We arrived at Yala National Park yesterday afternoon after a long drive down from the tea plantations. On our last night up in the hills we had planned on going into town for dinner. A violent thunderstorm stopped those plans so we ate at the hotel.
In Yala we are staying at a hotel called Cinnamon Wild which is on the edge of the National Park. When we checked in they told us we mustn't come to the restaurants after dark without requesting a guide. We thought this was a bit of a hotel "thing" but I went outside before we went to dinner only to be greeted by a wild pig in the garden outside our door! Needless to say, we called the guide!
This morning we got up at 5am to go on a safari in search of leopard. Unfortunately the leopard was elusive (or scared off by the huge number of jeep jockeying for position when someone thought they saw one) but we did manage to see a jackal, lots of wild pigs, water buffaloes, samba and spotted deer, mongeese an elephant and many different kinds of bird life. We were certainly not too disappointed.
We've enjoyed relaxing by the pool and this afternoon we went for a short walk on the beach just near our resort - the Indian Ocean.
Tomorrow we continue along the south coast of Sri Lanka heading to Galle for a couple of nights.