It is a long drive. Personally, I wouldn't want to do it at night. The roads are winding and narrow (once you get away from the airport area) and there are lots of road hazards. We stayed at a nice guesthouse near the airport after we arrived, then got an start about 8:00 the next morning (we weren't going to Yala, but to Dambulla).

Where else are you going in Sri Lanka? We used Boutique Sri Lanka to book everthing for us, including a car and driver (not expensive).

I am a very regular visitor to Yala and can tell you that travelling to Yala IMHO is safer than walking the streets of London or LA. Sri Lanka as a whole is very safe to travel and people are generally very friendly here. That said I would apply regular common sense and avoid travelling to Yala very late at night, especially roads closer towards Yala jungles can be very lonley and eerie at night.

The drive from Colombo to Yala can be done via either of two routes.

1. The coastal route along the south coast is more scenic with coconut palms and beaches etc but longer, and takes about 7 to 8 hours. I highly recommend this route for any one time visitor/tourist and suggest you combine it with a possible stop over someplace like Galle or Mirissa etc. If you are a young couple looking for some fun and sun you may find Unnawatuna Beach just your ideal stop with nice bars/restaurants etc to go. (Can recommend you some lovely "secret" places with lobster BBQ to die for if interested!) If you wish to drive through to Yala directly and leave Colombo early say by about 5am you can still reach Yala by 12 noon, in time for an afternoon game drive. If driving through directly a good but quick breakfast/toilet stop over is the Avanhalla at Bentota or Weligama Bay Rest House.

2. The other quicker route from Colombo to Yala is via Ratnapura and Uda Walawe. Takes about 5 hours and runs mostly inland through green tropical country and along the electric fence of the Uda Walawe park where you will surely see some elephants along the fence too. The stretch along the Uda Walawe park was under some heavy road works when I past that way a few days back and best avoided for the moment. There is an alternate road/detour via Sooriyaweva which is also good. This is the route I use on my regular forays into Yala.

Both roads are in fairly good condition for most of the way, however like Kathie says, travelling in Sri Lanka is slow and traffic can be heavy at places. Leaving early morning really helps beat the traffic.

Mahoora is a superb outfitter, they don't come much better than that and they are very careful with the environment too. Car hire is freely available, I think Mahoora should be able to arrange this for you, else there are several other local tour companies who will do this for you. Where do you plan to stay in Colombo?

Mohammed - I would be very intersted to learn of your " lovely "secret" places with lobster BBQ to die for" anywhere in Sri Lanka

Thanks for the replies guys,

one of the options I have is to fly from the Maldives up to Columbo & then drive to Yala.
Trouble is, we'd land in Male about 6:30am, so by the time we'd get the flight up to CMB, I reckon it'll be midday.

We don't have enough days as it is, so I don't want to spend a day in a city when we could be on the road to Yala!

Would the best mode of transport be a taxi or hire car?
Any idea of the costs for either?

Having driven in Kolkata / Mumbai, I'm not particularly worried about the safety aspects!

Many thanks again for taking the time to help,

Kind regards,

Nic

Oh, by the way, as I work in the airline industry, I can get cheapish flights - but only to the Maldives or India & I don't want the hassle of getting an Indian visa at the moment.

What we'd like to do is do 4 or 5 nights safari in Yala then spend 6 or 7 nights on an island in the Maldives - I've got a great offer in a fantastic resort which I don't really want to say no to at the moment.

Unfortunately, we've only got about 12-13 days in total...

Never enough time!

Nic

Nic

Sounds like ytou really are into the wildlife. 5 nights in Yala and 7 nights on Maldives sounds super, go for it. You will need a hire car from CMB airport to Yala and a return hire on the last day. In Yala you can hire safari jeeps locally. Who is arramngione your Yala stay - is it full nights with Mahoora? That is a long time to be camping in the wilderness however luxurious!

Soooory - "arranging" ....

Hi Mohammed,
thank you for your reply - I wouldn't say I'm really into my wildlife - would you think that 5 nights is too much then?

When you are not out on a game drive / walk, is there not much to do around the camps then?

Also, would I be better off hiring a car in CMB for the duration of our visit (and not using it whilst in Yala) or just hiring it one way to Yala then hiring another one back from Yala to CMB?
Would you have a rough idea of the cost?

We were thinking of using Mahoora but they do seem to be quite expensive!

Could you recommend any other good operators in Yala?

Kind regards,

Nic

For a Yala safari you could also consider Leopard Safaris and Kulu Safaris.

http://www.leopardsafaris.com/home.html
http://www.kulusafaris.com/

Thanks Femi - much appreciated.

Cheers,

Nic

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