Sunday, June 8, 2014Sunday, June 8, 201428 29leisure leisure

A Beary Good

Five exhausting hours away from Colombo, Yala is enjoy-

ing a rejuvenation of sorts. The park, which is located in the heart of the southern dry zone, is exhib-iting signs of new life thanks to the recently concluded rainy season.

Little green buds adorn the tough and thorny trees, and little flowers in a variety of hues dot the landscape. Regular visitors to the park know that this is a very rare sight.

One of the trees in bloom at the moment is the Palu tree. The mul-

titude of Palu trees that crowd the park is unrecognizable from any other type of tree. But during the late-April through June Palu sea-son, Yala is a riot of yellow with a backdrop of luscious dark green.

Apart from jazzing up the ap-pearance of the park, the Palu trees perform an additional benefit (particularly from the point of view of the avid wildlife observer). The Infamously shy Melursus ursinus inornatus, or Sloth Bear, is an un-apologetic fan of these cloyingly sweet berries. They have been ob-served countless times during this period, over the years, engorging themselves on Palu berries to the

Nothing compares with driving long hours in the dark monotony of the night. Five hours

of nothingness finally gives way when you spot the sign for the Cinnamon Wild Yala hotel. As soon as you enter the premises – which inci-dentally lies so close (just seven minutes away to be exact) to the border of the Yala National Park that even the animals get confused – it is made abundantly clear that the hotel sees itself as an extension of the National Park.

When we finally reached the open air build-ing housing the reception we were treated to a warm welcome by the staff with cool wet tow-els. We were offered a refreshing, pick-me-up of fresh woodapple juice that just about man-aged to revive us. After registering and sort-ing out luggage with an impressively minimum amount of fuss, we were directed to the hotel’s charming dining room, where we were treated to a comprehensive spread of the usual buffet fare. One thing stood out though; the quality of the food on offer – particularly the Sri Lankan dishes – was excellent. This writer has fond memories of the banana flower curry, which went exceedingly well with a fantastic soft shell crab curry, both of which reminded her of home.

It is a little scary in the middle of the night to try and find your way to your room – which is actually one half of a standalone chalet – be-cause you never know what is lurking under the bushes. Luckily, a member of the staff is on hand, armed with flashlights to guide you to your doorstep, with all the grace you will come to ex-pect of them.

The room itself is on the smaller side. A large four-poster bed draped in gauzy white

mosquito netting, dominates the room while other functional pieces of furniture are carefully arranged around it – trying to make maximum use of the limited space. Just when you imag-ine you know what to expect, you walk into the bathroom. It is an amazingly large space, with a separate dressing area, toilet, and a shower cubicle. It is beautifully constructed with polished cement, terracotta floor tiles and dark coloured wood panelling. The rainwater shower is a powerful and thoughtful nod to the needs of the hot and dusty guests, post sa-fari.

Come dawn, the true beauty of the hotel and its premises emerge. Bordered on one side by the glistening blue sea and on the oth-er by the harsh red earth of the dry zone, the hotel doesn’t attempt to create the illusion that one is somewhere else. It tries to stay perfectly in harmony with the land it occupies, and the success of this venture can be measured by the sheer variety of animals, including herds of wild boar (babies in tow), that run about in the premises in the afternoon. I woke up from an afternoon nap (shielded somewhat by the ridiculous heat, by efficient air conditioning) to find a young wild buffalo grazing outside my room.

The hotel organizes safaris with their highly skilled team of naturalists from Cinnamon Na-ture Trails, who also double as trackers. They

work closely with the authorities to make sure that their forays into Yala remain as unobtru-sive as possible. Cinnamon Nature Trails also runs a night-time excursion around the perim-eter of the Park (the Yala National Park closes at 6.30 p.m.) using infrared and thermal imag-ing equipment. The naturalists are extremely knowledgeable and eager to talk about their passion with anyone willing to listen.

Consideration for its surroundings seems to permeate throughout every facet of this hotel. From its actual physical structure to the cour-teous and efficient staff, Cinnamon Wild Yala feels more like a grown up version of a camp-ing trip than a decadent luxury holiday – which essentially it is.

I suppose, therein lies its charm. (AF)

Tasteful LuxuryCinnamon Wild Yala

point of intoxication. This binge eating related intoxication is quite possibly the only reason that fans can observe the Sloth Bear in its natural habitat.

Bears apart; Yala’s annual rebirth also attracts other, less camera-shy resi-dents. It is not uncommon to have sightings of herds of wild boar, babies in tow, crossing the rutted tracks, sharing habitat with families of spotted deer.

Traveller’s tipMake sure to ask for your personalised Wi-Fi username and password at the reception. There is excellent coverage across the hotel premises, but speeds tend to vary. However, if you really do want to catch up with the rest of the world, it’ll do in a pinch.

Mugger Crocodiles and Wild Buf-faloes share a wary peace in the muddy watering holes– until they don’t. Toque monkeys cuddle their babies and hang around observing everything with a slightly menacing air while the black nosed hare darts

around under the (relatively) cooler brush with amazing speed. In addi-tion to these, a large variety of birds are spotted near the numerous wa-tering holes dotting the park – mak-ing this season particularly exciting to those interested in bird watching

and amateur ornithology. Yala’s ce-lebrity superstar, the leopard, is also a semi-regular sighting during this season. The luckier safari patrons have reported full on sightings, while it is not unusual for people to have at least gotten a fleeting glimpse of a tail, or a limb, languorously draped over an overhanging branch.

With the good comes the bad. Yala is in dire need of better regulation. Despite the preva-lence of wildlife within Block 1 – the 14,101 hectares open to the public – there are also alarming signs of human encroachment. The sheer numbers of safaris en-tering the park with enthusiasts

from near and far, are enormous. Biscuit wrappers and milo packs litter the park, despite the many signs requesting people to be bet-ter behaved. There is no way the wildlife department can stay on top of litterbugs because they’re desperately undermanned.

In addition to the poor behaviour of the general public, the mercenary tactics of the private rangers and safari drivers may also lead to the exploitation of the wildlife. Despite warnings to keep their distance, the chance of sighting rare animals such as the Sloth Bear and the Leopard is too much for the drivers to pass up. They drive up to and stake out

underneath trees or drive straight in to the brush where

sighting have been reported. This is not healthy behaviour on both sides of the coin. On the one hand, an angered animal is more prone to lash out at the closest moving ob-ject – which in this case might be a flimsily protected jeep full of unsus-pecting tourists; and on the other, it would drastically disrupt the delicate balance that has been established since the inception of the park, where rangers and animals keep a healthy distance from each other.

Yala is an amazing place. With the various changes in climate, it’s almost like a personality change. If you are able to, it is well worth a visit during this Palu season. Just make sure you ask your ranger to drive re-sponsibly – and make as minimum an impact as you possibly can.

Sri Lanka’s very own subspecies of sloth bear, evolved as a result of being cut off from its bigger cousins on the Indian subcontinent

It is generally smaller in size (ranging from 55kg – 160kg), and has shorter fur

Sloth Bears have short powerful limbs and their paws have long claws which can grow up to 3 inches long

They are mostly nocturnal animals and have a strong sense of smell, which they use to find food.

Apart from the mating season they are solitary animals. During the mating season an adult male bear’s territory will cover a radius of approximately 13 miles

Sloth Bear mothers gestate for 6-7months before giving birth to their cubs

The cubs will remain in the den for the first 2 or 3 months, and will then venture out on their mother’s back. They become independent and leave their mother’s side after approximately 2 ½ years

As a result of their anti-social nature, very little is known about the habits of these animals

Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus inornatus)

Season inYalaBy: Appekka FernandoPictures By Lalith Perera

Yala is famous for being the seasonal home to some amazing species of birds. The following were common sightings during this season, predominantly hanging out by the watering holes.

Indian Peafowl

Red Wattled Lapwing

Jungle Fowl

White bellied sea eagle

Painted stork

Malabar pied hornbill

Indian Nightjar

Mongolian plover

Blue tailed & little green Bee eaters

Orange breasted green pigeon

Changeable hawk eagle

For the amateur Ornithologist