Yala National Park

Today is Christmas. It is sunny, the stagnant air pregnant with humidity. It mists the throat as it goes down, so warm that the body does nothing to heat it. It’s like breathing with a humidifier in a comfortably hot room; the breath flows even more unconsciously than usual. I can understand why, years ago, people with rheumatic ailments would seek out refuge in warm climates; breathing really is easier.

We have made it back from our overnight trip to Yala National Park, which was quite an adventure. In the four-hour drive to Yala I was struck by just how tidy and smart the people look here. Everyone is dressed nicely, in clean trousers or those long wrap around sarongs with a golf or button-up dress shirt for men, and saris or a long skirt and blouse for women. I was expecting, in comparison with my other travels around Asia, some areas of obvious impoverishment to present themselves, but it seems that people live well here. In speaking with our driver, Sulanga, it seems that there is even municipal water and sewage to homes, and garbage collection, although in many areas the litter dances in the wind, so you certainly wouldn’t know it.

The literacy rate in Sri Lanka is about 90 % for women, and 95 % for men, which is absolutely unheard of in other countries across the world. We passed many preschools on our drive, attesting to the importance of education here. It seems that most people have work, as the economy and country in general seems to be on a major upswing since the civil war ended. People are also employed in farming or fishing, depending on their geographic location. The local people are incredibly friendly, and meet my gaze with a smile and even a wave at times, which is not something found among their South-Asian counterparts who are rightfully weary of ill-behaved tourists.

We found the stray dogs, hundreds of them, lying right beside the highway, sometimes even reaching with their legs and tail out into the oncoming traffic. Cars and tuk tuks were missing dogs, cows staked at the side of the road, people walking or on bicycle, by an inch or two at times. Many of the street dogs walk with a limp from being hit by cars, and I am not surprised, as they stand so close to the edge of the road without even flinching when a truck barrels past them an inch away from brushing their fur. They all look similar, shorthaired and pit-bull faced, with patches of fur missing revealing the leathery skin beneath. Certainly not the types of animals that tug on the heartstrings to be taken home.

Houses here are very colourful—from vibrant purples to baby blue and lime green—it seems the brighter the better. Many of them are also adorned with cement bricks with patterns cut out of them, squares of intricate cement lace placed in the walls above doorways and windows. Laundry was out yesterday, the first sunny day after a few filled with rain, as well as mattresses propped up on plastic lawn chairs, which, after casually looking into some doorways as we passed, seems to be the furniture of choice for the local Sri Lankan living room. I can’t imagine a couch or wooden chair would last very long in this humidity.

Once we arrived in Yala we traded our air-conditioned van and driver for a rusted out thirty year old, open air Land Cruiser which would take us on our safari through the national park. The guy driving it, barefoot and dressed in a long sari and dress shirt, has been a safari driver in the park for thirty-three years. He was quite entertaining. At the entrance to the park we paid for our tickets and got a “wildlife guide”. There were lots of local families out on safari as well, although unlike the trucks with “white” people, which harbored only 1-4 passengers, their trucks were packed to the brim with 15 or more people crammed onto the back bench seats.

The safari was AWESOME!!!!! We saw tons of wild elephants, beautiful birds of all colours, peacocks, water buffalo, owls. Unfortunately we did not see any leopards, which is what we were all hoping for. Apparently some people stay for four or five nights until they get to see one. There were leopards out during our morning safari, and we tried to rush to see them (our driver was very skilled and passed everyone—branches were reaching in and lashing our arms, but it was very entertaining) but by the time we got close our driver got a phone call that the leopards had disappeared into the jungle.

Cell phone etiquette is non-existent here. Everyone answers their phone at any moment, even if they are working in a restaurant or as a guide somewhere. And the phones ring all the time. In the five hour drive to Yala, our driver must have received and made at least 25 phone calls, no joke. It seems that this is not unusual among Sri Lankans either. Everyone seems to have a cell phone, and they are constantly in use. The dinner table is beautifully set with a white cloth, so I must get going for Christmas dinner.

I would love to post some pictures, but it takes a long time for them to upload. I will have to backtrack and add them once I find some quiet time at home. MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL!!!!!!!