With bags on backs we left the hotel (even though the hotel manager offered us a lift, maybe this was a peace offering?), the sun was shining and the temperature had risen. The scenic mountain views were all around us, who knew? We walked the 500m from the hotel to the bus stand and waited anxiously as the bus departure time came and went. Fortunately we had been befriended by a local lady who was also going to Tissa. Whilst waiting, a taxi driver came over and inquired if we wanted a taxi and how much would we pay, we told him the same as the bus fare i.e. Rs 500. His incredulous expression quickly gave way to one of good humour as the joke translated in his brain.
Our hunger was surfacing (dinner had been crackers, dairylea equivalent and an avocado pear). We found a cafè and ordered some vegetable roties, which are flat breads folded into a rectangular parcel containing a filling of chilli, potato, carrot, peas and onions with all the normal prominent spices of turmeric, mustard seeds, curry leaves etc. Soon after breakfast was finished there was a small buzz of excitement in our little corner. The bus arrived and as it swung into view, our hearts dropped as it was clearly already more than full. The conductor put our bags in the rear compartment next to the spare tyre. As we hopped aboard and muscled our way down the aisle away from the open doors, this was going to be a long six hours.
An hour in, and the stuffy air combined with the heat of the day got the better of me and as the wooziness took hold, I thought I would rather kneel down than fall down. As I crouched to get some blood to my head, a man in an aisle seat, stood and shoved me in his place. And that's how I got a seat for the rest of the journey whilst Jan stood for another 45 minutes watching on anxiously and answering everyones questions as to what was wrong.
After the six hour bus ride, through yet more tight turns and beautiful countryside, much of which I was asleep for, we arrived in Tissamaharama. The lady we had befriended in Nuwara Eliya told us where to alight, as did two other guys who had uncles or cousins or brothers that owned a guest house or hotel or taxi and could look after us very cheaply. In fact a fellow passenger, who looked no more than 15 had pulled up in his tuk tuk before we had even got our bags out the back of the bus. We chose an older driver (who was about 25).
The bumpy road to the hotel made the going very slow but it gave us our first glimpses of the wildlife that surrounded us.
The tuk tuk driver asked if we wanted to use him for a safari, the thought of being confronted by anything larger than a dog while we were in a rickety three wheeled tuk tuk was not appealing.
Our room at the hotel was the most luxurious we had had on this trip and after the previous few weeks of cheap hotels, it felt wonderful. Our priority was to have our clothes properly laundered. We could tell that we had been roughing it for a while as we were so excited about the fresh smelling towels and hot water.
We couldn't do much of a walk as we were located in Yala national park and so there were tight restrictions where we could go because of the chance of coming across a crocodile, boar, buffalo or elephant. We even had to be escorted to and from the restaurant after dark. On one occasion we saw a wild hare but luckily we had someone with us and he had a torch, phew.
Our first day comprised of sitting up on the observation deck and watching the crocodiles, buffalo, monkeys and various birds in the lake below. We must have sat up there for hours as dusk soon settled and the lightning from a distant storm lit the evening sky.
Dinner was an impressive buffet and again we clearly were unaccustomed to such a wide variety that between us, we must have tried everything and certainly got our money's worth.
The following day after a sumptuous breakfast of everything, we enquired about a safari trip. The hotel charges were expensive and we tried our hardest to barter with them. We negotiated a small discount and we said that we'd have to think about it and we would let them know.
We went back up to the observation deck and watched the wildlife roam in and out of the area. After a few hours up there a man approached us, his first question was "What room are you in?" Immediately our defences were up and we asked him why he wanted to know. We then got a story about a sister hotel opening soon and they needed photos of westerners enjoying the facilities of the hotel and of the national park. He wanted us to be in a photo-shoot at the hotel, then we'd be driven to the national park for a safari photo-shoot. Suspicious. After we quizzed him, only then did he reveal that he was the manager of our hotel. Defences lowered. Then he also threw in a free safari without the paparazzi to boot. Jan agreed on our behalf as he had passed the interview questions, I was still sceptical. We and another specially chosen couple were going to be picked up that afternoon by the marketing team.
Back in our room, we conducted a full investigation. We thoroughly investigated the man, the new hotel name, googled "Sri Lankan safari scam" etc and all came back clean. What on earth was I going to wear? All our clothes were being laundered.
After turning down the film role in Kochi, we accepted the prospect that our lives may never be the same after this epic event.
Half an hour to the pick up and Jan is going all out with her makeup and on her third choice of outfit decides on 'the one'. I wet my hair, patted it down and shaved my cheeks. We were good to go.
At reception we scanned for the other couple, there were a few people lounging around so we decided to sit away from everyone. The manager approached and told us that regretfully the photo-shoot had been cancelled as the crew had not made it onto the plane from Colombo but we could still have the free safari! FREE SAFARI... Possibly the best words we've ever heard.
The other couple turned out to be really nice, also from the Uk and on their honeymoon. None of us cold believe our luck. Our ongoing joke was that the photographers had found a more photogenic set of people for the shoot and that we were being sent away for 4 hours as we were all so hideous, they didn't want us near the set.
Soon after leaving the hotel grounds our driver slammed on the breaks of the jeep and reversed. We had just driven passed an elephant grazing in the bush not 5 meters away from the roadside and none of us had seen it.
The safari took around 4 hours and we saw so many different birds, lizards, deer, buffalo, boar, crocodiles and the most incredible encounter with a huge tusker. The elephant was in the middle of a crossroad ahead of us. The driver stopped and turned off the engine. We watched as the animal gave the utility vehicle ahead of us a once over, his trunk was rummaging in the back of the open backed truck smelling for anything he wanted. Our driver instructed us to be silent and for us to all move over to the far side of the open backed vehicle as the beast approached us. The elephant slowly got to the front of the jeep, his trunk lightly brushing the bonnet. As his head drew level with the open back we sat collectively holding our breath as the hugely intelligent orange coloured eye looked at us intensely. He moved purposefully and once passed the tracker (who wasn't nuts) told us that the creature had been agitated and that could have been dangerous.
We were then taken to the point where 47 people died in the 2004 tsunami. It was a very sobering and moving moment and the small memorial that now lays at the beach serves as a reminder to that awful day and of the 35,322 Sri Lankan lives that were lost. Our guide told us that of the 47 that perished, 19 of them were Japanese tourists doing exactly what we were doing today. After a brief time here, we were called back to the jeeps to continue the safari. Coming to this point and paying our respects to those who died in the act of fulfilling their dreams was extraordinarily poignant for us.
Back in the jeep and the mood was sombre for a little while, all of us, I assume still deep in thought about those who perished 8 years ago. Slowly the atmosphere lightened as yet more animals were seen, hornbills and a crested eagle hawk (my personal favourite) were the first ones that really caused a buzz.
This was our first safari and we were hooked, everything we saw or heard was just so incredibly amazing. We knew there and then that we'd be booking a second trip as soon as we got back, and we did. Some things you just can't put a price on.
Our second safari and it was just the two of us in the back. We had the same driver and tracker (we must have tipped too much). This time we were heading out at 5:30am to try to spot some leopards. We scooted past countless peacocks, deer, buffalo, boar etc as word got around between the trackers that leopards had been sighted.
As we were tearing down the bumpy trail a jeep coming toward us gave a hand signal for us to stop. There 20 meters ahead of us, a leopard slowly padded across the track and into the scrub. It was so much bigger than we were expecting, so graceful in its gait. We pulled over next to where it went in and we peered in among the dense leaves and branches to get another glimpse of the beautiful cat. Our guide was hysterically pointing at something but try as we did, we just couldn't see what he was pointing at. For a long couple of minutes the tracker was frantically pointing into the bush and we saw nothing. Then as the leopard stood up and moved on, we saw that it had been less than two meters away from us, it's camouflage had done a job on us.
We saw another leopard maybe half an hour later in almost exactly the same spot, crossing the road. This time Jan had the camera ready and she got a couple of snaps of it as it disappeared into the thick forest. Apparently we had just seen a male and a female leopard and for the next hour or so we raced around trying to second guess where either one would reappear. On a couple of occasions we saw leopard like shapes behind the trees but we never got to see another one clearly. We were so thrilled to have seen them, only 30 of the animals live in an area of over 34,000 acres (which is still the densest population of leopards in the world). To see one was lucky, to see two was just incredible.
We sat in the back chattering about it like a pair of monkeys, the adrenaline pumped and our excitement was difficult to contain. We chatted regularly with the driver and the tracker and we stayed in the park for about 5 hours. We saw so many different animals and birds all of which are amazing in their own way but none compared to the stars of the show, the leopards. Jan did some tracking herself, as we were heading back to the hotel she told the driver to stop the jeep. We reversed back and there at the side of the road were two clear footprints from a female leopard and a cub. The driver and tracker were clearly very impressed.
This has most certainly been the highlight of our trip so far and our dip into luxury is over and we move on to Weligama on the south coast for some beach life. Will we have hot water? Clean smelling towels? Who knows what tomorrow will bring.