maduru oya national park safari

another one of this mini tour's best kept secrets, maduru oya is a gorgeous park that receives few visitors - a geological, ornithological, botanical, and zoological treasure! the animals here are much less inured to the presence of humans and their jeeps, so are shyer and more likely to scatter when approached (always at very respectable distances, of course)... somehow this makes the experience feel more "authentically" wild. pictures are a bit grainy (light and distance), but give some idea of the splendor and beauty, i hope. no pictures of the jackals hunting a huge herd of spotted deer, which was pretty exciting to see (no kill).
...oh yes, and the "ranger" offered to take us on a much less travelled track...where we spent 3 hrs bumper-deep in a soft mud-bottomed "puddle" (pond-sized)...each attempt to extricate ourselves, using logs, rocks, etc under the tires, only sunk us deeper, and this with no walkie-talkie, no cell reception, no one around for many miles, in a park known for its Danger Elephants... uh, whoops...