Yala National Park is Sri Lankas 2nd biggest and most popular national park and was designated as a wildlife sanctuary in 1900. It borders the Indian Ocean on the SE coast. We arrived the night before so we could get an early start. We had 3 choices. A half day morning tour, a half day evening tour or a full day 12 hour tour. Since we made the long journey just to see the park we opted for the full day tour. Big mistake! More on why in a minute.  Our safari jeep picked us up at 5am so we could be waiting at the gate at 6am when the gates opened. Theres no hiking or things to do here except jeep safaris. As soon as the gate opened we were off on  a crazy dash into the park with the driver radioing ahead to spotters trying to find a leopard. There is a small 2-3 hour window for seeing them before it gets hot and they take shelter out of view. While searching for them we saw dozens of other animals but we would just pass them by for now. Finally after 2 hours we caught a glimpse of one resting high up on a rock ledge! With the pressure off we then ate a quick safari breakfast in the jeep and then spent the next 4 hours spotting elephants, water buffalo’s, monkeys, miniature deer, large deer, crocodiles, giant monitor lizards, boars, peacocks and countless other animals. More than you would ever see in a zoo. It was amazing. We even saw a one month old baby elephant. The only animal we didn’t spot was the sloth bear. The guide said he only sees one every 3 weeks or so. Finally at noon we stopped for lunch by a river. From noon to 2pm noone is aloud to drive around the park for some reason so we just relaxed and stretched our legs. Then we got back in the jeep and spent 4.5 more hours searching for more leopards. The problem is that after noon it gets hot and most animals hide from the sun so it was a lot of just waiting in spots the driver thought maybe a big cat would show up. As thrilling as the morning was the afternoon was equally as boring. And after spending 10 hours bouncing around in a jeep our bodies were wrecked. With no animals and sore bodies everyone was tired and wishing it would end. I highly recommend Yala as probably the best wildlife viewing expirience we have ever had outside our komodo dragon and manta ray expirience in Indonesia however take my advice and only pay for the AM safari. You won’t miss anything and your body will thank you. Seeing a leopard in the wild was a once in a lifetime kind of thing but no less thrilling than having a family of elephants come walking out of the jungle right up to your jeep. Another highlight was lunch. Not the food but the fact that the parks monkeys have figured out where the jeeps all meet for lunch. While your trying to eat they raid your jeep looking for anything you may have left there. And they drop from the trees to steal food anytime you turn your back. So much fun to watch! Sri Lanka keeps getting better everyday and is quickly moving up.our list of favorite countries. The nature and wildlife are top notch and the people are so nice. For a country with so many economic problems the people ask for nothing and are genuinely interested in talking to you. We have seen very few Americans here and even get surprised reactions from people when we say where we are from. Seems not many Americans come here.  Your missing out!!!