Imagine having an entire National Park all to yourself.
My friend and I arrived early, before sunrise, at Bundala National Park in Sri Lanka and were greeted at the entrance. After paying our park fee, locating a driver, park guide and hopping into their safari truck, we were on our way – well almost.
We had gotten up early for a morning of wildlife and bird watching in Bundala. We had been told that elephants, deer, crocodiles and a huge variety of bird life call this park home, in total almost 200 species of birds use this park as a migratory stopover. It was a quiet morning, still very early. Misty and cool. The perfect time of day for exploring and photography. But when our Jeep arrived at the park checkpoint, to start our official safari, there was no guard to be seen. We had no way to get through the checkpoint!
Finally, after searching all the nearby buildings and gatehouses, we stumbled across a sleeping park worker – the gatekeeper. It seems that they hadn’t been getting many visitors recently, or perhaps he had just been out a little too late the night before?
Stumbling to his feet, he checked our permit and let us by…I’m pretty sure he fell asleep again as soon as we passed by.
It was kind of exciting, knowing we were the first people to be entering the park that day. An entire National Park all for us! Waking up the workers is one thing, but watching the park wildlife come to life was even better.
For the next 2.5 hours we rode along the bumpy dirt roads in the park, stopping to watch land monitors and crocodiles sunning themselves in the early morning light and watching peacocks flutter about and colourful birds wading in the marshy waters of the park. Monkeys slowly became active and around every new corner, animals started appearing out of nowhere – as if they didn’t expect any visitors to see them this early in the morning.
We would turn one corner and be greeted by quiet, majestic elephants grazing on the tasty grasses of the park. A few minutes later there would be a troupe of monkeys lazily waking up and grooming each other in some trees.
It kind of felt like a scene out of the Jungle Book, where animals reigned supreme. Without any other safari vehicles in sight, it was easy to forget that towns and villages were nearby, just beyond the visible horizon.
We passed by one other person in the entire park. A local farmer on the edge of the park who lived off the land and let his cattle graze here.
As the journey came to an end, we drove back past the gatekeeper and to the park entrance. Only then, did we seem one other safari vehicle loaded up with travellers. It seemed that it was their turn to have the park all to themselves.
