Camping at Yala

Date	Thursday, 6th of November, 2014
Crew	Six people (Age of 25-27)
Days	Three Days (Two Nights)
Route	Colombo → Tissamaharama → Yala Entrance → Thalgasmankada Camp Site → Yala Entrance → Tissamaharama → Colombo
Transport	Public bus from Colombo to Tissamaharama and a Safari Jeep from there onwards to the camp site
Accomadation	Thalgasmankada Camp Site
Remarks	Yala Block 1 has four camp-sites, namely Varahana, Kosgasmankada, Thalgasmankada and Jamburagala. Varahana camp site needs to be reserved from the Yala wildlife center, while other three can be reserved from the Battaramulla Department of Wildlife office.

The story leading to this journey is somewhat weird. Our original plan was to go on a hike to the highest peak of the Knuckles mountain range. But as the weather reported to be worst in the area due to heavy rains and also, due to the famous 'Koslanda land slide' occurred just a few days earlier, we decided to change our plans with one-and-half weeks prior to this date and go on camping at Wilpattu. But as we were preparing stuff for the journey, the news we got from a few people in the area was again disappointing, as the weather of the Wilpattu area also had gotten worse with the rain. Thus, we had to change our plans once more, with just three days to go, and finally decided to go on camping at Yala. But by the time, all the other campsite at Yala Block-1 had been reserved, so we had to go for the remaining one, which turned out to be pretty awesome in the end.

Day 1

We started our journey from Colombo and the bus left Pettah around 6.20 am. We didn't have to reserve the seats even though it was a Poya day, since the next day was a working day, and hence the bus was pretty much empty by the time it starts off (We had this confirmed in an earlier day, just to make sure we wont ended up having to travel with no available seats. Its better to reserve seats, if it's a weekend). After a long and tiring journey of 6.30 hours by bus, we reached Tissamaharama at around 1.00 pm.

We took our lunch from a near by restaurant at Tissamaharama. Once done with the last 'decent' meal for the next three days to come, we called the safari jeep which we had arranged earlier, who showed up in 10 mins or so. Then we started heading off to Yala, for two days of a complete experience of wilderness. We reached Thalgasmankada campsite around 4.30pm, and the location looked fabulous, having the Manik-river flowing alongside.

The camp site

Pitching the tents

As it was getting dark sooner than the usual due to overcast conditions, we hurried on pitching the tents and collecting some woods for a campfire. After done with those, as we were getting ready to prepare the stuff for cooking, mother-nature became bit cruel on us, as the rain started to pour down, with heavy lightening and thundering around. The rain lasted for around one hour, leaving one of our tents in a pool of water, and all the woods we collected for the camp fire, wet.

Heavy rain pouring down

After the rain..

We had gone prepared for any rain and eventually it was an awesome and one in a life time experience to get caught in a rain in a middle of a forest. Once the rain faded off, we prepared some Mannioc as the dinner and served ourselves, without even bothering about the clothes from which the water was still pouring. As we were all wet and since there was always a danger of animals, we decided to try and lit the camp fire, which we were planing earlier. It did not turn out to be possible at the beginning, as all the woods had gotten wet from the heavy rain. But after a tiring effort of an hour or so, we managed to start a small fire, and after some more effort few more hours, we managed to bring it to a bonfire level.

Started the fire after some tireless effort

Making it mighty..

Day 2

Next day we got up around 6.00 am and got prepared our selves to go on safari as early as possible. We managed to have some several rare sights unique to Yala it self, but unfortunately didn't have a powerful enough lens to capture, specially the far clicks.

Sun sneaking through the dense forest, after the
over night rain

"Herne Protect Us"

Showing off to 'her'

wish we had a better camera lens..

Two leopards resting..

We came back to the camp site for the lunch, and in the break we got, couldn't resist jumping in to the water in a sunny day. The Manik river is known for crocodiles, and there were enough evidence that they have been around, thus we made sure to watch our steps.

some relief and enjoying the water in a sunny day

Again after having short rest, we went off for safari with an intention of taking the maximum out of the journey.

A perfect snap

More scenaries as the sun goes down

Towards the later part of the 2nd day, we ran out of water we brought with us (We carried about 15 Litres of water but turned out to be not enough). As going back out of the forest to bring more water wasn't practical, we had no option but to consume the water from the Manik river. Though the water wasn't the clearest one could find, due to the overnight rain, it was good enough for us to drink, once it was filtered using a cloth and boiled. It was yet another fine experience for us, though it wasn't the first time we ran out of water in a no-man's land.

In the late night, as we were relaxing after a tiring day with some gossips, we suddenly heard a growl of an animal in a not so far distance. At the same time, we heard monkeys jumping around and moving over the tree canopies above us as if they were panicked (There were lot of monkeys around the campsite. So it is advisable to not to keep any food in their reach, at anytime). There were every sign of some danger around as, so we quickly added some more wood and boost the fire so that it will last through-out the night, and got in to our tents, making an end to our gossip session. We kept hearing lots of noises through out the night, but lucky enough to wake up in the next days with no harm what so ever.

Day 3

We left the campsite early in the morning, and reached Tissamaharama around 9.30, after a bit of wandering in the trails again. There we managed catch a CTB bus for Colombo without much of a trouble.

Finally, the crew.. Six of us, the guide and the driver

The credit of the awesome pics goes to Kavinda Silva.

As a last note, If you aim to lit a camp fire, make sure to stamp it out, to the last ember, before you leave. Otherwise it could easily leave to a disaster.

"  Take nothing but pictures,                          

       Leave nothing but footprints!  "