that the truck bounced around alarmingly while we hung on to the sides of the truck. Apparently a week before there had been tremendous rains and all the trails in the park were flooded. Nothing could be done about smoothing them until they dried out. It made for a very uncomfortable drive, sitting high up on the benches over the back of the truck.

But then some elephants came to greet us and suddenly everything was wonderful.

They stood completely at ease, within arms reach of the truck. And they were just the advanced guard. As they slowly ambled across the road many others appeared from the bush and followed their leaders. Word went round between the drivers and other jeeps soon joined us. It was a wonderful sight only slightly marred by the realisation that all the other jeeps were considerably newer and a great deal smarter than ours.

But lets not be petty.

Sam did indeed prove to be excellent at driving and spotting at the same time. His knowledge about all the animals was terrific and he was especially enthusiastic about the birds, spotting tiny birds well hidden in the foliage and bringing the truck up close enough for a photo.

This was an Asian green bee eater, which I can guarantee we would never have spotted without Sam.

Other birds were easier to spot. These are a painted cranes.

And this shows exactly how they got their name

Next, Sam spotted this amazing peacock perched on top of a tree

and then we came across a male with his tail fully on display

As we all know displaying your tail is a sure sign that you have something on your mind. And this peacock certainly did. He had spotted a female in the neighborhood. Sam suggested we waited to see if anything happened. It took a while as the female played hard to get. But in the end she couldn’t resist that tail.

Now we know exactly what is meant by “shake your tail feathers”

And while we are on the subject of wild sex, we thought for a brief moment we might see two water buffalo going at it, which I am sure would have been a lot rougher than the peacocks

However they quickly settled down. There’s nothing like a cold bath to dampen the ardor, and pull a bird or two.

Later we passed a group of deer who seemed more interested in watching us than watching for predators

which was a mistake.

Down the road we saw a fox that had killed a very young deer and decide he wanted the leg for dinner

And of course there were monkeys. Always hard to spot up in the trees, but Sam spotted this Langur Monkey

And then there was the Toque Monkey which is only found in Sri Lanka

If that is a wig, she should ask for her money back

After several exhausting but exhilarating hours, Sam turned our jeep onto a very narrow path. It twisted and turned through the brush, branches scraping against our shoulders until suddenly this vista opened up

We had reached the Indian Ocean. Sam said he needed a ten minute break and suggested we enjoy the beach while he had a smoke with his friends. Behind the boats were a few ramshackle houses where the fishermen lived.

They were miles and miles from the nearest road and even further from the nearest town. There were no women, just one man to each house. Their homes were truly basic but somehow they survived and were happy with their lives.

And these were Sam’s friends (that is Sam on the left)

Yala National Park was his home and his life. A simple man, yet he knows more about Yala National Park and all of its inhabitants than anyone you could meet. He may not have found us a leopard, but he gave us a day to remember.