Yala Leopards!

We left the hill country behind today descending through the beautiful Ella gap, passing dramatic waterfalls and backpackers finding themselves amongst the cold beer and Wifi. Tea plantations gave way to rice paddies once more and the heat levels soared.
Stopped at a fresh fruit stall by the side of the road for some mango and ‘sour sour’ which tasted as its name suggests. Elephants on the road being thrown bananas discarded by worshippers coming back from the temple.
Later in the day off to a safari in Yala National Park where there are about20 leopards. Not certain of seeing one we saw a variety of wildlife. A male elephant washing himself, a crocodile slid into the water just in front of us and a water buffalo soaked himself in the same piece of water. Wow.
Stunning beacatchers, eagles, deer and a mongoose. It was getting towards the time when we had to leave the park - if a vehicle is not out by 6 then the driver is not allowed back in the park for a week, so a real penalty - when our guide decided to retrace our tracks.
After a short while we came across a female with a badly infected eye. See Irisdottir’s blips for picture. This fellow showed up at the same spot. He crossed the road in front of us and then gave us this deepstare. Very obliging.

Elated we sped off towards the entrance and made it with 3 minutes to spare.

Unforgettable.

Picture here’s of the LCD of my bigger camera which is too old to have Blipfoto installed.