After a week on the coast, I was finally feeling ready for some different scenery. We packed our bags at Tangalle, and made our way to the bus station. It was time to head inland towards dusty savannahs and lush hill country with tea fields. Our next stop was Udawalawe National Park, famous for its wild elephants, with a herd of about 250 believed to be permanently resident in the park. We arrived by local bus and had about a 20 minute walk along the edge of the national park from the bus stop to our homestay. On this walk we saw two elephants, which heightened our excitement for the safari the next day.

The safari experience in Sri Lanka is full-on. We woke before sunrise, and crawled out of bed into the jeep waiting outside in the dark. The race was on now to beat the other jeeps to be the first into the park. We booked a safari with a guide called Lahiru recommended to us by some friends from back home. He was a friendly Sri Lankan with a wealth of knowledge about the national park, and had been guiding safaris for over 13 years. With his VIP status we were able to skip a large queue of jeeps to be one of the first to enter the park. 

After the rush and chaos before sunrise, things settled down as the sun came up over the wide and open savannahs of Udawalawe. As we drove further into the maze of the park, we gradually left behind the other jeeps. It was peaceful, and Lahiru with the eyes of a hawk started pointing out wildlife hidden in the trees and lakes. We saw crocodiles sleeping, water buffalo grazing, mongoose darting through the bush, and countless birds including a hornbill reminiscent of Zazu from The Lion King. 

However, we were most excited to see elephants and I was delusionally hopeful that we might spot a leopard, even though the leopard population at Udawalawe was tiny. For the first hour we saw lots of beautiful wildlife but no elephants, and just when we were starting to worry along came a huge lone male elephant. Not long after that, we came to a section on the road known to be a crossing point for elephants in the park. Elephants can travel up to 200km per day, and are almost always on the move. Seeing them in the wild made me sad for elephants in captivity. Lahiru said he could hear elephants coming so we waited at the crossing, and lo and behold a family of five elephants appeared including a baby elephant that was only a year old according to our guide. Our jeep was parked at the crossing, and the elephants walked right in front of us as they crossed the road, giving us ample opportunity to photograph them.

This safari was our biggest expense so far in Sri Lanka, and about half of the money went to the national park. The rest went to our guide and driver, who were more expensive than other operators but well worth it. Lahriu had excellent English and his years of experience and knowledge about the wildlife in the park was astonishing. I had heard stories of the safari drivers chasing animals and scaring them, but I saw none of this at Udawalawe. There was a lot of respect shown for the wildlife, and it is great that they have these protected national parks in Sri Lanka which are only accessible on a safari.