SECOND VISIT TO YALA IN 2019........

I made another trip to yala in the 2nd week of July , less than a month after  my first visit for the year 2019. This time around I went with my family, my cousin ( who comes from Dubai every year and does a trip with us) and a family of her friends.The first day we stayed at Jetwing Yala and did the afternoon safari and after doing the morning safari the following day we went to Avani hotel in Kalutara and stayed the night to return on Sunday.It was a good trip all in all having quality family life as well as being able to capture some good photos.

On the way to Jetwing Yala..

The Hotel

Doing the first visit in the afternoon

Around 2.50pm a few minutes after coming to the park, this female came out of no where and chased a small herd of deer who were  in front of our jeep  at a junction on the main road. After failing the attack it sat here may be to get the breath back ..

Crested Tree Swift

Eurasian Hoopoe

On the 2nd day morning though we entered the park at 6am, we went all over without any luck and then suddenly came across this one named STRAWBERRY  at around 9 am.

Hotel Avani, Kalutara

Seen from the lagoon

FIRST VISIT TO YALA FOR THE YEAR 2019.....

Surprisingly  my first visit to Yala for  2019 was in the 3rd week of June when I joined a group  constituting  wild life photographers which was organised by Rajiv Welikala who is a well known personality and a wild life enthusiast, working for Classic Travels  . It was a very well organised   and a comfortable trip as we stayed in a boutique hotel called KELE for 2 nights and the accommodation set up was quite good and the food was awesome.To top it off  the photography experience was also  pretty good as Rajiv arranged the safari trips quite well.

KELE

The bed room

Each Chalet has 3 rooms

 The restaurant lit up for the evening

Painted stock nesting

A crested Hawk Eagle finishing the remains of a bird

Sunbathing ...

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Being the month of June though expected it was very dry inside  the park ...

Quenching the thirst

These 2 Elephants were embroiled in a friendly tussle.

This Bear entertained us for some time eating the delicious PALU fruits which had fallen on to the main road..

Grey Headed Fish Eagle

Indian Paradise Flycatcher

Pied Kingfisher

 Common Kingfisher

Initially when we stopped we only saw the dead Rabbit and were wondering for about 20 seconds as to how it could have died and then only we saw the slight movement of the Python.

The daily team building exercises

According to GIMAL who is known as Leopard Gimal and has a good data base about the Leopards in Yala, this is EMMA one of the 2 cubs born in 2014 near Warahana area and we saw her drinking water near Warahana Bungalow around 5.45pm.