Yala’s Block 1 covers roughly 141 square kilometres, yet field research here recorded leopard densities that rival the finest reserves in southern Africa. The Sri Lankan leopard, Panthera pardus kotiya, is the island’s only big cat – with no lions or tigers to compete with, it hunts boldly and often in daylight. We are at the gate for the 6am opening, when cats are still moving along the sandy tracks, with a tracker who reads spotted deer alarm calls, langur warnings and fresh pugmarks rather than following the convoy. By late morning the heat drives everything into shade, so we leave too: brunch in Tissamaharama, then Kirinda’s temple on a sea-facing boulder, where legend says Princess Viharamahadevi came ashore, and a slow finish beside the 2,000-year-old Tissa Wewa reservoir.
