2nd May - Ella to Yala
- Brett Sedgwick
- May 9, 2022
- 3 min read
Ayabowan from Yala,
Breakfast was string hoppers with dahl and the obligatory omelette. We then watched a mongoose have a little dig on the front lawn!
Vish then took us a for another short drive and we trekked through a path and then up about 400 steps in the blistering sun and climbed the world famous Mini Adams Peak. We were on top of the world and got the pics to prove it. There was no way that we were zip-lining back down though.
On the way back to the car we stopped at the uber cool and modern Ravana Resort. This resort is made to look like bamboo trees and the roof emulates the undulating hills - much like Chill, but on a much larger scale. The place was immaculate, but due to the sudden tourist boom and staff shortages, we waited 20 minutes for two cups of coffee...
We then descended from Ella and briefly stopped for a pic at Ravana waterfall, which again was epic.
We arrived in the South-East of the country in a town called Yala. We had rice and curry for lunch in a restaurant, but the recurring theme of the day seemed to be lack of service staff. We were in there for so long. Normally on holidays, this wouldn't be that much of an issue but we had to be at the Yala National Park at 2pm to complete our second safari of the trip.
We got to the side of the road and met our driver. Like before we got into the back of a modified jeep and Vish jumped in the front. This one was higher but the roof was not opened. This was a big ticket item price wise and cost about 42,000 rupiah - over 150AUD. Life is meant to be lived, and baby we are livin' it.
The safari went for over 4 hours and we saw it all. We saw water buffalo, elephants, peacocks, mongooses, crocodiles, wild boars, spotted dear, antelope, many varieties of birds and the piece' de resistance: a leopard... for about 5 seconds as she did that sexy shoulder slink into the brush after startling a herd of water buffalo. The afternoon was blisteringly hot but magical - even though we were too far away for any really good pictures. On the way back, Vish and the driver stopped at these fruit trees called pelu. The pelu fruit is a small yellow fruit non dissimilar to a wee plum and these monkeys were climbing all over the roof to get at them. We tried a few but then let Vish devour the rest.
By this stage, we were hot, dusty, sunburnt, tired and in desperate need of some libations. The resort where they normally stay was still closed because of Covid, so instead we got to stay at the ultra schmick "Chaarya Resort. This place reminded us of the amazing Chaweng Beach Resort from back in the day and had a pool, gym, bar, restaurant, pool room, and Ayurvedic spa. Our room was huge and we had a quick shower before hot-footing it to the bar for Colombo G&T's. Spot on. A few beers and wines followed, before the obligatory buffet. We tried to be Sri Lankan culinary rock stars after the course yesterday and loaded up on sambal, rice, curry etc, but the chili content was 1000+ and we were balls of sweat after three mouthfuls. We then stuck to less fiery dishes before we retired into the A/C and I smashed some cheeky arrack back as I typed.
Massive day, but damn we're seeing the joint!!
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