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Law of the jungle in Lanka’s premier wildlife park
View(s):As visitors swell and revenue rises, rules are ignored for a rare sighting of a leopard, report Mihiri Wikramanayake and Tharuka Dissanaike
Yala, known as Sri Lanka’s most popular national park for leopard and bear sightings, was packed as expected during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year weekend. Despite many misgivings, we decided to go on an evening safari on Sunday, April 14. Much to my chagrin, the sightings had nothing to do with wild animals but of the complete lack of lawlessness that seems to prevail in this park.
Safari going awry: Jeep drivers are accused of taking the law into their hands with scant regard for the park’s rules
That evening, with only five trackers on duty, up to five jeeps were assigned one tracker each which resulted in convoys. Heavy rains had flooded the park during the past few days and the roads were broken and many places waterlogged. Visitors have written about the state of the roads in this park and also questioned why the park has not been closed in the past four years or so for maintenance.
One of the obvious reasons could be the revenue it is generating on a daily basis. In 2009, the year in which the war ended, a decision was taken following a request from the Jeep Driver’s Association that the park be kept open throughout that year so that they could recover from the dull periods during the war. The decision was never repealed and the park has, since 2009, not been closed for maintenance. Unfortunately, not a fraction of the revenue seems to have been used to improve the park’s basic infrastructure facilities such as roads and bungalows, which are in an utter state of disrepair.
But, what is most disturbing is the complete lack of regard for the rules and regulations. On three occasions we witnessed jeeps stopping in the middle of the park with passengers disembarking and or walking about. Drivers and trackers, who are supposed to be in charge during the stint in the park allow their visitors to disembark and walk around to take photos in close up. At one time, we witnessed foreign visitors disembarking from their jeep to smoke cigarettes! All this time, the driver and tracker did nothing to stop them.
Wildlife conservationists have been lamenting the fact that visitors are unaware of the dangers posed by this kind of irrational behaviour inside this park. On many occasions jeep drivers have been accused of taking the law into their hands with scant regard for the sanctity of the park. Gamunu the elephant has been photographed and videographed on many occasions foraging inside vehicles that blocks his way. Sadly, no one seems to realise the danger posed by this wild elephant. And what is most disturbing will be the day he unwittingly harms a visitor. What then? Is this elephant going to be the victim and have to face the consequences?
Yala is, unfortunately, an oversell as jeeps drive at breakneck speed to catch a glimpse of the leopard. According to Vimukthi Weeratunga, Operations Director Environmental Foundation Limited, one of the main reasons for the lack of lawlessness in the park is the lack of staff to handle the increase in number of visitors to Yala. “This is also due to the high level of publicity of guaranteed leopard sightings (Leopard-centric marketing) by the tourism industry. Therefore, tour guides and jeep drivers are under pressure and will do anything for a leopard sighting to please their customers,” he says.
Somewhere along the road to the park entrance a billboard proclaims Yala to be “the best place in the WORLD to view leopard in its natural habitat.” When spotted, this wild animal is hounded and hell-holed as dozens of jeeps surround the animal. A defining moment of a recent visit was coming across a horde of waiting jeeps around a low culvert on the main road. The obviously terrified leopard, failing an attempt to cross the road, had crawled under the culvert and was hiding there. At least ten jeeps were lying in wait for the animal to emerge, powerful lenses trained on the two possible exits. In another location, a leopard with its kill of a wild boar piglet had to abandon its perch and run in to the thorny scrub when the noise level of some 20-jeep traffic jam became unbearable. No longer are leopards allowed to sleep on a branch or sun bathe in the grass or simply stroll along the road in peace as this animal is incessantly hounded in all its regular haunts, every day of the year. There is no peace anymore. Not along the roads of Yala National Park.
For the hundreds of tourists who fall for the ‘over-sell’ the actual experience is far from satisfying. Families with young children and soother-sucking babies were seen at 5.30 am queuing for entry tickets. By 9.30 a.m., they emerge from a horribly bumpy ride in rigged-up Tata cargo trucks that pass off for jeeps, dusty and tired with maybe a glimpse of the spotted cat. Saner tourists are bewildered at the level of anarchy in the park with jeep drivers shouting at each other, loudly beeping cellphones, visitors walking around paying scant attention to park rules: This is not the kind of wilderness experience that operators ‘sell’ when they market Yala National Park and its leopards.
Gamunu the elephant has been photographed and videographed on many occasions foraging inside vehicles that block his way.
Recently much publicity was given to the first photography-based reality show which was conducted in Sri Lanka in conjunction with Cinnamon Hotels, that signed up as the hospitality partner, and the National Geographic channel. One of the locations for these enthusiastic, over-excited photographers was the Yala National Park. Chaaya Wild Yala (a Cinnamon hotel located in Yala) together with Eco Tourism Chief Chitral Jayatileke and his Cinnamon Nature Trails team mentored the photographers offering tips and advice on how to capture the best images in the wild. Footage shown on NatGeo and aired worldwide shows these young amateur photographers ‘hanging’ out of their jeeps in an effort to take that ‘perfect’ shot. Now, if Jayatileke, who is part of the panel of field specialists conducting the Yala leg and is a propagator of conservation, allows such lawless behavior, asks a tracker, how can we maintain law and order with the jeep drivers?
In defence, Jayatileke cites a certain incident when about 30 vehicles were jostling each other to catch that glimpse of a leopard. To ease this situation, a couple of park rangers had allowed visitors to climb on top of their vehicles to take their photographs. Having seen this, Jayatileke’s contestants had also insisted that they be given the same opportunity. “Although I was against this move I allowed these contestants to do the same. But, in future, we will never do it again,” he said.
Many would disagree and say that once is already too late. Jayatileke should set the example and insist on maintaining the rules and regulations stipulated for this park. After all, one should lead by example.
According to Weeratunga, political influence should be stopped at the highest level so that the park officials can enforce the laws. Other proposals that have gone unheeded are to increase the number of trained guides and park officials according to the number of visitors, enforce stricter laws by banning errant jeeps and drivers (1-3months) from entering the park, discontinue guides who violate park rules, and conduct regular park rounds by the higher official to oversee the issues related to the visitors. Weeratunga and Jayatileke both agree that cell phones must be banned inside the park to deter traffic jams and speeding vehicles.
Also, environmentalists and ‘experts’ must support the park officials to enforce the park rules and abide by the laws of the park. No one, at no time for no reason should be allowed to break the rules. Hoteliers and jeep drivers need to respect the park and its sanctity. The leopard is their golden goose but exploitative tourism could well curtail its bounty. Without necessary checks and controls, Yala will lose its value as a National Park; and with that its money-spinning reputation.
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