スリランカのサファリは予想外の展開に…

Come on gang. Let’s find that leopard. Spot that 
leopard. Spot that leopard. Nice. We actually got to see one. I’m quite chuffed that we got to 
see one. I was worried that we wouldn’t see   one. Room for a little one. Only in Sri Lanka. 
So scatty went to buy a beer in Sri Lanka. It’s like doing a drug deal. Hi guys, welcome back. 
We’re on tour with Dridgers. If you’re new here,   we’re a full-time travel couple from the UK. We 
are currently in Sri Lanka and today is our very first ever safari and we are so excited. But 
it’s ridiculously early in the morning. It’s now 4 a.m. and Brienne’s just getting ready. 
She will not be speaking to me because she is the worst morning person in the world. So, we’re 
going to drive about an hour into Yala right into the middle. Going to see some wildlife. It’s 
going to be really exciting and we’re going to   take you along with us. Right. So, we was actually 
searching around everywhere all over the internet, loads of different sites, loads of different 
third party places like um all your generic like get a go and stuff and they were coming 
out really expensive and we was like, “Oh,   don’t know. Maybe we won’t really bother doing a 
safari.” Would have been a nice experience with my family and stuff. Um but it’s just going to 
work out so much money. But then we got to our hotel and it he said I actually do run safaris 
myself and he said we we can do half a day tour say obviously it’s going to be an early one like 
5:00 a.m. to 11 so yeah a few hours but it will work out like €50 each. We thought yeah that’s 
all right and it includes breakfast as well. Recommend if you’re thinking about a safari don’t 
book anything online because they’re like some of them are like £200 per person. So, make sure you 
go to your accommodation and then see what they offer you. There’s definitely a cheaper option 
when you get to the place. Got it. Start. Oh,   we got some torches. Not really helping, 
dear. How dark is it? It’s well dark. Thought you were going to 
topple on top of me. Morning,   girls. Hello. Morning. Morning. 
Morning. Morning. Hello. Hello. Oh, wow. Look at this. You girls want to 
go front or No. No. I think uh so babies can sit there first sheets. No. Oh, okay. It’s 
better, I think. Okay, then. Right at the front. This is the queue for the entrance. Okay. What 
time does it open? 6:00. 6:00. My name is Amila. Amila. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Nice to 
meet you. All right. So, we just arrived at Yala National Park. It took us about what 50 minutes 
to get here, but it doesn’t open till 6:00. So, we’re just in the queue waiting to get in. 
This is where they race to get here. All   the cars and overtake didn’t race. He was very 
good. Very nice guide. Um, very clear speaking. This is our ride for the next what, seven 
hours? Yeah, we’ve got the uh the seats without the hair headrest today and a a smashed 
window. Maybe a sign of a wildlife encounter. So, uh we’ll see. And we’ve actually got a windscreen 
today, so we’re not going to get flies in the face   and flies in the head. And flies in the head as 
well. Yeah, it’s cool. Go in my eye. You don’t want them in your eyes, do you? So, we got six 
seat and I like how like the seats go higher up.   So you can see over the person in front. Yeah. 
And we’ve all got an individual seat which is cool. It’s not like a one thing you all share 
and everyone gets bunched into each other. Cram load of people in a Yeah. Even the ride just 
here to the national park. But our guide gets our tickets and everything. So that’s included 
in the package safari thing we’re doing. Oh, can we stress it quickly? This is not a sponsored 
video. We paid full price for this. So if anyone wonders, it’s not sponsored. This is our 
vehicle of choice. Look at the tires on it. Proper robust as well. So, we got no wildlife 
encounters is going to travel us. Beast. Look how many people are here now. 
The queue goes right back. Perks   of having sister here. You get him 
to do your hair. Yeah, we’re ready. I’m nervous and excited. Somewhere in between. There we go. Thank you. Oh, I’m excited. Woohoo. Early 
morning time is the best for the leopard. So straight to the leopard. Best for the 
leopard. Yes. Buffalo. We got buffalo. Yeah. She just said to us early morning 
is best for the leopard. So we’re going   straight for the leopard. I can see there’s a 
few people stopping, but they obviously don’t know. Early morning is best for the drivers are 
adventure as well, isn’t it? Yeah. sit right up there. Did I? Yeah. Now you can see why the 
tires are so big. It’s all like off roads. It does probably go one way 
like all the way over. It does. We got a crocodile just there. Yeah. I would have never spotted that. 
It’s his job brand. I know. We got these buffaloos on the road blocking us. He’s got to be right near you, is he? Look, 
lot. Whoa. Sniff his bum. Ah, look at him. For just over half an hour now. And to be honest, 
the best thing we’ve seen is a peacock. Now, we’ve seen a few things. So, buffaloos 
and stuff, but we want to see the leopard and the elephants. It’s It’s a beautiful 
sunrise, but there’s not a lot going on at the moment. Hopefully, we it will get 
better. He’s shouting at us. He’s noisy, is he? Was it a tou? Yeah, right. 
We’ve heard a sound. What is it? That sounded like Oh, okay. Yeah. So it’s what? So he said it’s 
it’s from a deer. So when he sees the leopard, he makes a sound to warn his friends. 
Oh, there’s one about then. Yeah. The thing is that le that leopard 
when it’s if it’s getting closer,   it will be literally be like hugging 
the ground. You won’t even see it. The leopard will be really low though. I 
think now it is on the ground. Yeah. On   the ground. Yeah. Yeah. Everything. Even the 
squirrels are making little chirpy sounds. It’s quite mad, isn’t it? Nature. It’s quite 
scary. It is scary. Yeah. How good if the deer’s run this way. You think that it that deer 
knows that he’s he’s being like hunted. Just gone back a bit. He obviously knows something’s 
happening. It’s quite intense. scissors. Well, we’re going to hang around here for a 
little bit longer because our guide,   he’s um he’s very very experienced and he 
knows that the leopard is definitely around here. That’s why a lot of people are like um 
stopping and speaking to him cuz he’s a man in the N. He knows everything. This is normally 
where Lucas hangs around. Oh, yeah. We did find out his name. His name’s Lucas. Lucas the leopard. 
Nope. Giving up. Lucas has moved on. to our guide, he’s constantly on the phone. So, I’m thinking 
that each of the guides are all helping each other. So, they spot something, they let 
them know or if they hear something, they all working together. Stalks. Yeah. Paint painted 
stalk. Wow. Pink on their bum. Yeah. You see the See the um Yeah. See the crocodile just went 
under. Yeah. Oh, it’ be epic, wouldn’t it? No, every everyone’s on their phones and all of them 
keep every time we pass each other keep speaking to each other. I think everyone’s struggling 
to find animals. We’ve been driving around for quite a while and we’ve just seen this the same 
sort of animals. Not a bad breakfast spot. We   got a tub of words with some hoppers. Hoppers 
and roti with that sambar egg hoppers. Oh, wa. Look at that. Do you think we’re that? Yeah. Yeah. 
Yeah. Mommy and daddy put it on our legs. Ready? I hurt my back. Oh, wow. So, we got pineapple 
sambol. We got onion. You want pineapple? I love it up for you. You dish me. Yeah. What? What’s that one then? Don’t know. Onion. 
Caramelized onion. Maybe. Give it a go, Ben. Yeah. You’re going to like this. Yeah, it is. Is it? Is it spicy? No. Chicken. 
You want one of these ever then? Yeah. How we like in our Sri Lankan breakfast? 
I mean good was spicy. That sambol was 10 out of 10. Yeah, it’s like a camel with spicy onion, 
isn’t it? Yeah, I think the onions a 10 out of 10. Right. That was a lovely breakfast. I I will 
say that’s the first I’ve had on this trip since last time I was here. And they’re still banging. I 
still love them. But we are just heading to It cuz it didn’t have an egg in it. It’s just a hopper. 
It was just a hopper. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, there was   an egg in it. But um we are heading towards the 
elephants. So hopefully we get to see Evelyn Lies and Jon Carl’s first ever elephant in the wild 
elephant. Yeah, in the zoo. Yeah, probably. This is the area where Lucas was spotted earlier. So we 
got a second chance to see if we can find one. Oh, did did say um she needs a we ride and she said 
that the there’s going to be a a rest area next to elephants. So, imagine if there is though. You 
know what? Why would safer and more chilled? It’s just going to be the same as all this, isn’t 
it? We’ll see. We can find out. Just talking   Aris lizard. Yeah. The land monitor. Land monitor. 
It’s not the water. We seen the water monitor. Not the land monitor. Oh, there’s two over there, 
isn’t there? One elephant there, one there. Oh, he’s quite young, that one. We found some 
footprints of the leopard. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, where they going? Scary. That’s the thing. Um, 
he’s proper good. He always he knows what to look for. Yeah. I’d never I’d just drive straight past 
that. No, I wouldn’t even know that. I can hear it. That’s where we were earlier. 
This is a task. Yeah. Big boy. Oh, wow. It is a task. Task. Can you see? 
Yes. Yeah. Oh, wow. He’s massive, isn’t he? In the world, we have two type of elephants. Do you 
know? No. African. African Asian. Yeah. Asian. Asian. So, we were just told that Asian elephants, 
which obviously all the elephants in Sri Lanka are, only 6% of the males have tusks. So 
this particular one is very very rare to see and it’s absolutely massive compared 
to the other ones. It’s huge. They drink   what was it? 120 L. Was it 120 L? Yeah. 
120 L a day. Yeah. How what was the food, Jud? Yeah. You have to you have to relay it. 100 
kilos. How how many kilos of food? Uh between 200 to 300 kg. Wow. Yeah. between two to 300 kilograms 
of food a day. You can definitely put it away. How many how many leards? Uh leopards maybe 35 
40 like that. Really? How how big is the park? Uh in that park the hole in the park maybe we 
have uh 150,000 uh 100 uh 50,000 of acres. Oh wow. Big. Huge. Yeah. Acres. Not the heck they 
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Massive. No wonder we couldn’t find them. 35 of them. Yes. That’s 
small compared to how much land there is. Yeah. How much land? Yeah. 35 compared to that. Told 
you there’s a stop. I just saw an elephant over there. 100 miles away from the elephants. Okay. 
Little break. Yeah. Lovely. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Come. How do we get out? We’re 
locked in. Yeah, we’re locked in. Thank you. Uh, if you want, you can go to the beach. Uh, maybe 
10 minutes. 10 minutes. Yeah. Okay. 9:00. So, there’s a beach there. You can come back 
in 10 minutes. It’s really beautiful. Um,   it’s very untouched by humans as well. It’s 
very like nature. They don’t intervene. Like they showed us some um bones from elephants that 
they obviously didn’t move it like let it dodge with nature. The animals eat what they eat. It’s 
totally untouched. Yeah. Love it. But there’s like 150 elephants and 35 leopards here. Right. Your 
toilet’s that way. There is a beach here. He said we got like a 10-minute rest stop. We can go down 
there if we want. And we got toilets. The warhog skin. So, right, back on the road. Let’s 
find that leopard. Come on, gang. Let’s find that leopard. Spot that 
leopard. Spot that leopard. Nice. Nice. Right over there in the distance, we got a 
mother and a baby elephant just chilling. Yeah, this Jeep ride is mental. It’s a roller 
coaster. It is like a roller coaster. Got a big crowd of jeeps up here and one behind 
us. Leopard. Leopard. Leopard. Leopard. No. Go straight in. You seen a leopard? No. I can’t see it. It is drinking water. Oh, is he 
from there? Yeah. Look at that. Whoa. We got to see one. Yes, we see one. Well, 
look at the view of it, mate. I was looking over there for ages. I was like, what? What are you 
even looking at? I just saw a tree and I was like,   there’s nothing there. Oh, wow. I can see that 
clearly. It was in the watering hole and everyone saw him drinking. Oh, this is amazing. We actually 
got to see one. I’m quite chuffed that we got to see one. I was worried that we wouldn’t see one. 
You You knew, didn’t you? Yeah. I quite a good shot. I’ll be honest. Right. With respect 
to like different drivers and individuals, they’re class what they do, but there is some 
absolute pricks in there. Some of them some of   them think they own the own the whole the way of 
everyone got to stay on each side. So the luckily there was a officer guy who said no you need to 
get that side to this way you can go that way   just makes it fair but they were going around 
us. Yeah we’ll be wait we’ll be waiting and then all of a sudden they they would literally 
drive around us to go in front of us. Absolute wankers. They would they have to wait their 
turn. Wait that turn. Yeah they do. Patience. patience is a person. So that is Lucas. Do you 
know we was talking about him earlier? So he’s one of the largest males on the whole in the 
whole park and he’s sleeping. He’s not really doing much. Got to say these boys, they won’t 
leave one of their mates down. If one of them sees one of them broke down, they all jump out 
and help. Everyone stopped. Everyone’s helping. So they get fixed so we can all go home. So, while 
we’re sat here watching like monkeys and deers, buffaloos over here. It’s lovely. It’s not 
like you’re going to be bored. Yeah. Good place   to be back down. Yeah. Yes. We’re all good. 
Apart from running back on the road as well, is it? Yes. Yeah. Giza has done it all. How 
long How old’s live? Maybe 80 years. 80 80 years. There’s another one. really far 
away over there. Oh, he’s going to cross the road. Okay. Yes. Yeah. How’s it going? 
You have a nice day. So, after the safari, we just headed back to our accommodation. I 
just had a little nap. Little bit naughty,   but so tired being up from 3:30. Um, did some 
mediting. Um, now we’re heading out for dinner. So, we just got ready. Everyone’s just waiting 
downstairs, so let’s head out. Um, yeah. So we can get in front for just free. Yeah. Yeah. It’s 
all good. They took two. They got another one. We got another one. We got another one coming. 
Yeah, we got another one coming. Yeah. We’re   about um 10 minutes away from the the center 
and 10-minute drive away, but it’s literally like a 50-minute walk. And I don’t fancy in this 
heat. Is a long long way. And it’s um literally all like rural not rural, but like through the 
um the village. Room for a little one, guys. Hello. Hello. Only in Sri Lanka. Yeah. Thank you, Machan. Okay. Sty Machan. Uh six that number WhatsApp number if you 
want to we might get one back we yeah okay number this is yeah what a nice blow so I think 
it’s beyond there somewhere it’s all this is all through like Google maps and stuff it looks 
nice on there so I’m just going with that   that’s there. Is it? Yeah. So, this is it. 
The three star hotel restaurant. Yeah. I’ll just show the guy this. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. 
Yeah. Let’s go. Got them already. Hello. Hello. Oh, so it goes right at the back. A hidden 
restaurant inside a shop. Oh, wow. Thank you, sir. Uh this one, yeah, it’s mega cheap. It’s 
got like fried rice, noodles, uh like seafood and stuff. Then they do like so much a curry 
and rice. Oh yeah, they do like cheap chicken and cheese cotu. That’s what That’s what people 
Yeah, that’s what I’m going for. The chicken and cheese one. Spicy. Sri Lankan spicy. Uh, have you 
got Coke Zero? Yeah, I have. Uh, one Coke Zero, please. And a bottle of water. Small one. Two. So, 
you want two small? Yeah. Two small water. Yes. And then three beers. Free lion, please. Lagger. 
Lion laga, please. Yeah. What do you want? Uh, free. One, two, three. One, two, three. Yes, 
please. Yeah. What a cool salad. Uh, put here. Thank you. Oh my god. How many people? Oh 
yeah. Chicken chicken ku. Thank you. Oh wow. It’s amazing. That is massive. Look how big it is. 
Take that. Yeah. Over here. Oh my god. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Little sauce go with it. Oh, we can add we can add some spice. A 
little bit of spice. Can I have some more,   please? Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Let’s give this 
a go. Thank you. Oh my god. Oh, this is a big old portion. I will try it without the spice 
and maybe I’ll add a little bit of spice as   well. I’m loving she’ll try and get her. Oh man, 
that is so good. So good. A little bit creamy. Yeah, it’s got no spice at all, but they say they 
can um they give you the option to add your own spice. But yeah, that’s incredible, mate. This 
is the best meal I’ve had since I’ve been here in Sri Lanka. So good. And the chef’s chef’s already 
come out to make sure everything’s all right. He’s really proud of his food. And so yeah, he’s really 
proud of his food. So good. So he should be. Look   at this spread. All this food. This honey chicken. 
Unreal. Yeah, that is good. That’s good. Yeah. I didn’t like that at all. Didn’t like it at all. 
No, I’ve got a little um It’s a bit thing to say, right? This right. The chili they put on your 
table. Why hasn’t every household in the world got one of these? Put it on the table and then 
your friends can sort theself out. That’s how good it is. Jody is already doing a Google review. 
I’ll give you my YouTube review straight away. That was so good. So good. Like top tier. Really 
nice. Super friendly people. The chef was in and out all the time just making sure we was like 
happy. Little hidden gem here. It is a little   hidden d. What d? It is a little hidden gem. Two 
beers. So in total for six people 12,350. And they give us a discount of 600. 600. 600. Why though? 
I don’t know. It just says line discount. He’s   taking of 600. What? We got to do cash here. Is 
that because is that because we had No. Can they give us a discount? 50. Yeah. So, basically when 
we walked in, there was no beer on the menu and I said to the guy, “You got beer?” And he was like, 
“Yeah.” So, they’ve gone out of their way to go to the wine store to get us beers and they still only 
charge us like I know like a pound for a beer. It’s mental. I’ve done your Google Google review. 
Yes. Yeah. And I um my YouTube channel. Yeah. I’ll give you positive review. Okay. Yes. Yeah. 
Very good. Best we’ve had. Best food. You have pictures. Huh? Photo. Photo. Yeah. Yeah. Here we 
go. Puzzle. Come on. Get a little photo. Why not? Put it down there. Right in the supermarket. Best 
meal ever we have ever had in Sri Lanka. Honestly, so good. But you got to grab a can of beer. 
And here we’ve got the car grills original. Hello. Uh Lion Strong Lion Strong one. So scatty wings by beer in Sri Lanka. Doing 
a drug deal. That was cool. Just one can change. Thank you. The lion strong. My favorite beer in Sri 
Lanka. But Rian never lets me drink it cuz it’s too strong. Oh god. Because you’ll pass 
out. Don’t matter, does it? Tell you what, we have had the best day. We’ve had the nicest 
people. Our tuk tuk driver was so lovely on the way here. I didn’t have the camera so I couldn’t 
film, but he pulled over and we watched like   um a school singing. said there’s like a little 
festival going on and mom, brother, daughter, son, everyone was there. It was lovely. So nice. 
Everyone just so kind, aren’t they? I will say like this is obviously our third time in Sri Lanka 
and we’ve experienced so many different cities, towns, villages, different areas of the country, 
right up to Japna, right down to the bottom. Um, but I I truly think that these are could possibly 
be the nicest people I’ve met since I’ve been   here. You forget, don’t you? when you leave, you 
forget about how like welcome. Everyone I talk to has been to Slanka, they always go, “The people 
make the country.” And it’s 100% true. Like,   it is so nice. And we’ll put the location of this 
hotel in our description cuz this is probably one of the best hotels we’ve ever stayed in for the 
price. It’s like our own mini villa. There’s   no one else here. There’s only four rooms. The 
swimming pool’s been to ourself. They’ll do your breakfast. They’ll do your dinner. Um, you could 
just stay here or you can get a tuk tuk in town   which cost us like £2 and we went highly recommend 
that restaurant. We’ll put that in the description down below the location because that is one 
of the best restaurants we’ve been to. We’re   actually heading to where we going tomorrow? 
Tangal uh Tangal Beach. Tangal Beach. Yeah, we’ve never been there before. So, I’m excited 
to go there and see that. And also about um the   the the village in general. It’s not just that 
restaurant. The whole like everyone’s nice. Even like when we went into the supermarket when I 
went and got my beer. Um like everyone’s nice.   The the security guard was really nice. Everyone’s 
smiley. Like this this is Sri Lankans in general, but they’re extra nice here as well. I recommend 
not going to like Well, you can go there like the tourist spots like Ella and that cuz Ella is one 
of our favorites. But try to go to like the little   towns that people don’t go to. Like this was a 
stop off on the way and we were going to only just stay one night and we loved it so much we booked 
another night. Like that’s the freedom of Sri   Lanka. Don’t book your accommodations. Literally, 
we book our accommodations the date before we go. And that goes for anything. Like if obviously 
if you’re thinking about traveling and you want   to see different things and we’ve had the best 
experiences when we have gone off the beaten path like in India, we went to Patner and everyone told 
us not to and that was the best place we went.   Always just go just go to places that you don’t 
think of as as well as um finding the friendliest people in the local areas, you also find the 
friendliest prices as well. Unbelievable prices,   unbelievable people. But yeah, I’m looking 
forward to tomorrow discovering a new look cuz Tangal I’ve not really heard much about it, 
but honestly looking at the Google image pictures, it looks absolutely beautiful. Cannot wait. But 
anyway, loads more to come from Sri Lanka. I hope you’re enjoying the series so far cuz we 
love being in Sri Lanka and we want to keep   coming back. So keep watching, keep liking 
and we can keep coming back. So subscribe. Right in the super right in the 
supermarket. Obviously got a   care. Should we get that? Should we get the 
beers in straight away? No. Should we look?

Deep in the wilds of Sri Lanka, our safari took a twist we never saw coming… An incredibly rare sighting left us speechless, and it’s something most visitors will never experience.

Safari:

Restaurant: Tharanga Restaurant Tissamaharama
Location: 16/2 Hambantota Road, Tissamaharama, Sri Lanka

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July 2025 | Vlog 523 | Tissamaharama, Sri Lanka
12/34 Province

When we finally started our adventure
17/07/2021.

Buy us a beer and I will toast to you on the next video. Cheers 🍻

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Hello and welcome to our channel,

We are Reanne and Ben living in Portsmouth, England. We have been together from the age of 15.
We brought our first house together at 23, got married at 25 and Reanne started her own business at 27.
We have been wanting to travel the world so
The day has finally come we have sold our business and and our house to explore as much of the world Full Time.

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20 Comments

  1. Visit Bangladesh, the best county in the world, more picturesque than Switzerland n heaven combined. 😮

  2. I think you guys contributed more to our local beer industry than any other tourist 😂

  3. Fellow Sri lankan here
    Been enjoying your voyages in Sri Lanka and saw your next destination is Tangalle so I just had to speak up since I’m originally from there,I’m not a guide or anything related but
    1.if you’re staying the night I recommend you try somewhere near Tangalle bay area,the beaches in the morning are amazing
    2.The local fishing harbor is usually buzzing in the early mornings
    3.Amanwella beach is great for sunsets but it can be a challenge to reach without a mode of transport
    4.If you’re there on a sunday you can visit the Sunday fair like the ones you saw in Negombo (We call it “Pola”/පොළ)

    Also there are the usual touristy areas ,but really wanted to put these out there Safe travels Dridges!

  4. Beautiful video – you are so lucky to see a leopard that well. Trust me it is a rare sight.

  5. What you guys doing is really great,visiting non tourist areas are the best,those are the places you will find real Sri Lankan culture

  6. You guys are great really travelers.enjoi the worm and smiles where you go in peaceful srilanka.have nice days.

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