Hello again from steamy Sri Lanka! I left you at the end of my previous post in Weligama, about to set off to our next destination of Tissamaharama, or just Tissa. We were feeling quite refreshed after our slightly shorter than expected relaxation period at the beach, and we were now ready for some more adventure. We shopped around to get an idea of the price for a private taxi to take us to Tissa, about 140 km from Weligama. The going rate was 10,000 Sri Lankan Rupees, about 100$ Canadian, but I was prepared to put up with a fair amount of discomfort to avoid this expense.
Sophie, on the other hand, was not overly keen on the idea of sitting on a potentially overcrowded chicken bus for the three-hour journey. Who would win this psychological battle??? Let’s find out, shall we?
So, it was mid-morning and we found ourselves at the Matara bus stop, some 17 km from Weligama. Matara is the largest town in southern Sri Lanka, and is also the end of the line for the trains. If you want to go further east, you have to either catch a bus, or hire a private car. Our tuk-tuks dropped us off at the bus stand, which seemed very orderly and tidy (compared to India, anyway!). Sophie was still unsure about taking the bus, so she had me wander around to look for a private car or van. Most of the vans were already choc-full of passengers, and there were no tourists to be seen. I eventually saw a lady who appeared to be a tourist getting into a nice looking van, and I asked here where she had found it. She informed me that it was her private vehicle, and that she owned a restaurant in Tangalle, a bit further along the coast. She kindly offered to give us a lift there, but the van was not quite big enough. I thanked her for her generosity and headed back to the bus station, my duty completed.
In the end, getting the bus was a piece of cake. Most of the time, the buses find you, in that the conductor / ticket seller on each bus will ask where you are going, and direct you to accordingly. We bought some goodies and water from the corner shop, and headed for our bus. The conductor took us to the back of the bus and opened the luggage compartment, which was completely empty, and kindly placed all our cases inside. So far, so good! We sat down in the bus and waited for it to fill up. Once most of the seats were filled, the bus headed off. Here’s where things got a bit hairy – the bus driver seemed to have forgotten where the brake pedal was, or believed that the horn was actually the brake, and had interchanged them. Unless you were an even bigger bus than ours, we were not slowing down, and the same rule applied to overtaking – if you were a smaller vehicle oncoming, well you had just better get out of the f***n’ way! In addition, the driver must have had a very important appointment he was late for, because it was pedal to metal the whole way.
Despite innumerable near-misses and close calls, we eventually rumbled intact into the Tissa bus stand in the afternoon. Total cost of the bus ride was a whopping 320 Rupees! Even when you add in the 2000 Rupees it cost to get us to Matara, it’s still a huge saving compared to the private taxi. Even Sophie had to admit that it was not that bad. We took another tuk-tuk ride to our hotel, the Hotel River Front, located a few kilometres from the center of town. Given our rotten luck so far with hotels in Sri Lanka, we were understandably nervous when we pulled into the hotel’s entrance. Our fear was misplaced, however, and when we were shown to our room we were pleasantly surprised. A nice big room with very high ceiling and powerful AC unit awaited us. Everything was spotless. There was even a little balcony that looked out over the back garden, down towards the river. For once, the “Deluxe” room merited it’s name!
Now you may be wondering why we came to Tissa in the first place. Well, it’s the staging post for trips to Yala National Park, one of Sri Lanka’s biggest, with the highest concentration of wild leopards in the world. Other animals that live in the park are elephants, buffalo, antelope, crocodiles, and too many bird species to name. We had promised the kids that we would go on a jeep safari in Sri Lanka, so there was no going back. We booked with the hotel for the following day. We would need to get to bed early, since our driver would be there to pick us up at 04:45 am (gulp!).
The next morning, we dragged ourselves out of bed and downstairs at the required time. Our driver was a tiny little guy named Indu. He spoke pretty good English, and was very soft-spoken and polite. Wouldn’t harm a fly, I thought. We had booked a private jeep, so we had the six seats in the back all to ourselves. The cool morning air soon woke us up as we made our way to the park entrance, about 20 km from Tissa. We soon realised that we would not be alone in the park, as there was a nice line-up of jeeps forming at the entrance. The park gates opened at 6 am, and all the jeeps streamed into the park, tourists eagerly peering about, hoping for an early glimpse of the elusive and nocturnal leopard. The tracks in the park were in quite poor condition, and progress was slow. But that was okay, since we had until noon. In addition, the sun had now made its appearance, and we were happy to just absorb these first rays of sun and watch the bush roll by slowly. We passed a few junctions in the road, and eventually we were by ourselves at last. “This is more like it.” I thought. I was soon to be disappointed, however, as we began to encounter jeeps coming in the opposite direction, and having to slow down and pass on the single track dirt road. We did not go more than a few minutes without encountering another vehicle, either behind or in front of us. This was far removed from Namibia, where you could drive for hours and not meet another soul. Little did I know that the fun and games was only just beginning…
After about an hour of driving around and not seeing much of interest, Indu told us that he had heard from his buddy, another driver, and that a leopard had been spotted. Did we want to go in that direction? We said okay, and off we went. A short while later, we ran into a traffic jam. There were literally dozens of jeeps all lined up along a section of dirt track. We had no choice but to sit and wait for something to happen. Indu told us to keep an eye on a section of bush. He was now getting quite lively, I noticed. He passed me a small pair of binoculars with which to scan the bush for the elusive feline. I duly began looking in the general direction he was pointing in. Minutes passed in tense silence. Then, frantic banging on the drivers cab window. Indu was now in a state of excitement usually reserved for us tourists. “Leopard, leopard, leopard!” he hissed at me, pointing to the bush. And sure enough, there it was, about 50 metres from where we were parked, walking stealthily through the thick undergrowth. I managed to get it in my sights with the binoculars, but no sooner had I done it than the big cat was gone again. Sophie had also seen it, and was trying to get a decent photo but without a huge zoom lens, it was a lost cause.
Pretty much as soon as the beast had disappeared from sight, began the scramble to follow it. It was bedlam! Our quiet-spoken, calm driver had transformed into a crazed maniac straight out of Mad-Max. He bumped and careened along the track, trying his best to get us to the head of the pack. The kids got bounced around in the back pretty badly, and we had to be careful of branches and other jeeps making contact with our enclosure at the rear of the jeep. But it was all in vain, as the big cat had vanished into the bush as silently as it had appeared. The chase was over, and Indu had reverted back to his normal self, no trace of green left on him! The remainder of the safari was pretty relaxed, and we managed to see all of the creatures promised to us. We saw a second leopard sleeping up a tree, but again, at quite a distance, so no good photo to show you, sorry.
We were worn out upon our return to the hotel, and took it easy for the rest of the day. For the remainder of our stay in Tissa, we made the most of the nice room and quiet location of the hotel. We went for long walks along quiet lanes, saw rice paddies, lakes, stupas, and a colony of flying foxes (several hundreds of them!) in a few big trees. We also discovered Sri Lankan bakeries in Tissa, and gorged ourselves on the doughy sweetness of the fresh bread sticks from the local bake shop.
I liked Tissa because it was not overly touristy. The people were friendly and not always trying to sell you something. Kids would wave or say hello without putting their hands out. This also has a downside though, as when you need to get something quite simple done, it can be harder than you think. We needed to print out some maths exams for Greg, and set out to find somewhere in town that would do it. About two hours later, and many visits to likely shops, we found ourselves in the local computer shop, in a tiny burrow-like location in the market. They sold everything from laptops to pirated videos. When we eventually got to the counter, the guy understood our request and gave us his email address so we could send the PDF files for printing. Sophie duly sent the email, and we waited for him to log onto his email account on his desktop. Twenty minutes later, we were still waiting, and the sweat was pouring off of us – it must have been 100 degrees in that shop! I went to find some refreshments, and took my time about it, but when I got back, Sophie was still there waiting. In the end, we had to give up and we told the guy we would return in the morning. We eventually got the pages printed, but what an experience!
Stay tuned for the next thrilling installment, where we hit the road again to our next destination, the town of Ella, up in the hills.
A Light Year Family 