Show me the sloth bear!

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We certainly weren’t relishing the idea of leaving the beautiful airconditioning to head back into the furnace of a safari camp again, but an evil-looking centipede basically chased us away, and we were keen to see a sloth bear. We’d heard good things about Wilpattu, that it was “the best” national park etc, and well, Yala had some making up to do!

So we hopped in the van for the relaxing and cool journey to Wilpattu. We arrived just before lunch and relaxed under fans in our tent before a tasty lunch under a tree. We requested a later start to avoid too much heat and started the journey to the gate with some trepidation over what furnace-like conditions lay ahead.

But we needn’t have worried. Beautiful tree-lined roads meant a lot of shade and much cooler conditions together with a bit of cloud cover meant that I didn’t want to die quite so much or so often. The bush and surrounds were very pleasant and we saw deer and enjoyed some beautiful outlooks over a lake. Eagle-eyed Beeb managed to spot a cobra which we watched slither ominously into the bush, its patterns disguising it well.

Soon we stumbled across a group of other jeeps who were stopped, purportedly for a sloth bear. I managed a glimpse of its arse and we were concerned that’s the only look we might get, but it slowly bumbled its way into a better view as it foraged for food, digging quite determinedly under selected trees for insects. We watched it as long as we could before the threat of being locked in for the night had us speeding towards the exit.

Returned to the camp for our 14th shower of the day, drinks and dinner by the bonfire.

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