Yala - Block 2

I've been to the Block 1 of Yala in 2009. That was the dry season back then. That was an ordinary visit to Yala as most of the people have experienced. But Block 2 is a totally different story; especially during its wet season.

This trip was not planned at all; I didn't know that I'll be going to Yala till Trishan called me on Sunday, 9th January 2011 morning and ask whether I would join their trip to Yala. Since I had no plans in mind I was ok with it. So myself, Trishan, Dharshana (Trishan's friend) and Dharshana's driver were the only people who were in this trip. The plan was simple; leave Colombo by Sunday evening and go to Dharashana's house at Katharagama and rest a few hours at that night before we go to Block 2 of Yala National Park the next day and return back to Colombo on Tuesday.

I wasn't sure what this Block 2 was but I remember that I covered only one part of Yala during 2009 trip. The Block 2 visit takes more than 12 hours and we need to hire 2 jeeps for the visit because the authorities won't allow entering only one jeep into Block 2. Luckily jeeps, trackers and everything were pre-arranged and I had nothing to worry. So we stayed the night at Dharshana's place and got up in the early morning for the adventure. The jeep driver we hired was "Mada Shantha" the term "Mada" comes because he is a guy who’ll put his jeep in the mud and do all the ticks. Well wasn’t a big 4x4 fan before but this was a different experience for me.

Muddy tracks of Yala - Block 2

My intention of going to Yala was to do some wildlife photography but the weather conditions were not so good. It was a gloomy day and no sunlight for the leopards to come out. Therefore I couldn’t get the photographs I was planning for but we have a good time at Yala :)

Elephants protecting their babies