The South Tissamaharama and Yala National Park

Asanka suggested we take an extra day and visit Tissa, his hometown.  Tissa is the least touristy place we’ve visited (we saw only three tourists), and one of the most fun.  We squeezed in a boat safari, night safari, and a sunrise safari.

Tuk-tuks, the ubiquitous mode of transportation in third-world countries, as on display in downtown Tissa.

Each day at sunset, roughly 10,000 birds come to roost on a small island in the Tissa Wewa lake. It is a spectacular sight.

We had the whole lake to ourselves.  Although Asanka and his hometown buddies take a boat out at sunset all the time, they have never seen anyone else do the same.  As a general rule of traveling, if something is worth seeing, you’re most likely seeing it with a bunch of other tourists.  I guess it pays to go off the beaten track with a local.

The weather was amazing—at the same time as the sun was setting, a spectacular lightning storm raged at the other end of the sky.  Luckily, this storm blew the other direction, and we were able to go out for a night safari.   The night safari consisted of Asanka and three of his friends taking out a 35 year-old Land Rover, after stopping at the Sri Lankan 7-11 for some supplies.  It was quite an adventure as we stood up in the back, and explored some scrub and marshlands near the Yala National Park with a powerful spotlight.

After about 3 hours sleep, we awoke for a “sunrise safari.”  It was quite a sunrise.

At Yala National Park, we saw elephants, water buffalo, deer, crocodiles, monkeys, wild boar, wildcats, monitors, assorted varmints, and tons of birds.  Then Asanka drove us to Unawatuna, on Sri Lanka's southwest Coast.

Note: Sri Lanka is home to an interesting phenomenon:  older, unattractive European women gallivanting around with much younger Sri Lankan men.  It’s like bizarro-Thailand over here.  Apparently, the guy receives Euro- renumeration for playing the role of “boyfriend” during her holiday.  We met one guy who has “girlfriends” in five European countries, and who received a Christmas check from one of them for $500.  Not bad work if you can find it.