Journalist Robin Mckelvie travelled to Sri Lanka with Indian Odyssey. On reaching Yala National Park, he missed his kids. His account of his visit and how he found it suitable for a family holiday. 

We eke along the dusty track just as the first shards of daylight burst through the jungle canopy. We are hunting, not with guns, but with Canons and Nikons for Panthera Pardus Kotiya, the largest leopard species in the world in a national park with the planet’s largest concentration of the otherwise elusive big cat. Welcome to Yala, the jewel in the crown amongst Sri Lanka’s glorious wildlife oasis, where the leopard is just one of the myriad wildlife stars.

Yes the leopard is Yala’s biggest draw – I’ll come to our magical encounter with a mother and her two tiny cubs soon I promise – but this massive 130,000 hectare oasis offers so much more. I say it’s a jungle, but really it is a patchwork of alluring landscapes that sweep in from the Indian Ocean. It once drew British hunters in during colonial times to its sweeping forests, wild scrubland, willowy grasslands and marshland lagoons. I find it all unutterably beautiful – even if there were no animals to savour sightings of it would be worth visiting.

The base that Indian Odyssey has organised for me in Yala couldn’t be better. It’s Noel Rodrigo’s Leopard Safaris, a luxurious oasis in the heart of the national park. I instantly see what my Indian Odyssey driver meant when he declared it ‘the best camp in Yala’. It is set gloriously in the wilds, a low impact set-up that works with nature rather than against it, the open plan, open air communal area reminding me of the exotic African bush camps I’ve savoured in Southern Africa. There are swinging hammocks, local hardwoods and even a lovely swimming pool where you can cool off between the twice daily game drives. 

The safari tents are very comfortable, the right side of rustic chic. I chat to a family from Dubai who are delighted with their Family Tent, which sleeps two adults and their three kids. I wish I’d brought my own kids when I chat to them and find that as well as game drives children have hosted activities like wildlife footprint games and photography walks where they can learn to appreciate and shoot what they find around the camp.

My comfy abode has a main living area and a sleeping cocoon that I keep zipped up at all times to keep any creepy crawlies out. I enjoy sitting outside staring up at the canopy watching macaque monkeys swish through the trees under the big Sri Lankan skies. At night the stars take over. It’s like a normal night sky of sparkling stars, just with all the galaxies and planets painted in too to create a dazzling spectacle.

I’m in good company at Noel’s with my local wildlife guides. They welcome us with beaming smiles and are always on hand with spot on information. My fellow guests demonstrate not just how family orientated Sri Lankan safaris are, but also how multigenerational the experience can be these days. Our collage of characters range from eight to eighty years old, all united by a desire to experience leopards and other wildlife in this protected reserve.

Our welcome briefing fires us all up. Young and old eyes alike sparkle with what is to come as we are drawn in by stories of what we could see and how special the park is. Did we know that Yala has actually been protected since 1900? Or that the animals seemed to have a sixth sense that meant that the majority fled to higher ground to escape the tsunami in 2004? The answer for me is no and I’m as thrilled as everyone else about heading out to discover more.

It’s soon time for our first drive and we set off with excitement rippling through our safari truck. Our guides had stressed that there is so much to the park beyond leopards and soon I see what they mean as we savour sightings of everything from mongooses sleeking across our path and wild boar showing a strength that is far beyond the pigs I’m used to back home, through to hulking water buffalo and lumbering elephants. Massive elephants. My new eighty year old friend Pete cannot believe we see all this on our first drive.

The dizzying array of what you can see at Yala is almost endless. This wildlife sanctuary, designated a national park back in 1938, sports all manner of flora and fauna. There are also sloth bears and sambars, jackals and spotted deer; slit eyed crocodiles too. In total over 40 species of mammal thrive in Yala alongside over 200 species of bird. We sight black-headed Ibis and mighty hawk-eagles, but my favourite are the peacocks who unfurl their glorious colours for us.

These are no mere drives around a set route as the guides may know the five blocks of the national park intimately, but you have to track leopards rather than just turn up to see them. Yala is no zoo. On our first drive we ‘only’ catch sight of a tail showing just how elusive the leopard can be. On our next we are luckier as the guides expertly track a large female who we snap sauntering across our path, lingering to take a look right back at us, before making her way off into the wilds.

And then there is the mother and her two cubs. On our last drive. We’ve heard that they have been spotted, but also that other companies have been out and not been able to find them. Our guides really know what they are doing, though, and as excitement builds and we worry the sun may set before we find them there they are. We see mum first. She is tucked up in a tree. She moves and we worry she may be gone. Then she re-appears, this time clutching her two little cubs! She walks right across the trail in front of us. It is no brief sighting, rather a grandstand wildlife experience, the perfect finale to our game drives. 

My last night comes too soon on this Sri Lanka Wildlife tour. We are enjoying another superb meal alive with local produce and spices that the guides explain as always to us in great detail. We are sat under the stars. Pete is sharing stories with the eight year old boy, both are swapping tales with me too. Our eyes all light up when we talk about the leopard with her cubs. It is experiences like these that make Yala somewhere that will always be indelibly imprinted in the memories of anyone lucky enough to be able visit this most bewitching of wildlife rich national parks.

About the Author

Robin McKelvie has been a travel writer, broadcaster and photographer since 1997 and his travels have taken him to over 100 countries. As well as writing for magazines and newspapers across five continents, including The Times, The Guardian and The Australian, Robin can also often be heard talking travel on an array of BBC radio shows. He is also the author of over 30 travel guidebooks and also now regularly blogs and writes online pieces.

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