Our Safari to Yala National Park
We were up at 430am for a 5 am departure to the park which was about a 30 min drive to the entrance. On route we stopped at a small eatery shop and were give a bottle of water choice of coffee or tea that was served piping hot with hot milk. On our safari jeep with us were the young couple from Finland and Germany and we all had good seats just like the safari jeeps in Africa. We waited for over 30 min at the entrance while our driver went in to pay all the fees and pick up a park guide and spotter to travel. all up there were more than 20 jeeps like ours doing the same thing. when the driver got back to the jeep he told us not to tip the spotter as we had already paid for his service.
The park is very large, but when we took off it was like a traffic jam and at each point to view any thing we had to wait our turn to see things like peacocks, as the day progressed things got better, but, we were still kept running into jeeps at view points every where.
We saw a lot of birds, crocs, waterbufflo and the odd monitor lizard, and monkeys, but we did not see a single elephant, and as for the leopards or bears that was just one big sales con.
Both Teresa and I were very disappointed as it cost over USD 105 for the safari to see nothing out of the usual. I guess if we had not been on a safari in Africa before it would have been okay.
The young couple with us said they had enjoyed the day and experience, I guess us old folk are just to old and grumpy.
Our Safari ended back in town at 1130 am, but just before we left the park Teresa and I were left in the jeep by ourselves to be confronted by a sad spotter still looking for a tip. sorry pal no Elephants he had told us there were over 400,000 in the park and he had spotted not one.
Back in the town we headed back to our lodge, and both the young couple and us we heading north to the town of Ella in the mountains. We had discussed taking a vehicle between us so I asked the male running our lodge as uncle was away in Ella himself having taken people there at 9 am that morning. The price was 6,500, but we knew it was all a bit much so when I said 5,000 he said we would not get a driver and vehicle for that price and he did not want to get a driver for money like that. when Teresa and I had checked out of our room left her hat the lodge to go to the bus station to get details on the next bus to Ella, as the bus trip there would need to change buses once or twice, As I walked up the steps in the bus station a middle aged man asked if he could help me, I asked him about the bus time table and if we would need to chance buses etc.
He gave me all the info I needed including the time the next bus departed 1320 hrs, I said about the four of us and a vehicle, he also said 6,000 i told him the young people only wanted to pay 1,000 each, we got to agree on 5,000 only if I could get the younger couple to coff up the extra.
I also found out about another place to eat called Royal cafe, so while out I went to the main street to locate it and check the menu as none of us had eaten whatsoever, because of the early start to the safari When we got outside the lodge we all agreed to take the car option and headed to the royal for lunch, the man arranged the driver to collect us at the royal as soon as we had eaten. while we all munched on veggie omelets except Teresa, the man also phoned Ella and arranged a room for us both that I looked up on the LP book on the computer. I tipped him by giving him a big hug as I knew he had already made a cop out of us as he had said to me earlier in our discussions that I should tell the young couple 6,000 for the car and keep 1,000 for myself.
I said hey I'm not a Sri Lakian! The drive to Ella was about 120K and took over two hours, as we got into the mountains, the air cool right down and the views were fantastic.
We were up at 430am for a 5 am departure to the park which was about a 30 min drive to the entrance. On route we stopped at a small eatery shop and were give a bottle of water choice of coffee or tea that was served piping hot with hot milk. On our safari jeep with us were the young couple from Finland and Germany and we all had good seats just like the safari jeeps in Africa. We waited for over 30 min at the entrance while our driver went in to pay all the fees and pick up a park guide and spotter to travel. all up there were more than 20 jeeps like ours doing the same thing. when the driver got back to the jeep he told us not to tip the spotter as we had already paid for his service.
The park is very large, but when we took off it was like a traffic jam and at each point to view any thing we had to wait our turn to see things like peacocks, as the day progressed things got better, but, we were still kept running into jeeps at view points every where.
We saw a lot of birds, crocs, waterbufflo and the odd monitor lizard, and monkeys, but we did not see a single elephant, and as for the leopards or bears that was just one big sales con.
Both Teresa and I were very disappointed as it cost over USD 105 for the safari to see nothing out of the usual. I guess if we had not been on a safari in Africa before it would have been okay.
The young couple with us said they had enjoyed the day and experience, I guess us old folk are just to old and grumpy.
Our Safari ended back in town at 1130 am, but just before we left the park Teresa and I were left in the jeep by ourselves to be confronted by a sad spotter still looking for a tip. sorry pal no Elephants he had told us there were over 400,000 in the park and he had spotted not one.
Back in the town we headed back to our lodge, and both the young couple and us we heading north to the town of Ella in the mountains. We had discussed taking a vehicle between us so I asked the male running our lodge as uncle was away in Ella himself having taken people there at 9 am that morning. The price was 6,500, but we knew it was all a bit much so when I said 5,000 he said we would not get a driver and vehicle for that price and he did not want to get a driver for money like that. when Teresa and I had checked out of our room left her hat the lodge to go to the bus station to get details on the next bus to Ella, as the bus trip there would need to change buses once or twice, As I walked up the steps in the bus station a middle aged man asked if he could help me, I asked him about the bus time table and if we would need to chance buses etc.
He gave me all the info I needed including the time the next bus departed 1320 hrs, I said about the four of us and a vehicle, he also said 6,000 i told him the young people only wanted to pay 1,000 each, we got to agree on 5,000 only if I could get the younger couple to coff up the extra.
I also found out about another place to eat called Royal cafe, so while out I went to the main street to locate it and check the menu as none of us had eaten whatsoever, because of the early start to the safari When we got outside the lodge we all agreed to take the car option and headed to the royal for lunch, the man arranged the driver to collect us at the royal as soon as we had eaten. while we all munched on veggie omelets except Teresa, the man also phoned Ella and arranged a room for us both that I looked up on the LP book on the computer. I tipped him by giving him a big hug as I knew he had already made a cop out of us as he had said to me earlier in our discussions that I should tell the young couple 6,000 for the car and keep 1,000 for myself.
I said hey I'm not a Sri Lakian! The drive to Ella was about 120K and took over two hours, as we got into the mountains, the air cool right down and the views were fantastic.
No comments:
Post a Comment