After our morning hike to Little Adam's Peak in Ella, we hopped into a taxi for the 2 hour drive down to Tissamaharama, known to the locals as just Tissa. Out of the cooler climate of the hills we made our way south into the sweltering heat of the south coast.
Tissa was the capital of the Sinhalese Kingdom of Ruhuna in the 3rd century B.C. and its large artificial lake, Tissa Wewa, dates back to then.
Wirawila Lake
We arrived at our splurge for the next two nights - Priyankara Hotel (This is our honeymoon after all!) Our plan was to do a 5am safari the next morning in Yala National Park (famous for its leopards) and an afternoon safari in Bundala in the afternoon (famous for its birds). Upon arrival, our taxi driver had somehow picked up a friend who followed us to the hotel on his motorbike ready to sign us up for a "great deal" on a safari. Annoyed we brushed him off and took his card and told him if we were interested we would call him. That seemed to work until he came in and spoke to the front desk in Sinhalese basically telling them that we wouldn't be there for breakfast because we were going on a safari with him the next morning. I sent him away after that and told the hotel we hadn't booked anything yet and would decide our plans after we checked in.
On the drive down Dave had started to feel a bit sick. Not long after we checked into the room, he made way for the bathroom and his bout of vomiting (and everything else) began. A week and a half after my unfortunate night of being ill, Dave suddenly had the exact same thing (plus some fevers and chills)! We decided against booking a 5am safari and that we would just play it by ear the next day.
Our awesome room
The bathroom that Dave would end up spending lots of time in
Our private patio
Poor sicky - smiling despite feeling crummy
Lagoon and rice paddies
Pretty peacock on the roof
I'm not sure what was going on here but it looked like this one bird was getting gang banged by the two black birds.
Next morning at breakfast - Dave was able to get out of bed
Pool time
Checking out the workers in the rice paddies
Feeling much better, we booked ourselves on an afternoon safari at Yala and decided to skip Bundala. We hopped into a comfy safari truck and made our way to Yala.
Locals swimming in Tissa
More rice paddies
More locals swimming and bathing
Bird approaching Yala
Entering Yala National Park
Monkey hanging out in Yala
Pretty peacock
Dave checking out a land monitor
Storks
Green Bea Eater
Mammas and baby monkies
Water Buffalo
Yala traffic problems
Hog
Big bird
Dave and our guide
We saw lots of deer
Traffic jam trying to see the leopard
Looking at the "leopard"
The Leopard - don't you see it? It's in the tree. We couldn't see it either but we were assured there was one in there!
Croc
Clearly this guy was excited to be on a safari
Elephant
The good life
Another land monitor
Check out the size of that lens!
Leopard watching traffic jam
The ocean
Deer
More deer frolicking with monkeys
Peacock dance
Pretty peacock
Elephant rock
Toucan
Heading back
Sunset
We left Yala, a bit disappointed that we didn't really get to see a leopard, but it was beautiful and relaxing to drive around the area.
Ending off the night with dinner by the pool
