Tissa Day 2

This morning was notable because we were up, dressed and ready for the driver at 5am. This was Safari door to door service so we were collected in the Safari truck that was our vehicle for the day. Our usual driver was a leisure around Tissa for the day. It took about 55 minutes to reach the entry gate to the Yala N.Park so we joined the queue and like all the others headed to a series of waterholes where the leopards come for their early morning drink. We shuffled around between water holes unsuccessfully before the driver headed off to show us other features of the Park. Besides managing the road which varied from smooth to very rough where there were rocks or wash aways he was very adept at watching the bush for animal siteings. There are a lot of small deer through the Park but the places where we really saw wildlife was around water. It has been very dry here with no rain since the end of the wet season. They didn't even get the thunderstorm we had in Ella. We saw lots of waterbirds including quite colourful Storks, Herons, Egrets, and several different small colourful birds similar size to our New Hollands. These latter ones had names that didn't translate easily.Nearly forgot the Sea Eagle and his nest and a brown eagle. In the animal kingdom we saw lots of buffalo, a marmot, water monitor lizards and eventually some elephants. The elephants were scattered around various watering places and three we saw were belly deep in a huge area of water plants having a great feed. One of these was a female with a baby at heel. He was just big enough that his head and back were above the water plants. Bob got a great photo but mine is a bit distorted by the enlargement needed to cover the distance. We were taken back to the cafe for lunch but this was more for seating as our driver unpacked bowls od rice, chicken, beans, and Dahl prepared by a friend who owns a. restaurant. This was delicious especially be cause the beans were obviously fresh picked compared to the tired frozen ones we have been getting in the restaurants. By now we had been on the road in the Park for 6hours. The agenda provided a two hour break with the tour recommencing at 2.00pm. Bob and I had a confab and decided that we had been foolish to book a full day and the possibility of seeing a leopard at dusk didn't stack up against another 3-4 hours in the heat and bumps. We convinced our driver that we wanted to bail and despite his reluctance he brought us home. Rewarded with the appropriate tip. The swimming pool was first stop at our accommodation and it was bliss. Dinner at our accommodation and relaxation sealed the deal.