By telling us your country of residence we are able to provide you with the most relevant travel insurance information.
Please note that not all content is translated or available to residents of all countries. Contact us for full details.
Shares
5am. A delicate heat. The blood red sun rises and twinkles over the warped crystal sheet of the Bay of Bengal, forcing my sleep filled eyes to squint and adjust, as the rays spread across the land, awaking nature and gently easing the world into a new dawn. Doesn’t take much of Earths tropical masquerade to remind me, I’m no longer in Middlesbrough. Astride a dusty jeep, starry eyed, gazing into the majesty of a new sky, I stood solo, at peace. Even with the cacophony of bikes and buses on the road behind me, in my sleepy state, felt at absolute zen. The taste of sea salt was thick in the air and as I awaited my guide to arrive, I felt the world slow as the tides washed around the fishing poles, which swung elegantly in the morning breeze. The sun had risen over the pristine garden, that I named my cradle. The Jeep spluttered into life, joining the symphony of the other vehicles just behind. I clambered in, took one last eye full and ventured onwards to more of South Asia’s beauty. My guide was a local Zoologist, at Yala national park, studying patterns of Crocodile migration during the rainy season. I was his assistant, his Watson. Gawking intently and donning a fascinated expression at every bee eater or bison that strolled across our track. The dusty paths, reeking of petrichor, spun around our vehicle like a storm, filling the air around us. We left a thin cloud of orange sediment in our wake, and as it fell, it revealed the lush foliage, riddled with bird life, observing life from above inside their branch like box seats. As we drove, completely alone, further into the bush, the intensity of the trees grew. There were more and more ribbon like lakes, filled to the brim with long, thin crocodile, basking in the morning sun. He stopped and made some recordings on his paper pad. This allowed me ample time to admire the surroundings. Elephants. WILD elephants. Bird song replacing the churn of engines and bison lowing in their herds as they sat in the shade of the trees. Not being David Attenborough, I was speechless. Devoid of anything but admiration for the beauty of the natural world that laid in front of me like a masterpiece. Serenity. Monkeys chirped in the trees as we drove off, holding their young and gorging on the luscious fruits that hung above. The mountains rose slowly around us. They were blanketed in green and white. We drove for hours. As we approached the mountains draped in colour, we slowly left the factions of monkeys, elephants and other animals, until all that was left was the continued chirp of the birds over head. Suddenly, the jeep stopped. With no explanation as to why. The dust settled around us and my guide was now brimming with excitement and almost fear, as if he was about to perform on stage. He snapped at me. “Roll up your windows” I was startled. He snapped again “Quick!” I wound up my windows instantly. I looked around, panicked. The constant presence of the birds in the trees and the continuation of nature around me, filled me with comfort. Until... Despite the noise of nature bellowing softly around me, I felt silence. Like there was an approaching emptiness. My guide became giddy, which gave a very juxtaposing atmosphere. He put his fingers to his lips and out from behind a bush swaggered a leopard, in all its glory. The encounter must have lasted 30 seconds but to me felt like a lifetime. Sitting inside this jeep, in the middle of nowhere, I was face to face with this god of an animal. It seemed unphased by our presence and stealthily rolled on by. It looked effortless as it paraded amongst the trees and the dry bush. The calligraphy on its fur, the majesty in its stroll and the refinement of its eyes, put me in a paralysis of admiration. It was beautifully built, a perfect killer and as rare as animals come. It’s ominous, phantom like stature as it meandered it’s way back into the bush, left me dumbfounded.