On this trip we decided to try out two hotels: Jetwing Yala and CInamon Wild Yala as well as do a jeep safari trip. We arrived yesterday at the Jetwing Yala facility. It was about Isaks sleeping time which does not mean that he will sleep but that he will be whiny from not sleeping. So right after arrival we couldn't do much because he was complaining and hugging Mihiris feets.

Eagle's cafe

On the road to Yala. In the map below you can see that on the road we stopped at Eagle's cafe, a road restaurant maintained by Sri Lankan air force. Thay have an airplane outside, and I believe you can go inside it.

Jetwing Yala

First thing on arrival we got the more or less traditional small alcohol free drink and a cold towel. Although the road had more craters than the moon this hotel give a grand impression, especially the second floors that are elevated and yu can look down on the "wild life" (=dogs and monkeys) below. The room is spacious and the shower is half outside (a bit of the ceiling is gone - this is more common than you think and extremely strange to us northern europeans). The view from the balcony is superior, facing the sea and the pool area.

After unpacking and shuffling around the room for a while we took on bath clothes and went to the pool. The weather was now cloudy and the water a bit cool (but not cold). Isak was having the time of his life in the child part of the pool which is shallow (although for some reaason many pools in Sri Lanka are quite shallow anyway - see earlier note about building for The Smurfs).

I quickly found the bar - they have bar seats (concrete pillars) in the pool so you can sit in the water and have a beer. I had a Lion lager, a Mojito and a Pinacolada. The Mojito was ok, even if Mihiri didn't like it. There were no straws though - being eco friendly the Jetwing avoids single use plastic stuff. I was about to order something from the bar menu also but decided not to since it was dinner time soon..

After being sufficiently drunk Mihiri carried me back to the room and we changed to dinner clothes. Dinner was a buffet with grilled theme; sitting outside (or inside if you preferred that but the grills wre outside) you could walk up to one of the grills to get grilled seafood, mongolian or pork. In the air conditioned inside there were Starter salads, soups, Sri Lankan corner, deserts, and fruits. They even had sushi. It looked like a quite simple pasta with tomatoes were quite popular. There were plenty different dishes but I'm not sure it was exactly my taste. I also have the problem with buffet that I don't know what to pick... Mihiri, who is probably used to much more spicy food, described it as "boring".

Dinner

• Ambience: Nice
• Price: ? (included in the hotel for one night)
• Service: Self service, short queue
• Seating: Table in a corner

 Overall: OK

The safari

The next morning started early, 5:00 (leaving in a jeep-alike from the reception area at 5:30). We each got a bag consisting of a water bottle, a muffin and a croissant for breakfast. Mihiri had booked a safari jeep for us and her father, but he was sick so there were just the two of us and the guide/driver.

When we left it was dark and a bit chilly and I wished I had brought a sweater. We bumped along the hotel road, then up on the asphalted 499 (which had speed bumps instead of pot holes - Mihiri counted 14 speed bumps) and then joined up at a place where a lot of other safari jeeps were parked. The driver went off to buy tickets for the park area, so we waited for a while watching all the jeeps trying to be in the same spot at once (also adding a group of confused chinese tourists to the chaos). Eventually the driver showed up and we drove for a while and ended up in a car queue. Apparently the tickets were sold at one place, and the actual gates to the park were a bit further ahead. About 90 vehicles ahead we were told. So there were 90 jeeps in front of us, but it didn't take that long before we were at the gate, got the tickets stamped and were off into the wilderness!

The wilderness consists of

1. dust
2. dust roads with lots of holes
3. bushes
4. more dust
5. a peacock
6. a lot of jeeps

We also saw a few elephants. One of them was on the road but hurried off into the bushes thinking annoyed thoughts about the paparazzi tourists (see commented picture below), And we saw a few crocodiles in the distance, two rabbits, another peacock and some deers.... After a few hours I kind of dozed off, almost bumping out of the jeep from time to time. We spent 4.5h driving around the dusty tracks, collecting more dust than photographs. The driver did his best but there were simply too many vehicles causing the animals to seek calmer places than going near the road.

I guess its a bit of a gamble. Either you see something extraordinary, like a leopard or an animal close up, and then it's worth it all. But we were out of luck. Especially since that luck you need is spread out over hundreds of vehicles. All in all I think this safari thing is quite over exploited with over 100 vehicles buzzing around that area so I can't really recommend it.

TRAP: Yala safari, over exploited. You won't see anything of interest. As a foreigner you also have to pay extra, and it's very expensive.

If you go for the safari anyway, bring:

• Binoculars
• Air mask (like the ones painters use or Chinese people when visiting a big city) or a hankerchief to tie over your nose and mouth. Because its really dusty.
• Camera with good optics (mobiles doesn't count here!), like a system camera with zoom optics..
• A sweater

Cinamon Wild, Yala

This hotel is just a few minutes away, the tricky part is to get your car there in one piece since the road is very bad. We had a few scraping sounds and once I thought we were standing on the frame, all wheels in the air.

The hotel does not give as grand impression as the Jetwing, but you're closer to the nature. We had rented a room in a hut, and after dark you are recommended to get an escort with a flashlight to follow you back and from your hut to the main building hosting the restaurant and the bar. This is so you won't step on a boar, monkey or reptile.

An escort is also recommended when going on a wider stroll around the facility. We read the reason on a sign nearby. Some times, apparently, elephants simply walk trough the area. They don't really like people apparently and so if attacked by an elephant they recommend to trop the flashlight and run. The elephant might get interested in the flashlight and stop to investigate. Or, as the sign said, it might not, in which case they advised you to run faster.

We took a swim with Isak in the 0.5m deep child pool which was the best part of the vacation for him as it looked like. For the rest of the stay he was magnetically drawn back to that pool. The "normal" pool is also quite shallow. Someone has placed a couple of trees in the middle of the pools making it impossible to keep them clean from small leaves and stuff. The pool was a bit better at Jetwing but this was ok. Isak was more than happy (although he was as excited at Jetwing as well).

The dinner and pool area is close to a small beach that belongs to a lake where the crocodiles awaits. We saw two of them on the hotel side of the lake. There is a small fence to keep them out, but bathing is prohibited and you are advised to watch your steps. During our stay we also shared the path to our cabin with dogs, monkeys and wild boars. And a very small kitten.

After breakfast we went to the sea beach and walked around a little. The beach is impressive but you can't swim there because of the currents and the waves. If you try you'll drown and that will typically be a bad start of the vacation.

Dinner

The dinner was again a buffet served at the second floor in the main building which is basically a big balcony. One room with glass doors is air conditioned and here is where the milk stuff like yoghurt and cheese are to be found.

The breakfast next day was also a buffet, where they had basically everything. Even stirred yoghurt and, as opposed to jetwing, coffee that did not have a small taste of ashtray in it.

• Ambience: Good
• Price: ? (included in the hotel for one night)
• Service: Self service, short queue
• Seating: Table with a shared "sofa" back against another table. No child seat for Isak.

 Overall: RECOMMENDED

Comparison

All in all, comparing Jetwing and Cinamon, I'd note the following:

• Rooms: The same quality. None of them had any problems, but Jetwing provided bath robes and sandals.
• Staff: Jetwing staff was slightly friendlier I felt. E.g they offered to make separate food for Isak.
• Food: Cinamon was much better (especially the coffee), 9 of 10. Jetwing something ike 5 of 10.
• Wifi: Jetwing had less problems but could get slow or stop at times. In Cinamon it was limited to 4 devices (in practice two or maybe 1.5 since you'd get kicked out and could not log in again). I went to the reception/called three times to get new username and password(s) before it worked (in the evening I simply gave up). Really annoying.

Overall I'd have selected Jetwing if I were to go back.