I left Akurula Beach early in the morning on my way to Tissamaharama (Tissa). I wanted to get there as early as possible and knew that a cramped long bus journey awaited, so best to get it over and done with. I had broken the journey from the north of the country at Akurula, and rested for a day with Karu’s family at their basic guest house for a night. They were friendly and very helpful so I planned to return after Tissa. It had bucketed with rain since I arrived in Akurula, so all I did was visit the local mask factory in Ambalangoda which luckily was undercover. These are the famous masks used in the Sri Lankan Devil Dances and it was interesting to see them being made by hand from balsa wood. The museum was interesting too.I took a tuk tuk with Liviera, the local Tuk Tuk driver. It was slow going to Galle in his three wheeler, through the wind and the rain. At Galle, I found there was no direct bus to Tissa so I took the first one to Matara, 90 mins away along the coast and changed there for the final 4 hour leg. To say the buses were cramped is an understatement. They (I believed) were designed for 3 year olds and were devoid of leg room. I was the only one with any bags, and there was literally no room to put anything. The conductor of course said “put it on the seat next to you and pay for two people” which seemed fine but when a party of pregnant women boarded that idea was soon shelved and I had to have my backpack on my lap. I was hoping the bus to Tissa would be different, but it was only in one respect. The music. Indian pop at full blast as the bus hurtled along, screeching to an abrupt stop every time the bus driver thought he saw a potential customer. Everyone was uncomfortable and complaining, even the children. After six hours it was a relief to arrive in Tissa.Tissa was in the south east of the country a little way inland, and both sunny and dry. I was here to visit it’s two national parks, Yala and Bundala and had made a reservation at Richard’s Cabanas. This was in effect a boutique hotel with just two cabanas over looking a small river in the shade of papaya trees. Beautiful and strangely in my price range, for if it was in Europe it would have been close to $100 per night.It was run by Agit, whose son Amila organized the safari visits. Agit was a former Safari guide and ran the Cabanas just like a premium hotel. They were so clean with full amenities. His wife produced some amazing curries and I had my first proper coffee here. I settled in and with in minutes was treated to a flyby by a gigantic Hornbill while several kingfishers went about their business in the river, it was idyllic. I had wanted to stay four nights but they were full for the last two so I was hoping for a cancellation.In the evening I met Richard Cox a retired British Council worker who had known the family for twenty odd years and he had invested in this venture, hence its name. He was very interesting to chat with about Sri Lanka and its people, plus he traveled widely.On the second day, I had organized with Amila a trip to Bundala, the national park full of birds which was back on the coast. Richard, decided to come, and we left in a thirty year old Landrover. The park was scrub land with several water lagoons and plenty of birdlife, the odd monkey and crocodile. The weather was hot and humid, overcast and quite dark at times, but it was an excellent afternoon, as we spotted Herons, Egrets, Spoonbills, Ibis, many Kingfishers, Fish Eagles, Bee eaters, Cormorants and several species of Stork. The roads were in a terrible state and as we bumped along the track is was difficult preventing my camera from being smashed.The next day, Amir told me that we could do a longer trip to Yala on the fourth day and Agit agreed I could stay in the driver’s quarters for a small fee, which was very kind. Consequently I could stay on site and continue enjoy his wife’s cooking, especially here mammoth curries. The following day I went at Richard’s advice down the lanes of Tissa to a local tank to watch the Indian Kingfishers (black & white), which was great until some local dope heads arrived to smoke and seemed to decide that hassling the foreigner might even be more fun. Further along the river, Richard had built a mud hut in a rice paddy where he could watch the birds and read and I spent time there. In the evening I walked around the large Tissa lake seeing Pelicans, Cormorants and Herons and then watched a huge colony of fruit bats take off into a beautiful sunset above the local Buddhist temple.I arranged with Amir a full day safari to Yala NP and again Richard came for company. We left at five reaching the NP at six, this time in a pick up 4x4 with converted seating in the back. Yala was more arid than Bundala and this being the dry season the water holes were small and many were empty. Animals would therefore congregate in just several areas. There was a lot of bush scrub and huge rocks as this national park gradually descended down to the beaches. It was here that many died when the Tsunami came some nine years ago. Everyone was affected all along the southern coast of Sri Lanka and many were still trying to recover. Our driver lost his father on that day and Agit lost many friends. We went to visit a memorial on the beach.Most people travel to Yala to see a leopard, although the chances are not great, as there are only 40 left and visitors can only enter 20% of the park. However from the moment of sunrise until late morning we did see many animals and birds. these were not in the same concentration as Bundalla, but impressive nevertheless. Mongoose, deer, crocodiles, buffalo, wild pigs, monitors, herons, storks, many peacocks and bee eaters, etc etc. Despite this being a Sunday the morning was quiet, however we were all warned to expect the hordes in the afternoon.Ever so often during the drive, Amila would get a call on his cell phone from another car and we would head off to see what they were watching. We had a couple of fruitless journeys after a Leopard sighting, but at midday when most were tourists were having their lunch, we got a call from a car watching a family of elephants. This turned out to be magical, a family with two females, tow adolescent males and two three week old calves walked past us to a waterhole, and then frolicked in front of us for one hour before disappearing into the scrub. They completely ignored the three jeeps watching and just payed, it was very special, especially as we were so close to them. After lunch, which we ate next to a creek on a sandbar, we resumed safari only to find many jeeps speeding around the narrow lanes desperate to see a Leopard. Huge traffic jams formed and tourists got irate. By five o'clock it was getting unpleasant, when an almighty traffic jam occurred with jeeps converging on a waterhole as a Leopard was spotted up a tree. Thirty jeeps became snarled up in a huge queue, with only the front two able to see the poor creature. Tempers got frayed. Jeeps tried to go off road in the thicket. One French tourist lost it and started yelling at her driver to get to the Leopard. Richard and I decided enough was enough and asked Amila to pull out and leave the NP. It was all too understandable to find out that in 2011, one Leopard was run over in a similar melee. Sri Lankan NPs authority will have to act.It was a successful safari despite the Leopard fiasco and we arrived back at the guesthouse late, to find that Karu from Akurula Beach was in town. He offered me a lift back to his guest house in Akurula Beach, so I did not have to experience another bus journey.Consequently, I had a leisurely lie in the next morning and then packed and checked out of the driver’s quarters. I had really enjoyed my stay in Tissa at Richard’s Cabanas and enjoyed meeting Agit, Amila and Richard. Now it was time for Galle.