Speeding and danger in Sri Lanka's safari parks

Yala is Sri Lanka's most famous habitat for leopards.

25 April 2012
Sri Lanka's Yala National Park inhabits a remote and wild corner of the south-east, but anarchic behaviour by tourists and drivers desperate to glimpse big game has created dangers for the wildlife there, as the BBC's Charles Haviland experienced.

Yala is a place of magic, of rocky outcrops, big trees, ancient lakes and the rushing sound of the Indian Ocean never far off. It is a place of leopards, elephants, sloth bears, antelopes and a rich bird life of peacocks, hornbills and more.

But conservationists in Sri Lanka are warning that anarchic behaviour in some national parks is endangering the wildlife and the ecology of wilderness areas.

They say safari vehicles are flagrantly breaking speed limits and that marauding behaviour by drivers and tourists is grossly insensitive to fauna and flora.

This is especially the case in Yala in the south-east, the most famous habitat for leopards - the only big cat found on the island.

I experienced this during a recent trip there when we careered through the park at high speed, even though we told our veteran driver that we did not want to go fast and that we were by no means obsessed with seeing a leopard.

At first we were merely jolted, but within about 10 minutes, I had been flung to the hard metal bars running along the ceiling of the safari truck and sustained a serious head injury.

'Jeep jam'   Jeep jams are frequently a problem in Yala     Full Story>>>