February 5: Bundala National Park

It was an amazing day for us as we headed out early again (5:00 am) for a safari tour of Bundala National Park.  The 3.5 hour tour was incredible as it bested our Yala tour in so many ways.  One of the biggest was the crowds — in this case, there weren’t any.  Beside the entrance, we barely saw another Jeep and we had our own private tour without any company.  But beyond the solitude, we saw so many more animals up close.  We had several close encounters with elephants— two notable ones in which the elephant was practically in the Jeep with us.  

The sunrise and bird watching were also spectacular — we saw so many hawks, and storks.  The 3.5 hours flew by and the temperatures remained comfortable.

After grabbing a quick buffet style breakfast, it was off to Tangalle — a beautiful beach resort town.  We ended up at the picturesque Guru Beach Resort — think we deserved it after two nights in an absolute dump in Yala.