A full day inside Yala works differently from a morning drive. With no exit gate to race, your tracker can stay with a leopard for as long as it is visible, wait out the midday heat at a waterhole as elephants and buffalo come in to drink, and follow up the morning’s tracks in the long afternoon light. Lunch is taken at the beach rest area at Patanangala, where a memorial recalls the 2004 tsunami that surged into the park. Researchers identify Yala’s leopards by their individual spot patterns, and photographs taken by visitors have helped track cats for years – your tracker will likely know the residents by territory and history. Twelve hours sounds long. Most guests ask for another.