Safaris and spiritualism

The south eastern parts of Sri Lanka are an isolated and spiritual region, off the established tourist trail. There are several national parks, ancient temples and exotic foods to entertain the Hambantota-based visitor during the World Twenty20.

Yala National Park is an hour's drive from Hambantota. Covering a vast 100,000 hectares, this is a place where zoological dreams come true, pilgrims pass through wondrous arid scenery, and sunsets evoke favourable comparisons with the best African safaris.

For those wishing to go on an early morning safari, it's best to stay overnight in nearby Tissamaharama, commonly known as Tissa, from where safaris can easily be arranged. Rise at dawn and the park is yours: early in the day is the best time to see the wild cats; besides, the park can get a bit crowded as the day goes on.

Yala is home to about 30 leopards, smaller than the African variety but living in a habitat that, with its dusty red roads, parched scrub, prehistoric-looking rocks, and watering holes full of bird and animal life, could be mistaken for the African savannah. Leopards are most commonly seen when they pass these rocks in search of food. For the very lucky, witnessing an early-morning kill is a distinct possibility. The young male leopards, in particular, seem to have no fear of jeeps and offer the best photo ops.

The best time to catch a glimpse of a leopard is either dawn or dusk. Make sure you take a four-wheel drive jeep - a regular jeep will, more often than not, get stuck in the mud, and spending two hours in the heat while the jeep is yanked out is not ideal. Also, get yourself a knowledgeable guide. Being told that a pink-winged bird sitting on a crocodile's head is a bird with pink wings that lives near water is not very illuminating. A good guide will also know how to get you away from the main routes, which can at times get a little congested. You'll pay around US$200 for an experienced guide and a jeep that can accommodate six people.

February and March (and June through September) are the best times to visit Yala. Expect the weather to be hot, around 33°C, so come prepared. Water and snacks can be bought at a small shop, near the entrance to the park. Many tour operators will organise bush picnics for breakfast and lunch if you so wish. There are worse ways to start the day than with a Lankan breakfast of string hoppers and lentils, feeling the sun come up and watching water buffalo lap up their morning drink.

Once you get rolling, the only place where you can get out of your vehicle is by the sea, at the eastern end of the park, where there are villages of fishermen whose families have been in Yala for centuries. These villages are off limits for tourists but can be seen from the alighting point, and are a tantalising glimpse of a way of life that has made only the gentlest of nods to modern-day existence.

Perhaps the most memorable moment of a trip to Yala is the sunset. It is slow and gradual, as the sky turns from pastel blue through to the most vivid orange. The high rock formations add to the prettiest of pictures. Generations of artists have been drawn to Yala to paint these sunsets, and art camps are still held here regularly.

You can camp overnight inside Yala for around $300 per head per night. This takes you deeper into the park, inland, where the scenery gets lusher and the heat more intense. An overnight stay will not greatly enhance the chances of spotting leopards, since they mostly live in the coastal strip, but it will give you a great feeling of being at one with nature, away from the crowd. Make sure to take insect repellent, though, as the mosquitoes come out with gusto at dusk.

A better option for an overnight stay is Yala Village, a complex of bungalows set in scrubland just outside the park. All sorts of wildlife wanders through the complex and there is a great swimming pool as well. A lovely beach nestles at one end, but the sea is choppy and swimming is not recommended. The food is mostly a hit, but the odd miss does occur. No such complaints about the staff, who are charming.

Yala was very popular during the British colonial era as a destination for big-game hunting. While you won't find quixotically moustached Brits in funny hats floating around anymore, the killing of wild animals remains a problem both in Yala and the nearby Udawalawe national park.

Udawalawe is the best park in Sri Lanka in which to see elephants - up to 500 roam the park and there is also a sanctuary for orphans that is open to visitors and has friendly and informative staff members, as well as some very cute young elephants.

The elephants are not killed for their tusks (very few Sri Lankan elephants have tusks) but by local farmers protecting their sugarcane crop - there are several sugarcane factories just outside the park's perimeter fence, which the elephants break through to try and get to the cane. Across the south east of Sri Lanka you find tree houses that have been built as shelters for locals to climb into should an angry elephant be heading in their direction.

Udawalawe and the surrounding areas are home to Sri Lanka's banana farming industry. Eight varieties of the fruit are grown, along with papaya and lime. Fresh lime juice is one of the most popular soft drinks in Sri Lanka, but if you don't have a sweet tooth, ask for the syrup that gives the drink its sweetness to be poured separately, to avoid rattling teeth.

Tissa and Hambantota are both relatively expensive when it comes to accommodation, so those on a budget may wish to look at the sleepy but gorgeous coastal village of Tangalle as an option. To get around, take the regular buses to Hambantota, an hour and a half away. Ten kilometres east of Tangalle is Rekawa, a nesting beach for sea turtles. The turtles live in their natural habitat and are now protected from the once-thriving moonlight industry of egg-snatching. The egg snatchers have now been given jobs within the conservation project, and visitors are afforded the memorable experience of watching these prehistoric creatures go about their life.

Tissa used to be the capital of the Ruhuna Kingdom and is still a pilgrimage site for Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and the indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka. The Buddhist Maha Dagabo and the Hindu temple in the neighbouring town of Kataragama are picturesque, and the 2000-year old stupa just outside Tissa is inspiring.

The further away you get from Colombo, the less prevalent hard-ball cricket becomes. Around Hambantota it is barely played at all, even in schools. There is, however, a deep love of cricket in south-eastern Sri Lanka, and the soft-ball version is taken seriously and has developed into game in its own right - the pull replaced by the roll and straight-arm bowling replaced by something between bowling and throwing to get the ball to deviate.

Matches between villages, played in paddy fields or open spaces in the jungle, are keenly contested and taken seriously, with drummers on hand for atmosphere and screeching monkeys in the trees as spectators. Getting friendly with a tuk-tuk driver or the waiter at your hotel is the perfect route to watching, or even participating in, one of these jungle cricket games - an experience as Sri Lankan as the sarong.