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South Coast - Yala and Tangalle

We reluctantly left the relaxing and self-indulgent Norwood bungalow at eleven for the drive to the south coast and Yala National Park. With a few brief stops in Nuwara Eliya, Ella and other villages, it would take us eight hours to complete the 230km trip. At first our route took us through rolling tea country, the steep-sloped plantations perched often precariously above the Nanu Oya river far below, but on the higher slopes around 2,000m, terraced vegetable gardens predominated, punctuated by farmers' cottages. As we began to descend towards the plains, deep and heavily-wooded valleys plunged away at the edges of the narrow pot-holed road until eventually we hit flat land again for the first time in six days, and were able to occasionally reach 70kph.

At dusk we turned off just after Tissamaharama onto the track to Yala Village where we were to spend the next two nights. The hotel had called us earlier to suggest we left the car at another hotel and they would fetch us in a Land Rover since the road to Yala had been badly damaged by the rains and was still heavily flooded in places. Since we had a four-wheel drive we decided to tackle the 8km stretch ourselves. It was easily passable, but at one point the water was precariously close to the door sills and it all felt a bit edgy tackling the unlit track in the dark.

Yala Village is conveniently located just outside the Park entrance; it fronts onto several hundred meters of seashore and consists of sixty chalet rooms scattered over four hectares of land surrounding the reception core with restaurant, observation tower and pool. As we drove in, we could see wild boars snuffling amongst the trees - elephants and buffalo also wander through the grounds and we were requested to call reception for an escort when walking around after dark. We checked in and after a passable buffet dinner we slept early as we had a five o'clock wake-up call for a game drive.

We were one of the first vehicles into Yala National Park just before sunrise. Ervin had rented a Toyota Landcruiser with raised, open seating, plus a local driver and a tracker. The Park has an amazing profusion of birds, and we had soon seen the huge Malabar Hornbill (some 65cm from bill to tail), Indian Peafowl, Common Hoopoe and Sri Lankan Junglefowl, a member of the pheasant family that is the country's national bird; we would identify at least thirty species of bird during our morning drive. As we drove slowly along the track, groups of buffalo wallowed in grey mud-holes, spotted deer grazed on open stretches of grass, families of wild boar scurried across in front of us, packs of Grey Langer monkeys swung through the trees, and a lone crocodile lay motionless by a water-hole waiting for a potential breakfast treat to come and risk a drink. We saw no elephants on our morning drive, except one foraging in the trees right by the entrance to Yala Village, but our high spot was sighting two Sri Lankan leopards (a separate sub-species), both of them very close to our vehicle. The leopards here are large, appearing browner than their African counterparts, but every bit as majestic, and lithely graceful in their motion. The western part of Yala has one of the highest concentrations of leopard in the world but we still felt privileged to have seen these two magnificent creatures.

After about four hours things quietened down in the reserve so we returned to the resort and ate a hearty breakfast, reckoning this would see us through to dinner. Our afternoon game drive started at three o'clock and we were lucky enough to see our third leopard - this time sun-bathing on a 50m high rock perhaps 500m away, master of all he surveyed. Our afternoon route took us past several herds of elephants foraging amongst the small trees, and we added another fifteen birds to our identified species list, making forty-five for the day - an amazing total. The highlight was to see a lone Blue-necked Stork at a large waterhole - one of Sri Lanka's most endangered species (less than twenty breeding pairs remain, all in the south-east of the island), and the tallest native bird standing between 1.2 and 1.5m high.

We also stopped at a beach-side monument marking the deaths of 47 people in Yala National Park when the tsunami hit in December 2005. Ervin, our driver, was staying at Yala Village when the devastating wave came in and he had showed us the spot -- on slightly higher ground - from which he watched the waters rise around the resort; there were no casualties at Yala Village, but a little way down the beach another hotel was wiped out, along with 128 people. Being here, at the monument on the beach, made the incomprehensible event seem a little more real.

Back at the resort we went to the bar where we bumped into a couple we had met at Kandy House, Ron and Sue from London, spending five weeks travelling the country, and had a drink with them before another rather uninspiring buffet dinner.

Leaving Yala we drove eighty kilometres along the coast to Tangalle, a small town celebrated for its sweeping bays and beautiful sandy beaches. At noon, after a bit of a hunt around, we found our destination, The Last House, just to the west of the town on a large plot of land fronting onto the sea. This was the last residential house designed by Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka's most famed architect (indeed, perhaps one of the country's most famous non-political figures) who also designed Kandalama where we had stayed the first three nights of our trip. Built about ten years ago for the same Hong Kong-based guy that owns The Kandy House, it has clean, simple lines, wonderful open verandahs and framed views of the sea just fifty meters away. The Last House was seriously damaged by the tsunami; although the main structures were not destroyed, most of the furnishings, shutters and doors were washed away. The only thing not lost was a large Buddha painting that was found still hanging on the wall, aslant, on its hook. Tragically, Mendes - the manager of Kandy House - lost his wife and eighteen month old son here, although all the other staff survived.

We arrived at noon, and twenty minutes later Yves arrived from Kandy to spend two nights with us and do a little business. After a lovely cold prawn salad (the south coast is serious seafood country), we lazed away the afternoon by the pool, reading and napping until it was time for cocktails and dinner, served by candle light on the dining terrace.

The next morning we awoke in our airy bedroom to the sound of the surf, lying in bed looking out across the garden, through the palm trees to the sea beyond: another small taste of paradise. The house is thoughtfully designed, two upstairs bedrooms in the main house, three others in a separate wing, staff and kitchen in another. The pool is in the centre of this three-sided square and in front, a large lawn runs down to the beach. Only one living room is enclosed - a small lounge - the rest of the accommodation is completely open and a sea breeze seems to keep it all quite cool. We had rented just the main house, but in effect we got use of the whole place since the owner does not rent out the other wing separately. Self-indulgently expensive, but what the hell.

Breakfast today was fresh fruit, followed by egg hoppers served with lunumiris (fried onions, ground cinnamon, a touch of chilli powder, turmeric and palm sugar), plus light and lacy string hoppers (made from rice-noodles), curry, and desiccated coconut fried with turmeric and cloves. Sri Lankan breakfast is a gourmet's delight and it is hard to even begin to describe how good it all tastes.

The day was spent in total relaxation, reading our books and napping: absolute bliss. Around five in the afternoon, Yves and I walked along the beach into the next bay where mutual friends Alison and Michael have a small house on a very large plot of land, and Alison's mother a large house on the headland. Back on The Last House's beach, we checked out a partially completed house on a narrow plot belonging to another friend, Tamara. Almost next door we were waved over by a local guy who tried to sell us his large, 175 perch (one perch equals 25 square metres) plot of land at 200,000 rupees a perch (the going rate is 85 - 100,000 rupees). So, assuming one could negotiate somewhere around market price, one could get just over an acre of beach-front land for about US$170,000. Not bad I suppose. Apart from the sand flies which are voracious along this beach - despite having applied lashings of tropical-grade repellent, I was to suffer for days from the bites picked up on this walk.

Yves and I had an invigorating swim in the strong surf to finish off our walk, and strolled back up to the house for a shower. For cocktails we decided on arrack sours - local arrack is distilled from toddy made from Palmyra sap and is of excellent quality. After a few of those we were ready to sit down to another delicious spread of Sri Lankan curries. We had also asked manager/chef Ananda to get some of the mud crabs which are exported by the container-load to Singapore where we get them up to two kilos in weight; the small ones we ate this evening seemed a poor imitation. I later discovered that the crabs we get in Singapore are specially fattened in lagoons for export only and cannot be obtained locally.

The following day we got up fairly early and Yves, Ananda and I drove to a couple of small local ports where the fishing fleets unload their catch straight onto the concrete dock. There was an abundance of tuna today, and we watched a buyer selecting fish and stacking them on ice in a refrigerated van for the trip to Colombo and on to Europe. The biggest yellow fin he bought weighed in at sixty kilos, a monster fish. Whole-fish tuna was changing hands at 300-350 rupees (US$3 to $3.50) a kilo - by the time it reaches a fishmonger in Europe it would be on sale for 10-15 times this amount. Yves bought a large snapper and a mullet for US$15 - they must have weighed fifteen kilos between them! We also drove around trying to find live lobster for lunch but February is the peak breeding season and fishermen are forbidden to take them during the whole month.

After lunch at The Last House Yves left for Colombo where he had a meeting that evening, and we left a little later for Galle. Next ➤ ➤

Howard's Yala and Tangalle Gallery

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