The Tailor-Made camping experience in Yala

A lazy Thursday afternoon and the office is buzzing with excitement. A few more hours and the team will be on their way to the safari capital of Sri Lanka – Yala. Located on the South Eastern tip of Sri Lanka, Yala is famous for the highest number of Leopards per square kilometer in the world.

We had an early start ahead of the traffic and mad rush that Colombo is famous for after 5pm. The journey took almost 06 ½ hours, and saw us check-in to the Jetwing Yala at approximately 11pm. A quick dinner and we were off to bed. The day was excruciatingly tiring, but the journey was worth it – WE’RE IN YALA!!!

The next morning was quite relaxed. An early morning dip in the pool, and stroll along the beach did us a great amount of good. Breakfast this morning was quite a posh affair – not the standard “stand in a buffet queue to get your hands on the last of the overdone scrambled eggs, canned baked beans, sausages, bread/ croissants and kola kenda (local porridge).” We tucked in to a 03 course breakfast. The first course being a choice between oats and kola kenda, the second a hearty mixed grill topped with a fried quail egg sunny side up, ending with curd & treacle (local delicacy) or a fresh fruit platter. Carrying all this breakfast weight, we set off on an inspection tour of the Jetwing Yala, Laya Safari Hotel, and Cinnamon Wild (which was quite a daunting task, but on the bright side digested our food very early in preparation for lunch at the campsite).

Next Stop – Leopard Trails!!! We said our goodbye’s to the staff at Cinnamon Wild, and continued on our way to the Leopard Trails pick-up point, which is situated on the Kataragama side of the Yala National Park, along the Kataragama – Situlpawwa road (approximately 05km’s or a 15 minute drive from the main town of Kataragama). We were greeted by our hosts Arshad and Arran; grinning ear to ear like monkeys (I guess they were so happy to see us!!!). The baggage was quickly unloaded from the bus and on to the jeeps that were parked (I must say they looked very impressive with their carbon fiber stickers on. Looked almost like something out of a transformers movie). The journey from the pickup point to the campsite was approximately 20 minutes. Arriving at the camp, we pounced on the staff carrying the “welcome drink” and cold towels – an oasis in the Yala desert. Although it was the dry season and the stream that runs through the camp was dry, there was a constant cool breeze that swept through the campsite.

Our first impressions of the campsite were very good. The tents were well spaced from each other, the tents looked to be well maintained and of good quality, and the staff were friendly and helpful. We first sat down to a briefing by our camp rangers Arran and Jerome. We were given a thorough briefing on living amongst the wild, general safety precautions, dos and don’ts; a very professional start to our stay. We were allowed 30 minutes to sort ourselves out in our respective tents, and return to the main tent for lunch. Walking in to our tent, everything was well planned out. The tent was very spacious, it had all the basic amenities, a separate area to do your “business” so that it doesn’t stink up the whole room, and an outdoor shower which I loved for some weird reason. After a quick shower and change in clothes, we returned to the main tent for lunch. Lunch was simple, local, and absolutely delicious. Just thinking of the egg rice, chicken curry, fried ladies fingers, papadam (similar to a crispy taco shell), and chutney (amongst others) makes my tummy gurgle even now. The chef was a local villager, and an absolute genius with food. His cooking skills of authentic local dishes is impressive even by Sri Lankan standards (I will steal him for my restaurant one day!!!). I did not want to or expect to be so full for a game drive not more than half an hour away, but I just couldn’t help myself; the food was that good. Which I’m sure was also the case with everyone around the dining table.

Our next stop was the Yala National Park. All of us have been there many a time before, but never with an experienced ranger. We were all looking forward to this experience. We shared stories of our travels, enjoyed hearing stories from Arran’s stint in South Africa with the Anti-poaching squad, previous leopard sightings in Yala, birds, trees and the whole nine yards. We were looking forward to our sighting of the elusive leopard, but the Good Lord blessed us with something better – a rare sighting of a (wounded) Sloth Bear who stayed close to our jeep for well over 20 minutes. I finally lost my bear virginity!!!

We returned to the camp happy and satisfied with our experience of the park, and took a short nap before the pre-dinner campfire session. The campfire was so much fun. The spirits flowed freely, the laughter was unending, and so were the stories and learning. The most significant moment for me around that campfire was when Jerome took out his flint & steel and taught us how to make fire with it. It was a great learning experience for me as I have never tried to start a fire before (unless it was on a stove or gas cooker). Our hosts were always fun to be around, very knowledgeable and at our service no matter what we needed.

After the experience we had with our class “A” lunch, we were eagerly looking forward to what was in store for us at dinner, and lo and behold we were not disappointed. Dinner was even better than lunch. On the menu were pork chops, BBQ chicken, grilled prawns (shrimp for our American friends), sausages, noodles, garlic rotti (Indian flat bread) and mashed potatoes with spinach (which Arran claims to be his recipe). There was nowhere else to go but straight to bed after this feast. Tomorrow is a 5am start!!!!!

We were woken the next morning at 4am for tea/ coffee and a quick snack before heading back to the park for our early morning safari. The morning safari yielded no results, but again our rangers made the drive all the more interesting (for those of us who were awake). Returning to the campsite, we were a bit heavy hearted as we knew we had to leave shortly. We returned to our tents, packed our bag & baggage, had a final outdoor shower, and came back to the main tent. Breakfast was full of laughter, many questions about the events of the past few hours, and great food.

What an amazing experience it truly was; a hat-trick of excellent meals, wonderful company in Amrit, Arran, Jerome and their staff, and memories on film to last us a lifetime.

 By Dilesh Dias

(Sri Lanka Tailor-Made)